THE THOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDATION
invites you to the Peter J. Hatch Spring Evening Conversation
Grounding History:
Exploring Gardening, Landscape Design, and Cultural Preservation
featuring
Brent Leggs
Executive Director, African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and Senior Vice President of the National Trust
Thomas Woltz
Senior Principal and Owner, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects
Thursday, March 20, 2025
5:30 p.m. – Reception
6:30 p.m. – Program
Montalto, overlooking Monticello
Business Casual
Parking available at the David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center
Please complete the form below to register for the
Peter J. Hatch Spring Cabinet Evening Conversation
The favor of your reply is requested by March 6
Questions? Please contact Monticello Events at events@monticello.org | 434.984.9821
About the Speakers
Brent Leggs is the executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and senior vice president of the National Trust. Envisioned as a social movement for justice, equity, and reconciliation, the Action Fund is promoting the role of cultural preservation in telling the nation’s full history, while also empowering activists, entrepreneurs, artists, and civic leaders to advocate on behalf of African American historic places.
A Harvard University Loeb Fellow and author of Preserving African American Historic Places, which is considered the “seminal publication on preserving African American historic sites” by the Smithsonian Institution, Brent is a national leader in the U.S. preservation movement and the 2018 recipient of the Robert G. Stanton National Preservation Award. His passion for elevating the significance of black culture in American history is visible through his work, which elevates the remarkable stories and places that evoke centuries of black activism, achievement, and community.
Over the past decade, he has developed the Northeast African American Historic Places Outreach Program, and its theme, the Business of Preservation, to build a regional movement of preservation leaders saving important landmarks in African American history. As the project manager for several National Treasure campaigns across the country, he led efforts to create the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument in Alabama, which President Barack Obama designated in January 2017. Other campaign successes include the perpetual protection of cultural monuments like Villa Lewaro, the estate of Madam C. J. Walker in Irvington, New York; Joe Frazier’s Gym in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey; A. G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham; Nina Simone’s birthplace in Tryon, North Carolina; John and Alice Coltrane’s home in Huntington, New York; and more.
Brent has taught at Harvard University, Boston Architectural College and the University of Maryland. He is a Senior Advisor and Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites (CPCRS) and is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s graduate program in Historic Preservation.
Thomas L. Woltz, Senior Principal of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW), leads the firm in the artful creation and revitalization of public landscapes. Working at the intersection of culture and ecology for the sustainability of the public realm, Thomas has led the expansion of NBW to include scientists and historians as integral contributors to the design of projects ranging from restoration ecology in large urban parks to post-industrial sites and educational campuses. Through this collaborative and cross-disciplinary approach, NBW’s designs reveal lost or erased histories in the landscape. The work of NBW now stretches across thirty states and twelve countries.
Thomas was educated at the University of Virginia and holds master’s degrees in landscape architecture and architecture as well as an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. In 2011, Thomas was invested into the American Society of Landscape Architects Council of Fellows, among the highest honors achieved in the profession and was named the Design Innovator of the Year by the Wall Street Journal Magazine. He has also received the American Horticultural Society Landscape Design Award and was recognized as one of the most creative people in business by Fast Company and with the Land for People Award by the Trust for Public Land. Woltz currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Cultural Landscape Foundation.
Learn more about the firm and their current projects at www.nbwla.com or on Instagram at @nelsonbyrdwoltz
About the Peter J. Hatch Spring Evening Conversation
Established in 1993 at the suggestion of Peter J. Hatch, longtime Director of Gardens and Grounds, Monticello launched its Evening Conversation series. Since 2019, the spring Evening Conversation has been named in his honor and is supported by the Peter J. Hatch Evening Conversation Endowment.