Despite morning temperatures that fell into single digits on Saturday, nearly 3,000 people assembled on the West Lawn of Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello for the beginning of a three-year, nationwide commemoration of Lewis and Clark's journey into America's Western frontier.
"This is where it all started -- at Monticello, in the mind of Thomas Jefferson," said author and filmmaker Dayton Duncan, who served as the event's master of ceremonies. "This was mission control."
The event was scheduled 200 years after Jefferson sent a secret letter to Congress, requesting $2,500 and calling for exploration west to the Pacific Ocean. A year later, a group of explorers led by Capt. Meriwether Lewis and his friend William Clark embarked from St. Louis on a three-year round-trip journey into the unknown.
Saturday's commemoration was the finale of a week of events at the University and throughout Charlottesville. According to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, one of the goals of the event was to encourage Americans to spend the next three years exploring, studying and commemorating the people and places Lewis and Clark met along their journey.
Robert R. Archibald, president of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation and one of the keynote speakers, also emphasized the importance of comparing the current Western United States to that which Lewis and Clark encountered.
"We have a time telescope to see a huge chunk of our nation and the people who inhabited it 200 years ago," Archibald said. "Let us make a new story with new possibilities and new relationships built on the new found respect for this exploration."
During the three-hour ceremony, more than 20 speakers including Thomas Jefferson Foundation President Daniel Jordan and Tex G. Hall, National Congress of American Indians President, gave their remarks on the commemoration.
Each speech, however, had a similar theme: looking at the historic trek from a different perspective.
"We need to see this emblematic American story through fresh eyes, through native eyes," said James Ronda, a history professor at the University of Tulsa.
Other noted speakers included Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, filmmaker Ken Burns and a written message from President George W. Bush delivered by Norton.
Those in attendance came from all over the country. Self-described history buffs Sharron and Ron O'Connor traveled from Boston to Monticello. As members of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, it was a trip they had been waiting to take for a long time.
"I remember Lewis and Clark from fifth grade and remember what an amazing story I thought it was," Sharron said. "It has everything: adventure, science, medicine, women, men, children, so many different aspects that can interest you."
Norton concluded her remarks with a mission statement for the future.
"It is a journey of many voices that we can make together."
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