Specializing in customized tours and talks in and around Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg Historic Tours
700 Pearl Street
Lynchburg, VA 24504
PHONE: (434) 846-1868
FAX: (434) 846-4887
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Jesus Loves
me This I Know… Discover the world of Anna and Susan Warner - Women of
Spirit. speaker, lecturer, speak, lecture, program, garden club, book
club, presentation, Virginia, senior citizen, church group, Warner sisters,
Susan Warner, Anna Warner, gardening, women of spirit, Jesus loves me, Jesus,
wide wide world, gardening by myself, west point, constitution island,
nineteenth century, Victorian
This lecture focuses on the life and times of Susan and Anna Warner - Women of Spirit. The Warner sisters lived at Constitution Island, on the Hudson River, across from the United States Military Academy. This talk gives your group the opportunity to enjoy stories about the sisters and the island, slides of the house and garden, and optional video. Anna is best know for authoring the popular church hymn Jesus Loves Me and the pioneering gardening book, Gardening by Myself. Anna was one of the first ladies of her day to acknowledge working in the dirt. Anna's sister Susan penned Wide Wide World, a bestseller, second only to Uncle Tom's Cabin. The sisters were avid readers, writers, artists, and gardeners. Between them, they wrote over 100 publications, using the pen names Elizabeth Wetherill and Amy Lothrup. Anna and Susan taught Sunday school to Academy cadets for over 40 years. Each week they rowed across the Hudson River in a small boat to transport their students to and from the island. A portion of the Warner's house dates back to the Revolutionary War. Their island home is rich in history in its own right. Prior to belonging to the Warners, Constitution Island played a significant part in American history. It served as an anchor point for the great chain that spanned the Hudson River during the Revolution to deter the British forces from sailing. When Anna died in 1915, she and philanthropist Mrs. Russell Sage jointly gave the island to the United States Government under Theodore Roosevelt. It is part of West Point today.