Stratford Hall is hosting programs in commemoration of Robert E. Lee's 200th birthday. Lee was born at the Westmoreland County plantation. To get to Stratford Hall from Fredericksburg, take State Route 3 east for 40 miles to State Route 214. 804/493-8038; stratfordhall.org. Programs include:

SATURDAY, FEB. 17, 2 P.M.: Elizabeth Brown Pryor, author of the new book "Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters," will speak on "Robert E. Lee: New Documents and New Questions."

SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 2 P.M.: Mary P. Coulling, author of "The Lee Girls," will give a talk titled "Shadows and Mirrors: Robert E. Lee and the Women He Cared Most About."

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 7, 7:30 P.M.: "The Footsteps of Lee." Salem Church Library, Spotsylvania. National Park Service historian Eric Mink offers a travelogue of Fredericksburg-area places associated with Lee during the Civil War--some famous, some more obscure. Part of the Lee Bicentennial Series planned by Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park and the Central Rappahannock Regional Library. 540/371-0802.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 7:30 P.M.: "Being No. 1: Lee the Man." National Park Service historian Frank O'Reilly examines the personal side of Lee and how he grew to become one of the most famous of all Americans. Central Rappahannock Regional Library headquarters, Fredericksburg.

ELSEWHERE IN VIRGINIA (see relee2007.com):

THROUGH FEB. 3: "Re-Visioning Lee" exhibit at Wilson Hall, Washington & Lee University, Lexington. 540/886-8861; lee200.wlu.edu.

SATURDAY, FEB. 24: "The Answers They Were Born to Make--Choosing Sides in the Civil War" symposium at the Library of Virginia, Richmond. Examine choices that Southern military leaders, including Robert. E. Lee, faced on the eve of the Civil War, and decisions they were forced to make. Sponsored by the Museum of the Confederacy; moc.org.

SUNDAY, MARCH 11: Tour Richmond historic sites relevant to Lee. Sponsored by the Virginia Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy; vaudc.org.