Day 4 - Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown!

Day 3 – Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Caution: This is a long post because this was a long day…read on if you have time! We will add pictures later!

Well, we were up at 5:25 am and ready for our adventure. By about 5:27 everyone was tired of hearing me say Vaaaaa-gin-yuh, with a long, slow Southern drawl..too bad it will last all day! Ha ha. One of the highlights of the day occurred within the first 5 minutes of our drive. The kids had not seen the mall yet, and our route took us straight through the middle. They were thrilled to see the WA monument so close, the Castle, the Capitol.. But the best was driving past the Pentagon, looking back and seeing it all with the backdrop of the blood red sun rising. Pretty spectacular!

We drove on laughing at the names of some of the location names: Dale City, S. Anna River, Mechanicsville, Spotsylvania. The kids were watching the movie “Up” and we laughed at Campbell in true Doug the Dog fashion (when he saw a squirrel) saw a Starbucks..he was excited because Grandpa bought him a Starbucks card for his birthday. We did stop in Fredricksburg, the site of a major Civil War battle and a Confederate victory so Campbell could have his first coffee - a privilege as a 12 year old! Our excitement was building as we entered the Colonial Triangle – Yorktown, Williamsburg and Jamestown. It was good for us that we had a plan for our stay here, although we were glad that even if we didn’t there was a road called “Rochambeau” to help us out with the decision…bad joke, I know, but we’ve been up for awhile. By the way, gas in Jamestown is $2.56 a gallon-really, seriously? $0.40/gallon cheaper than in Spokane!

So, we decided to go to the original Jamestowne Settlement/archeological site of 1607 rather than the recreated site. It was amazing to see this location. We were also amazed at how small the actual location itself was. Evidently the Native people had some insight that the English did not. There was quite a shortage of potable water on this swampy ground, and not very good soil either…and such a chorus of cicadas - we’ve never heard them before. Campbell grabbed one for his 6th grade bug collection. There was a statue of John Smith and Pocahantas as well as the standing tower of the original church. In addition, there was an archeological dig where the professionals find numerous artifacts each day, in fact they have already cataloged over 2 million over the past 15 years. From here we made our way to Williamsburg. Since we had “Easy Cheese” and Wheat thins for breakfast, it was time to eat some real food! Our first stop in Williamsburg was to hear a speech from General George Washington himself. The date was September 28, 1781 and he rode in on a horse to address we, the citizens, concerning Yorktown and the eminent victory. We all cheered!!! What a beginning! Then we were on to investigate various trades of the time. We learned about silversmithing, wigmaking and blacksmithing. People in period clothing demonstrate. One observation from the whole day was just how excellent each person was in their particular role.

Next we went to a presentation by a man named Gowen Pamphlet, called “God is my Rock.” His name came from one of King Arthur’s men, (probably Sir Gawain) and his last name was in honor of Thomas Paine. This was definitely one of the highlights of the entire day. Gowen was a slave known locally as a popular preacher. He was an ordained slave Baptist minister who gave his perspective on slavery, religion and freedom. Basically, this man brought the Word! All throughout his speech he wove the importance of the Gospel. One thing he talked about was how one of his friends tried to say that Christianity was a faith of the English, but he responded, “there are no people from England in the Bible, but there certainly were people from Africa!” He told the story of Shadrack, Mechack and Abendigao (he said a “bad negro” – bad being “good”) and doing the right thing, no matter the cost. That is what they did in meeting under an “unsanctioned” religion (Baptist). We were told that if we were discovered at our meeting we would all have had 39 lashes. If we were discovered, we were instructed to just start singing! He was inspired by Rev. George Whitfield and the Great Awakening. He was called the “Divine Comet Moses.” Evidently Whitfield came to Williamsburg, but the people didn’t like what he had to say. I think he probably told the truth to them, not to mention there were 950 slaves in Williamsburg. He taught us songs of welcome in Swahili “Fungai Alafia, A-Shea A-Shea” (my English phonetic version of spelling), a song of passing on messages: “Hoe Emma, Hoe.” We loved this presentation and were able to ask questions when it was done. This man was an evangelist at heart, it was obvious.

From there we walked over to the Courthouse. Dennis was immediately chosen as a justice to sit on the bench. Of course he was excited about that. When inside, they asked for volunteers to participate in the various court cases that would be heard that day. I was chosen to be a Plaintiff, Jane Vobe, a tavern owner who was suing a man who had a 40 shilling tab at my establishment. He wanted to pay me with N. Carolina paper money! Can you believe his audacity? So, I had to plead my case to the court. The justices conferred and he was told that paper money meant nothing in Virginia, only gold and silver meant something. He had to leave his horse and saddle, and find money within a week to pay me. It was very fun!

Following the court case, we went to the magazine house and learned about the stockholdings for the town militia. The armory was to come borrow weapons and ammunition when the militia was called out and didn’t have weapons. Leading up to the Revolutionary War the Governor seized the armory and dismantled many of the weapons so the Patriots couldn’t take the weapons and fight against the British. They had one musket there that weighed 40 pounds!

Next, we went to one woman show. This woman portrayed 3 different characters who would have been living during the Revolutionary War. First, she was a woman who inherited 354 acres, with slaves, from her father after he died. She was 18 and was married young. Her husband gambled all of their property away and ended up joining up with the Army. She and her 5 children followed the military, working, but when her husband and 2 children died of camp fever, she was destitute. They found work at a boarding house. Next, she was a Loyalist who had come with her husband from England to sell fine textiles. As events occurred and there was a ban on imports, her husband refused to become a Patriot so was tarred and feathered, jailed and then banished. She was left to sell off her property then join him. But when Charleston was taken over she was stuck. She ended up becoming a spy for the British as she housed, under “house arrest” British Officers. She believed that God had ordained King George as the leader and the work of the Patriots was treasonous. Eventually, she was able to return to England with her husband. Finally, she was Deborah Samson, an actual person who ended up joining the army as a woman disguised as a man. She was discovered when she became injured. This was very interesting as well. Her whole play was outstanding.

Finally, we watched General George Washington review his troops. There was marching, gun firing and saluting, cannon firing, and the children following the marching soldiers. Erin and Campbell jumped out to join them.

As we ended the evening, we briefly went to an museum but ended up eating real tavern food where we were serenaded with minstrels and a magician. Hey Mitz-we ate okra!!!

We made a mad rush for Yorktown – we had to do it, we were nearly there. The sun was setting so we didn’t see much BUT we were there!

This was a fantastic day. We could have spent days there. The kids LOVED it. In fact, towards the end of the day Daniel said, “This is more fun than Disneyland!” Music to his daddy’s ears!

Over the past 2 days, we have talked a lot about the events of our country. Would be have been Confederate or Union , Loyalists or Patriots?

Dennis’ Washington DC top ten (prior to family visit):
1. Time with his collegues
2. West Wing White House tour
3. Arlington Cemetary
4. Holocaust Museum
5. Norman Rockwell
6. 1st person experience with a Holocaust survivor
7. American History Museum
8. Monuments
9. Subway
10. AP Conference

Some funny extras of the day:

• Along the way we saw some real VA cows! We have never seen them before, Daniel thought they’d be good for Campbell’s bug collection! Daniel also caught a real Pennsylvania fly for Campbell’s bug collection yesterday, but Campbell didn’t want it…so ungrateful. Ha ha.
• Remembering from yesterday all of the names of Civil War men and how their names have carried on: Farragut, Bragg, Sam Houston, Sprague and Taney (the judge who stated that Dred Scott was not a citizen.)
• Ice cream in Yorktown,
• Campbell found a red dragon fly and a cicada for his bug collection!