NELSON'S NOTES #68

Written at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, August 18, 2007

GOING BACK IN TIME TO COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG

We left San Benito on July 5. Ten days later we were in a different place and a different century. With our daughter, Teri, who met us in Williamsburg, we came to understand the American Revolution in a new way.

Inscriptions like this one on the bridge leading into Colonial Williamsburg (Virginia's capital at the time) reinforce the value of our freedom today. Other inscriptions on the bridge were: "1954 - from this date you tolerate segregated schools; 1920 - from this date you accept that women cannot vote; 1865 - from this date you know people who own other people."

On our first day, we congregated under shade trees across the street from the Raleigh Tavern, waiting for the revolution to unfold. Fifers and drummers marching down the Duke of Gloucester Street and young ladies dancing reels signaled that something exciting was about to happen. In a few minutes Thomas Jefferson would address the crowd. In an engaging oratory, he would challenge us, the citizens of Virginia, to consider what independence might mean and what our rights and responsibilities would be if Virginia was no longer a British colony but became a self-governing republic.

In the daily re-enactments, not only were the viewpoints of great leaders portrayed but also the plight of the less fortunate--slaves, indentured servants and families torn apart by the war. Lydia Broadnax, a Negro slave, gave us something to ponder when she asked, "If all men are created equal, as it is written in this new Declaration of Independence, what does it mean for people like me?"

On each of the next three days, a different stage of the revolution was acted out. We got caught up in the fervor of the time, reacting with cheers or shouts to the speeches and other portrayals. Some visitors talked with the interpreters. These were actors dressed in period costume who were well-versed in the customs of the time. As they mingled among us, everything they said or did was from their 18th century perspective. For example, when a tar and feathering was about to take place, a man in colonial dress sitting next to me said, "I'm surprised a lady of your caliber is here watching this debacle."

Lord Dunmore, the last royal governor of the Virginia colony, addresses the crowd. When he chastises Virginia and the House of Burgesses for opposing the king's new taxes and for protesting the closing of Boston Harbor by the British government, the crowd lets out a chorus of boos. One spectator shouts, "Down with the King."

A crowd watches fifers and drummers march and soldiers practice firing their arms.

In this map of colonial America, Virginia (the northernmost red area) and the other southern colonies encompass a much larger area than their respective states do today. In colonial Virginia, only landowners could vote or be elected to office. The overall population of the Virginia colony was 50% slaves, 20% indentured servants and 30% merchants and landowners.

HARPER'S FERRY NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK

After spending a week in Williamsburg, we jumped ahead nearly a century to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, and events that would lead to the Civil War. In the 1850s, Harper's Ferry was a dirty, noisy industrial town on the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers. Its U.S. Armory, which had a rifle factory and two arsenals where thousands of finished weapons were stored, was one of the reasons John Brown chose Harper's Ferry to stage an attack to free Negro slaves. However, the abolitionist's 21-man "army of liberation" was no match against the U.S. Marines. Thirty-six hours later, Brown was captured in the armory firehouse, which is known today as John Brown's Fort. Soon after his capture, Brown was tried and executed. Although his raid failed, the events he started caused the nation to focus on the moral issue of slavery. A year and a half later, the civil war began.

Scene from Shenandoah Street in Harper's Ferry. At noon, we met our interpreter near the church in the picture.
Before starting her spiel, she waited for the loud bells to ring 12 times.

John Brown's Fort, the building where the abolitionist was captured.

FAMILY

One afternoon we visited the Jamestown Settlement, an 8-mile drive from Williamsburg on the pretty Colonial Parkway. Teri and Bruce view replicas of English ships that brought settlers to the new world. Jamestown, the first English-speaking settlement in America, was founded in 1607.

After Williamsburg, Jamestown and Harper's Ferry, we visited my brother Bob and his wife Alicemae at their home in Herndon, Virginia.

Marianna Nelson