Embedded Files
Post date: Mar 23, 2017 12:54:37 AM
The cold front moved back in today with high winds and high temperatures in the 40’s. Under such conditions I just can’t keep moving north on the bike and sustain my energy for the long ride home so I moved south a bit to try and lessen the impact of this latest blast of arctic air by a few degrees. Always looking for historical context to this trip I decided to head in the direction of the colonial city of Williamsburg.
To get there I took the slower more scenic route south of Richmond heading along Virginia State 5. One of the advantages of motorcycle riding is the faster acceleration and deceleration due to the decrease in overall vehicle mass. I take full advantage of this when historical marker signs show up on the side of a road, because it is quite easy to pull over, idle the bike while reading the sign, and then get back up to speed on the road. On the road today even this was difficult. Not because of the bike, but because of the frequency of historical marker signs. This area of the country is where the colonies were first settled, it’s where the plantation system first took hold, where the revolutionary war took place and if that’s not enough we decided to have a civil war so even more markers could be placed. Every half a mile or so along the road was another marker. In some placed the markers stacked up four or five deep on the shoulder of the road, marking multiple significant events that took place through time around that spot.
As if time itself were leaving me breadcrumbs to lead me back as far as I could go on this land, I eventually ended up at Jamestown, the site of the original British settlement by the Virginia Company of London in 1607. Those of you who watch the History Channel or PBS know the story here ranges from bad planning decisions, economic opportunism, and interracial politics to cannibalism. What exist today at the site are two types of access to the history, archeological and living. As you reach Jamestown there is the Jamestown Settlement, a recreation of the James Fort original settlement along with replicas of a Powhatan Indian Village and even replicas of the three original ships that brought the first settlers. The whole thing is accompanied by a museum, educational movies, and lots of school children on field trips. The living part of this history comes from the fact that the replications are inhabited by costumed guides who occupy the exhibits, providing mini lessons on the skills and customs of the day.
A few miles away at the actual site of the settlement is another museum and park that preserves and presents the archeological record of the site, with displays that focus on the artifacts and bones found at the site and the ways we came to know the story of the history there. These two ways of presenting history are both appealing with the latter being much more academic with answers vague on some details and ripe for interpretation (cannibalism anyone?) but the former being much more accessible, fun, and immediate. (Nothing like crawling through the holds of a real navigable 15th century sailing ship…)
It was almost as if one history was for the adults and one history was for the children. Being I am striving to be an educated adult with a healthy inner child, I went to them both and enjoyed them both equaly….
Would you put a colony settlement here?
Page updated
Report abuse