Trend & Tradition Autumnn 2025

THE MAGAZINE OF COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG

A QUESTION of LOYALTIES A MOVE like NO OTHER

INSPIRATION POINT AUTUMN 2025

$3.99

DISPLAY UNTIL DECEMBER 30, 2025

T HE O PTIMAL S ERVICE GROUP OF WELLS FARGO ADVISORS

We believe Greed and Fear, more than any market correction can undermine your financial future.

We are here to help.

Williamsburg 428 McLaws Circle Suite 100 Williamsburg, VA 23185

Direct 757.220.1782 Toll-Free 888.465.8422 OptimalServiceGroup.com

Richmond 1021 E. Cary Street 22nd Floor Richmond, VA 23219

JOSEPH W. MONTGOMERY, CFP ® MANAGING DIRECTOR - INVESTMENTS INVESTMENT AND INSURANCE PRODUCTS: NOT FDIC INSURED

NO BANK GUARANTEE

MAY LOSE VALUE

Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. 2025 Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC PM-05082026-7279164.1.1

Expand your idea of what life was like then.

And of what a museum can be now.

In the 18th century, silver was not just a sign of wealth, it was made into functional objects found across many settings. One object that reflects this is a silver tankard made around 1795 by Paul Revere Jr., the famed Boston silversmith known for his historic midnight ride. This tankard, one of the largest forms made in his shop, showcases the blend of artistry and function that defined American silver. It’s now on view in Silver from Modest to Majestic, a new exhibition featuring over 120 objects that explore silver’s role in spaces from palaces and parlors to churches and battlefields.

The tankard’s connection to a well-known maker and moment in history helps illuminate the broader story of silver’s place in American life.

Visit the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg to explore objects that connect past and present, and discover how global influences shaped everyday life in ways that still resonate today.

“Museum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund”

Visit the “Silver from Modest to Majestic” exhibition – Now Open.

OPEN DA I LY

Enjoy free admission to the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg—open daily to the public.

@ArtMuseumsofCWF

301 S. Nassau St., Williamsburg, VA 23185

AUTUMN 2025

Table of Contents

4

BUILDING ON A FOUNDATION

19

MODERN HISTORY

6

ON THE WEB

26

BEHIND THE SCENES

7

IN REMEMBRANCE: RICHARD ROBERTS

10

PHILANTHROPY AT WORK

Inspiring students through the power of place

By Paul Aron 16 AUTUMN 2025 VOLUME 10 • NUMBER 4

30

A Q&A with author Valerie Tripp

By Ellen Peltz 34

IN RETROSPECT

When Colonial Williamsburg decorated the White House Christmas tree

MOVING MILLIONS

The delicate task of packing priceless artifacts

By Paul Aron

A PLACE OF “PURE ENCHANTMENT”

39

AT THE MUSEUMS

High school students from National History Academy explore Williamsburg’s Historic Area to learn the power of place — on Page 10.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN NEWSON

2

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

BR I A N NE W S O N; O P P O SI T E : BR I A N NE W S O N

About Town

New performance explores reactions to Dunmore’s proclamation

By Paul Aron

COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG FOUNDATION TRUSTEES Carly Fiorina, Chair, Mason Neck, Va. Cliff Fleet, President and CEO, Williamsburg, Va. Kendrick F. Ashton Jr., Arlington, Va. Frank Batten Jr., Norfolk, Va. Geoff Bennett, Fairfax, Va. Catharine Broderick, Lake Wales, Fla. William Casperson, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Mark A. Coblitz, Wayne, Pa. Ted Decker, Atlanta, Ga. Walter B. Edgar, Columbia, S.C. Neil M. Gorsuch, Washington, D.C. Conrad Mercer Hall, Norfolk, Va. Antonia Hernandez, Pasadena, Calif.

John A. Luke Jr., Richmond, Va. Walfrido J. Martinez, New York, N.Y. Leslie A. Miller, Philadelphia, Pa. Steven L. Miller, Houston, Texas Joseph W. Montgomery, Williamsburg, Va. Steve Netzley, Carlsbad, Calif.

Walter S. Robertson III, Richmond, Va. Gerald L. Shaheen, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Larry W. Sonsini, Palo Alto, Calif.

Sheldon M. Stone, Los Angeles, Calif.

Y. Ping Sun, Houston, Texas Hon. John Charles Thomas, Richmond, Va. Jeffrey B. Trammell, Washington, D.C. Alex Wallace, New York, N.Y.

34 Decorate the Season

42

CHRONICLES OF THE COLLECTION

A tall clock case was one of Dunmore’s prized possessions

Live & Learn 46

LOYAL TO THE CROWN

CHAIRS EMERITI

The fate of those who backed Great Britain in the Revolutionary War

By Timothy Compeau 54

62

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Catherine Whittenburg CREATIVE DIRECTOR

EDITORIAL MANAGER

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Katie Roy

Pete Van Vleet

Angela C. Taormina

DESIGNERS

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

By Barbara Rust Brown

Katherine Jordan Lauren Metzger

Paul Aron, Ronald L. Hurst, Eve Otmar, Rachel West

PUBLICATIONS COORDINATOR

“OUT OF THE PROTECTION OF THE BRITISH CROWN”

PHOTOGRAPHER

COPY EDITORS

Brian Newson

Patricia Carroll, Amy Watson

GARDEN-TO-TABLE: GRAPES

The Prohibitory Act hastened the cry for independence

By Cathy Hellier 68

TREND & TRADITION

ROAD TO REVOLUTION

Key events from January through December 1775 57

Thurston R. Moore, Richmond, Va. Richard G. Tilghman, Richmond, Va. Henry C. Wolf, Williamsburg, Va.

AT ODDS IN LIFE, REUNITED IN DEATH

Brothers Peyton and John Randolph differed politically but now lie together

By Kelly M. Brennan

Grenda Greene

MEDIA COLLECTIONS

Tracey Gulden, Matthew Kelly, Jenna Simpson, Brendan Sostak RESEARCH

Erin Lopater, Marianne Martin, Douglas Mayo DONORS Please address all donor correspondence, address changes and requests for our current financial statement to: Signe Foerster, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, P.O. Box 1776, Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776 or email sfoerster@cwf.org, telephone 888-293-1776.

Donations support the programs and preservation efforts of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, a not-for-profit, tax-exempt corporation organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, with principal offices in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Address changes & subscription questions: gifts@cwf.org or 888-293-1776 Editorial inquiries: editor@cwf.org Advertising: magazineadsales@cwf.org or 757-220-7382

74

BOOKS

75

DO-IT-YOURSELF: ORNAMENT

79

PUZZLES AND PRIZE

Trend & Tradition: The Magazine of Colonial Williamsburg (ISSN 2470-198X) is published quarterly in winter, spring, summer and autumn by the not-for-profit Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 301 First Street, Williamsburg, VA 23185. A one-year subscription is available to Foundation donors of $50 a year or more, of which $14 is reserved for a subscription. Periodical postage paid at Williamsburg, VA, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Trend & Tradition: The Magazine of Colonial Williamsburg, Attn: Signe Foerster, P.O. Box 1776, Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776. © 2025 The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. All rights reserved.

81

PARTING SHOT

NOTE Advertising in Trend & Tradition does not imply endorsement of products or services by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

3

Building on a Foundation

Cornerstones of Democracy Sharing our history to unite all Americans

“It was not because it was proposed to establish a new nation, but because it was proposed to establish a nation on new principles, that July 4, 1776, has come to be regarded as one of the greatest days in history.”

— PRESIDENT CALVIN COOLIDGE, “THE INSPIRATION OF THE DECLARATION,” JULY 5, 1926

With these words, which he spoke in honor of America’s 150th anniversary, America’s 30th president captured the extraordinary significance of our nation’s founding. For while virtually every other country on Earth was formed on the basis of religion, race, conquest or some combination of the three, the United States was different. Not only were they the first colonies in modern history to successfully unite and break from its colonizer, it had done so on the strength of ideals and principles that remain the cornerstones of our democratic system today.

Coolidge delivered his speech before a crowd of 35,000 in a stadium on the grounds of Philadelphia’s Sesquicentennial International Exposition. But one could be forgiven for thinking that he had delivered it right here in Williamsburg. For while he was likely unaware of it, his words encapsulated the very essence of Williamsburg’s role in America’s founding. It was here, in this capital city of the largest of the 13 colonies, where the ideals of the Enlightenment had coalesced into the founding principles of a future nation. In the years leading up to independence, it was in Williamsburg that luminaries such as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry and George Mason discussed and fiercely debated the concepts of liberty, freedom and human rights. Virginia’s lawmakers declared their colony’s independence from Britain here and called on all 12 of their sister colonies to join them. And it was here that patriot lawmakers adopted Virginia’s Declaration of Rights — a visionary

4

document that heavily influenced the Declaration of Independence and, later, the Bill of Rights.

Today, the Foundation is leading the nation in the spirit of Williamsburg’s founding generation, this time in commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary in 2026.

This is a rare opportunity for all of us to join together and reflect on the journey we have traveled as a nation and on who we are and seek to be as Americans. It is a time to remember what united us as a nation in the first place and to recommit ourselves to the unfinished work of our courageous forebears to build a more perfect union.

Much of our nation’s formative history occurred in the environs of Williamsburg, and it is our responsibility to share it at this historic moment to help bring us together as Americans.

It was 250 years ago this past March that Patrick Henry delivered his legendary “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech at the Second Virginia Convention, held just up the road in Richmond to avoid interference from Virginia’s royal governor, Lord Dunmore, in Williamsburg. Less than a month later, Dunmore sparked the infamous Gunpowder Incident by removing the gunpowder from the magazine in Williamsburg. Henry soon led the Hanover County militia in a march on Williamsburg to demand the powder’s return — the beginning of armed revolution in Virginia. Hostilities continued into the summer, and in June, Dunmore and his family fled the Palace, which the colonists in Williamsburg promptly

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

Building on a Foundation

know about the estate and the lives of its residents and seized, just after Geroge Washington’s commission as informing our plans to reconstruct its renowned garcommander in chief of the Continental army. dens. We also unearthed the foundations of the African Our staff in the Historic Area and Art Museums have Baptist Meeting House, the original church building for been busy researching and educating the public about one of America’s oldest Black congregations, which dates these and other key events of 1775. As I write these its origin to the same year as the nation. We have begun words, they are finalizing special programming to mark the reconstruction of this historic structure and will yet another: Lord Dunmore’s promise in November to open it in time for this resilient church’s 250th anniverfree anyone indentured or enslaved by a rebel colonist if sary in 2026. they joined the British forces. This proclamation, which For all that we have already shared with the nation fulfilled a threat Dunmore had made in the spring, conabout the semiquincentennial, so much exciting work verted a number of moderate Virginians into revolutionstill lies ahead to engage the nation in its origin story. aries while inspiring hundreds of enslaved Americans to Next April, we plan to open the Colin G. join Dunmore’s “Ethiopian Regiment.” and Nancy N. Campbell Archaeology You can learn more on Pages 26–28 of Center, a state-of-the-art facility that this issue of Trend & Tradition about will transform how our researchers our new programming exploring the study and share their discoveries with impact of Dunmore’s proclamation the public. In May we will commemoand trace the events leading to revolurate the meeting of the Fifth Virginia tion in Williamsburg and beyond on Convention in Williamsburg, where Pages 54–56. lawmakers adopted the colony’s DecIt is also thanks to you that we have laration of Rights and instructed their been able to dramatically expand the representatives in Philadelphia to breadth and depth of our educational propose independence at the Second impact. By expanding our digital Continental Congress. This historic content, Teacher Institute offerings, Cliff Fleet decision led directly to the adoption of conferences, community events, publithe Declaration of Independence on July 4. Next year, we cations and other forms of outreach, we shared America’s will invite the entire nation here on that historic day to founding history with more than 23 million people in celebrate our nation’s independence with us as no other 2024 and expect to greatly increase this reach by the end organization can. of this year.

It is our honor to share all of this with the entire nation Williamsburg is also a place of never-ending discovery, and thanks to your generous support we have been able to and to use the power of history to unite all Americans deepen our understanding of America’s founding through in a renewed sense of purpose and belonging. We are so grateful to you for making it possible. I hope that you groundbreaking research. We discovered and restored will be able to join us — in person, virtually or both — the Williamsburg Bray School, the nation’s oldest surviving building dedicated to the education of enslaved for what promises to be a truly inspiring year. and free Black children, and permanently opened it to the public on Juneteenth of this year. We uncovered Sincerely, new information about the architecture of the powder Magazine, which figured so centrally in the Gunpowder Incident of 1775, and restored this iconic building to its appearance at the time of the Revolution. And we excavated Custis Square, the estate of plantation owner Cliff Fleet John Custis IV, first father-in-law to Martha WashingPresident & CEO ton and member of the governor’s Council. The 350,000 Colin G. and Nancy N. Campbell Distinguished artifacts we found at this site are redefining what we Presidential Chair

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

5

On the Web

Investigation Declaration Play a new online game from Colonial Williamsburg and iCivics

Informed Citizenry

6

Seek and Find

A “more perfect union” meant more public involvement, but how best to educate and inform everyone?

A new hunt allows children to explore life in the 18th century

colonialwilliamsburg.org/informedcitizenry

colonialwilliamsburg.org/scavengerhunt

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

T O P : ICI V IC S; B O T T O M L E F T: A R C HI T EC T O F T HE C A PI T O L

colonialwilliamsburg.org/ investigation

IN REMEMBR ANCE

L A E L WHI T E

Richard Roberts Richard “Dick” Roberts, a leader in the telecommunications industry and a senior trustee of Colonial Williamsburg, passed away on June 12. He was 90.

Roberts was an active board member from December 2001 to November 2006, and he served on the Art Museums board from February 2015 to February 2020.

A Massachusetts native, Roberts graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, served in the U.S. Submarine Force and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. In 1967, he joined Landmark Communications in Norfolk, Virginia, where he helped establish the company’s cable television business. He became president and CEO of the TeleCable Corporation, whose subscribers grew under his leadership from 14,000 locally to more than 750,000 across 15 states. He received Cablevision Magazine’s Bill Daniels Operator of the Year Award at the National Cable Television Convention in 1994, the year he retired.

Roberts and his wife, Shirley, who passed away in 2021, also served on the President’s Council and were Keepers of the Key members of the Raleigh Tavern Society. Their generosity to the Foundation reflected their interests in 18th-century architecture, archaeology, preservation and material culture, and their numerous gifts included endowing the architectural

historian position that bears their name today and the Shirley H. and Richard D. Roberts Gallery at the Art Museums.

“Dick’s commitment to civic and community service made him a perfect fit for Colonial Williamsburg’s board of trustees,” said Cliff Fleet, the Foundation’s president and CEO. “We are grateful for his generosity and his many years of service to the Foundation and throughout the commonwealth.”

“Dick was passionate about history, preservation and material culture,” said Ron Hurst, the Foundation’s chief mission officer. “Again and again, when Colonial Williamsburg identified issues or needs in those areas, Dick would ask in his warm New England accent, ‘How can I help?’ And help he did, through insightful leadership, friendly guidance and generous support. Dick Roberts has left a lasting impression on this institution, and we are the better for his time with us.”

Beyond the Foundation, Roberts volunteered in a leadership capacity at many organizations in the region, including the Children’s Health Foundation, the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Norfolk Airport Authority, the United Way of South Hampton Roads, the Virginia Opera, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Wesleyan University and the Lions Club.

If integrity were a place, it would be Williamsburg.

Nation Builder Katharine Pittman portrays Martha Washington

Martha Washington, our nation’s first First Lady, is cemented in history as a devoted and loyal wife, a practical businesswoman, a principled leader and a woman of integrity. Your legacy — through a gift in your will or estate

Your legacy speaks to your steadfast integrity.

plan — supports our founding ideals by helping to preserve the very place where America’s story began and sharing our nation’s history with generations to come. To learn more about including a gift in your will to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, contact the Office of Gift Planning today at 1-888-293-1776 or legacy@cwf.org.

Please consult professional advisors before making a charitable gift. Colonial Williamsburg cannot render tax or legal advice. Colonial Williamsburg® is a registered trademark of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation © 2025.

About Town EXPLORE COLONIAL SITES AND HISTORY . PEEK BEHIND THE SCENES . PURSUE AND PLAN

p. 34

T HE WHI T E H O U S E

Crafting Christmas

I

n July, 90 high school students from National History Academy, a fourweek residential summer program in Middleburg, Virginia, arrived in Williamsburg. Divided into four groups, they attended special sessions at the African Baptist Meeting House and Burial Ground, the Bray School and the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. They also toured the Capitol, Raleigh Tavern and American Indian Encampment.

All these sites highlight the power of place, which is — not coincidentally — the name of Colonial Williamsburg’s $600 million fundraising campaign to support the Foundation’s preservation, education and civic engagement goals.

Donor support is critical

10

to advancing the Foundation’s educational mission and touches nearly every aspect of our work to share America’s origin story and inspire the next generation.

“Young people retain knowledge longer when they’ve learned it through an emotional and engaging experience,” said Mia Nagawiecki, the Foundation’s senior vice president for education. “Colonial Williamsburg can do that authentically because this is the actual place that history happened. We have primary sources in the forms of buildings as well as documents, and we can combine those with the incredible talents of interpreters, actors, musicians and our production teams to create an immersive experience of the past in

(Opposite page, top) National History Academy students visit the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. (Bottom) A Public Archaeology Institute participant examines an artifact from Custis Square.

Educational programs engage all the senses

by Paul Aron

a way that helps people understand what it was like to be alive then.”

“Books are tremendously valuable for teaching history,” said Ron Hurst, the Foundation’s chief mission officer.

“But when you’re on-site, you can use your eyes, your ears, your sense of smell and — in some cases — touch. Using all your senses is a far more effective way to learn than simply reading.”

The National History Academy’s current program at the Foundation came about after philanthropist Jacqueline Mars met with Cliff Fleet, the Foundation’s president and CEO, and encouraged greater collaboration between the two organizations. This year’s itinerary added the Bray School and

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

T O P : BR I A N NE W S O N; B O T T O M: BR E NDA N S O S TA K

INSPIRING AMERICA’S STUDENTS

12

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

T O P A ND B O T T O M R IG H T: BR I A N NE W S O N; B O T T O M L E F T: BR E NDA N S O S TA K

About Town

BR E NDA N S O S TA K

PHILANTHROPY AT WORK

the African Baptist Meeting House.

The discovery of the building that housed the Bray School, where Black children were educated between 1760 and 1765, generated national attention. Researchers continue to explore how slavery and the education of Black children coexisted and how — despite the school’s undeniably proslavery ideology — those children could have used their education to undercut slavery.

After extensive research by archaeologists, architectural historians and curators, the restored building opened to the public on Juneteenth.

The history of the African Baptist Meeting House site dates back to 1776 and a Black congregation that, since they were legally forbidden to gather, first met secretly.

Colonial Williamsburg’s archaeologists uncovered the foundations of the early 19th-century church, and a ceremonial groundbreaking for a reconstructed meetinghouse also took place on Juneteenth.

Both the Bray School and African Baptist Meeting House projects were fully funded by donors as part of the Power of Place Campaign, including grants awarded by the

Mellon Foundation and the Lilly Endowment.

The Foundations of History

The program for National History Academy was by no means the only one for youths in Williamsburg this summer. Since 2021, the Foundation’s own Public Archaeology Institute has engaged high school students with a mix of lab work and fieldwork. This year that fieldwork took place at Custis Square.

Historians have long been intrigued by John Custis IV because Martha Washington, before marrying George, had been married to Custis’ son. Recent excavations focused on Custis’ elaborate garden and, in keeping with the Foundation’s efforts to present a more comprehensive history of the period, on the enslaved people who constructed and maintained the gardens. Plans call for reconstructing the gardens, which were said to have rivaled those at the Governor’s Palace.

Plans also call for expanding the Public Archaeology Institute to include younger kids. The new Colin G. and Nancy N. Campbell Archaeology Center, which opens in April 2026, will provide space to allow for additional programs.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

(Above) Public Archaeology Institute participants take part in the excavation of Custis Square. (Opposite page) National History Academy students tour, among other sites, (clockwise from top) the Bray School, the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg and the Capitol.

“Archaeology lays the foundation for discovering history,” said Crystal Castleberry, the Foundation’s public archaeologist. “I hope students take from this program the idea that discoveries never end. We’ve been digging in the same city for nearly a hundred years, and the 18th-century trash — the remains of everyday life — that we uncover still sheds light on the people who lived here.”

13

About Town

Castleberry noted that the institute’s name intentionally stresses the public aspect of archaeology because students, like Colonial Williamsburg’s archaeologists, routinely interact with the public.

That is certainly the case at the newest excavation, which is centrally located on Duke of Gloucester Street across from Bruton Parish Church. The site was the house and workshop of Peter Scott, a prominent furniture maker who rented the structures from Custis and later from Martha and George Washington.

William & Mary students worked at the Scott site this summer as part of a field school for college students that has been held in the Historic Area for decades.

“We try to bring the students to our coolest sites,” said Eric Schweickart, the Foundation archaeologist who taught this

Among the programs for this summer’s participants in the Bob and Marion Wilson Teacher Institute was “Art and Mysteries of Medicine,” seen here at the Pasteur & Galt Apothecary Shop.

Teaching Teachers

How You Can Help From establishing educational programming that inspires the next generation of history lovers to restoring and reconstructing historic sites, Colonial Williamsburg is dedicated to preserving our nation’s history and bringing it to life. Donor support

14

year’s class. “But you’re digging a hole and sweating in the summer heat and sometimes not finding anything interesting. It’s definitely a moment when students discover whether they really want to be an archaeologist.”

makes possible everything mentioned here and so much more.

To contribute to the Campaign, visit colonial williamsburg.org/TT. For more information on how to support these programs and more, email campaign@cwf.org.

The Foundation also reaches young people through their teachers.

This year, the Bob and Marion Wilson Teacher Institute moved into a new home near the Williamsburg Lodge, which allows it to provide more teachers with strategies and resources, including lesson plans, primary sources and other media

for teaching history.

“Bob and Marion Wilson’s original vision for the program was all about the students — that while not every student could come to Williamsburg on a field trip, if we bring the teachers, the teachers can take the power of this place to the dozens and, over time, hundreds and thousands of students in their classrooms,” said Nagawiecki.

Thanks to dozens of generous donors who underwrote scholarships for 500 teachers, this summer was the first in the institute’s 36-year history in which teachers from all 50 states were able to participate in the program in Williamsburg.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

BR I A N NE W S O N

PHILANTHROPY AT WORK

Spring Greens.

Jewels for a Lifetime.

Precious Gem jewels are designed and handcrafted in our Merchants Square shop.

Our selection of opal treasures is second to none. Heirlooms in the making. Only here.

Visit soon or email info@thepreciousgems.com for details or to schedule a private appointment.

One-of-a-kind: Australian black opal, diamond, and ruby bangle, 18K gold.

Merchants Square, Williamsburg • 757-220-1115 • 1-800-644-8077 • Mon. - Sat. 10am - 5:30pm, Sun. by appointment. thepreciousgems.com • Like us on Facebook

About Town ARCHAEOLOGY MOVE

Moving Millions

ARCHAEOLOGISTS PREPARE TO MOVE INTO THEIR NEW DIGS

by PAUL ARON Photography by BRENDAN SOSTAK

M

oving to a new home, as everyone who has had to pack, label and sort boxes knows all too well, is stressful. Imagine, then, having to move millions of objects.

Now imagine that many of those objects are fragile and irreplaceable.

That is the task for archaeologists, conservators and curators as they prepare to move into the Colin G. and Nancy N. Campbell Archaeology Center, which opens in April 2026.

Recent excavations at Custis Square alone have unearthed more than 250,000 valuable artifacts that will have to be moved.

“We can’t just put bags in boxes,” said Jack Gary, Colonial Williamsburg’s associate vice president for historic resources. “We’re building a world-class facility for this collection, so let’s treat it like the world-class collection it is when we’re moving it.”

So, before they put anything into boxes, they did some thinking outside the box.

“We’re moving all different media,

16

including ceramics, organic material, metals and glass, each of which has its own handling and condition concerns,” said Kate McEnroe, conservator of archaeological materials.

“We are creating new ways to pack archaeological materials, minimizing waste and improving efficiency wherever possible.”

As with any move, planning is key, and those preparing the move have drawn up extensive blueprints.

Some examples: Rather than label a box with just its destination room, each box will be labeled to indicate exactly where it will be stored. If an item will stay boxed in its new home, it is packed and labeled accordingly.

Small items such as buttons, beads and buckles will be placed in padded polyethylene bags within trays. To minimize the risk of anything breaking, each artifact will be handled as little as possible. To limit expenses and minimize waste, packing materials will be unloaded and reused whenever possible, such as with oversized objects that will not be stored in their moving boxes.

Not everything can be packed in advance, though. Artifacts that could be damaged by high humidity, for example, will stay in their current and safer locations until the new building is ready. They will be moved

Jennifer McGee, an archaeological field technician, updates object locations in the collections database.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

“WE’RE BUILDING A WORLD-CLASS FACILITY FOR THIS COLLECTION, SO LET’S TREAT IT LIKE THE WORLD-CLASS COLLECTION IT IS WHEN WE’RE MOVING IT.” —Jack Gary

Dana Kay, a preventive conservation technician, prepares fragile iron fragments for moving.

Jonah Peters (left) and Lisa Ashby, both of the preventive conservation department, create housing for the objects from the collection in preparation for the move.

18

during the winter or spring, when it is less humid.

Testing is also key. Conservators are evaluating various cushioning media including sand, polyethylene beads, and other creative and reusable supplies. They are also working to minimize shocks, both small and large scale, considering everything from the packing boxes to the moving truck.

All told, the move will involve thousands of hours of work for staff members, interns and volunteers.

There are upsides to all that work.

Packing gives curators a chance to look anew at the collection, updating cataloging systems that in many cases were decades old. Ivor Noël Hume, whose excavations in and around Williamsburg from the 1950s to the 1980s led to his being called the father

of historical archaeology, recorded his information on file cards.

“It’s fantastic information,” said Gary, “but as archaeology has changed so have the ways of organizing information. We want a single, integrated system so we can track everything in the new building.”

As has often been the case throughout Colonial Williamsburg’s history, the Foundation will provide a model for other museums, in this case for museums that might someday move their collections.

The new building will contain state-of-the-art laboratories and curated collections open to visitors.

Some collections will be on display immediately, including the Wall of Wonder. The wall will feature some of the most revealing artifacts from a century of digging.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

Modern History NEWS AND EVENTS of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Descendants of the original congregation and other First Baptist Church members take part in the groundbreaking. Other highlights at the ceremony included a performance by The Descendant Children’s Choir.

African Baptist Meeting House To Be Reconstructed T O P : BR I A N NE W S O N; B O T T O M: GR AINGER DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITEC TUR AL PRESERVATION AND RESE ARCH, COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG FOUNDATION

Building to be completed in October 2026

A

ceremonial groundbreaking for the African Baptist Meeting House, which will be reconstructed on Nassau Street, took place on Juneteenth. The congregation dates back to 1776 when, legally forbidden to gather, the group met secretly in an arbor. A building was first erected in the early 19th century; it was destroyed in 1834 by a tornado. A new building, dedicated in 1856, stood until 1957.

Dana Tomlin, Colonial Williamsburg’s chief of staff and a longtime member of the community, opened the ceremonies by saying it was more than a groundbreaking. “This is a homecoming,” Tomlin said. “In

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

lifting up this space again, we’re not just reconstructing a building. We’re restoring a dignity to a community’s voice, honoring a legacy that has long deserved recognition.”

The church’s 19th-century foundations, along with the graves of some congregants, were buried under a parking lot around 1965. Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists began excavating the site in 2020.

The congregation still exists and worships at First Baptist Church, just outside the Historic Area. At the conclusion of the Juneteenth ceremony, descendants of the original congregation and other church members used specially engraved shovels to turn

dirt on the site. The reconstructed building is scheduled to be completed in October 2026 on the original church’s 250th anniversary.

The reconstructed building, shown in a conjectural model, will be completed in October 2026.

19

About Town MODERN HISTORY

Bray School Opens to Public

C

ommunity members and guests toured the Williams­ burg Bray School on Juneteenth, the first day it opened to the public. The event garnered national and international media attention.

Between 1760 and 1774, more than 400 Black children, some free but most enslaved, were educated at the school. Most his­ torians assumed the building that housed the school was long gone, but archaeological finds at the building’s original site and docu­ mentary evidence suggested oth­ erwise. Dendrochronology, which dates buildings by studying the tree rings in their wooden com­ ponents, confirmed the building,

which had been moved to William & Mary’s campus in 1930.

The school had a proslavery ideology, but students may never­ theless have used what they learned to undermine slavery.

The New York Times article on the opening, which appeared on the front page of the newspaper, quoted Janice Canaday, whose ancestors attended the school and who is Colonial Williams­ burg’s African American commu­ nity engagement manager.

“Did they go home, wherever home was, and share what they learned?” Canaday asked of the children who attended the school.

“Did they look out the window and somehow see hope?”

2026 Calendar of Events Colonial Williamsburg is planning a year full of memorable events, activities and displays in celebration of the country’s 250th birthday as well as the Foundation’s 100th birthday.

Visit our website to learn more.

BR I A N NE W S O N

colonialwilliamsburg.org/2026

20

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

About Town MODERN HISTORY

Collections staff make the Governor’s Palace look as it may have when Lord Dunmore was preparing to flee the city.

“Expecting every Moment to be attacked” Presenting the Palace as the royal governor prepared to leave

BR E NDA N S O S TA K

V

isitors to the Governor’s Palace this summer may have noted that it wasn’t quite as orderly as expected. This bit of disorder did not represent a breakdown on the part of Colonial Williamsburg’s curatorial or maintenance staff.

Rather, it reflected the state of the Palace in May and June 1775 as Revolutionary fervor spread and the royal governor, Lord Dunmore, prepared to flee.

The governor’s own letters reveal his increasing nervousness.

On May 1, 1775, Dunmore wrote British Vice Adm. Samuel Graves that his wife, Lady Dunmore, and children were aboard a British ship, “the only place of Safety to which I could send them.” Two weeks later, Dunmore informed London that “the Commotion in this Colony. . . has obliged me to shut myself in and make a Garrison of my House expect-

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

ing every Moment to be attacked.”

On June 8, Dunmore and his family, which had temporarily returned to the Palace, left abruptly.

“First I considered what the Palace would look like when someone

leaves in the middle of the night,” said Grahame Long, the Foundation’s executive director of collections and deputy chief curator. “But documents indicate desks and cabinets had been locked up, so I realized that would

Silver pieces from throughout the Palace are strewn on a table in the dining room as if they were being readied to pack away.

21

About Town

take more away from the visual experience than add to it. We decided to open our focus wider and look at the weeks leading up to the family leaving rather than just Dunmore skedaddling on June 8.”

Some examples: In the parlor, where Dunmore wrote many letters in May and June expressing his worries, the writing desk had facsimiles of some of his missives.

Also, saddle bags were on the floor to indicate the packing of documents.

In the dining room, silver pieces from throughout the Palace were strewn about the table as if being prepared for packing. In Dunmore’s bedchamber was a trunk on the floor with clothing resting on it, ready to be shoved in, and in the chamber over the dining room, trunks and a garment box had various clothes in them.

“It’s very difficult to know exactly

BR E NDA N S O S TA K

MODERN HISTORY

how everything looked,” said Long, “but this is based on carefully studying records.”

The Palace remained in its state of carefully arranged disarray through September.

The writing desk in the parlor included copies of Lord Dunmore’s letters expressing his concern for his safety if he remained.

Florida: Registration #CH10673. A COPY OF THE FOUNDATION’S OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE 1-800-HELP-FLA WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE. Maryland: THE FOUNDATION’S CURRENT FINANCIAL STATEMENT IS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST AT THE ADDRESS LISTED ABOVE. FOR THE COST OF COPIES AND POSTAGE. DOCUMENTS AND INFORMATION SUBMITTED ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE, STATE HOUSE, ANNAPOLIS, MD 21401 New Jersey: INFORMATION FILED WITH THE ATTORNEY GENERAL CONCERNING THIS CHARITABLE SOLICITATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY BY CALLING (973) 504-6215. REGISTRATION WITH THE ATTORNEY GENERAL DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT. Pennsylvania: THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION OF THE COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG FOUNDATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF STATE BY CALLING TOLL FREE WITHIN PENNSYLVANIA 1-800-732-0999.

REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT. Virginia: A FINANCIAL STATEMENT IS AVAILABLE FROM THE STATE DIVISION OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND CONSUMER SERVICES UPON REQUEST. Washington: ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE CHARITIES DIVISION, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE, OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON, BY CALLING 1-800-332-4483. West Virginia: WEST VIRGINIA RESIDENTS MAY OBTAIN A SUMMARY OF THE REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE, SOLICITATION LICENSING BRANCH, AT 1-800-830-4989, STATE CAPITOL, CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA 25305. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT.

California: Not yet able to issue charitable gift annuities.

New York: Upon request, a copy of the latest annual report may be obtained from the address listed above for the foundation or from the Charities Bureau, Department of Law, Attorney General of New York, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

North Carolina: Financial information about the foundation and a copy of its license are available from the State

Solicitation Licensing Branch at (919) 807-2214. The license is not an endorsement by the state.

Oklahoma: A charitable gift annuity is not regulated by the Oklahoma Insurance Department and is not protected by a guaranty association affiliated with the Oklahoma Insurance Department. South Dakota: Charitable gift annuities are not regulated by and are not under the jurisdiction of the South Dakota Division of Insurance.

The Foundation does not issue charitable gift annuities in Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, and Washington.

In California — we are not yet able to issue charitable gift annuities.

22

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

About Town MODERN HISTORY

Key(board) Movements Replica square piano stars in special recording

B O T T O M L E F T: BR I A N NE W S O N; T O P A ND B O T T O M R IG H T: BR E NDA N S O S TA K

T

his May, a small group of Colonial Williamsburg employees — including Executive Director of Collections and Deputy Chief Curator Grahame Long, Musical Instruments Specialist John Watson and Assistant Registrar for Art Handling Patrick Simpson — gathered to document the temporary move of a reproduction square piano from the Governor’s Palace to William & Mary’s Music Arts Center.

While modern pianos are notorious for being difficult to move, handling this smaller instrument proved to be a relatively easy process: Watson carefully lifted the instrument’s rectangular case (measuring approximately 4 feet long and 1 foot 6 inches wide), secured it to a hand truck and wheeled it out to a moving van. Long carried out its trestle stand. From there, the

piano was transported to the Comey Recital Hall.

The square piano, also called pianoforte or fortepiano, was developed in London in 1766 by Johannes Zumpe. It would overtake the harpsichord and spinet in popularity in England and colonial America.

At the time, composer Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach, embraced Zumpe’s new instrument, writing a series of keyboard sonatas with it in mind.

In 1771, the Raleigh Tavern held a concert featuring the square piano. It is the second known piano concert in America. In June of that same year, Thomas Jefferson ordered one, and Lord Dunmore listed a “Piano-Forte” in his schedule of losses after he fled the Palace.

The reproduction square piano

was crafted by Watson in 1993, replicating a rare 1766 Zumpe square piano in the Foundation’s collections.

The decision was made to build a replica as opposed to attempting to restore the original so as to retain the original as a “primary document” and also because the reproduction process provided insights into Zumpe’s workshop.

It is “a piece of musical history that we can claim in part because one of

(Top right) A reproduction square piano sits in the Governor’s Palace before being temporarily moved.

(Right) Grahame Long and Patrick Simpson load the instrument so it can be taken to William & Mary.

(Above) Musician Anders Muskens plays the square piano for a special recording.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

23

About Town MODERN HISTORY

the two first public performances in America on the newly invented piano took place here,” said Watson, “and we have such a piano in our collection from the very first year of piano production in the Englishspeaking world.”

It was because of this rich history that fortepianist Anders Muskens contacted Watson about scheduling

24

a special recording on the reproduction square piano, prompting its temporary move to the William & Mary campus.

“People have recorded pieces by J.C. Bach before but not on an instrument we know he knew,” said Muskens. “[Watson] made his reproduction with such care and attention to detail; the experience feels more like how an

original of this period would feel.”

Every day for a week, Muskens practiced and familiarized himself with the instrument, which he described as having a “pleasingly rococo tone,” before finalizing his recordings. “There is a charm and delicacy in the sound that I find complements the material culture of the time,” he said.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

Colonial Williamsburg’s windmill was a powerful tool that harnessed the wind to grind grain and provide food for the

Harness the Power of Your IRA with a Charitable Rollover

community. If you are age 70 ½ or older, use the full power of your IRA to support our educational mission through a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) — and save on your taxes. To learn more about this tax-wise way to help preserve the very place where America’s story began, contact our team at 1-888-293-1776 or use the link below.

Your gift helps us carry history forward. www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/qcdinfo Please consult professional advisors before making a charitable gift. Colonial Williamsburg cannot render tax or legal advice. Colonial Williamsburg® is a registered trademark of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation © 2025.

About Town

DUNMORE’S PROCLAMATION

“Moment of Decision” New performance spotlights reactions to Dunmore’s proclamation

BY PAUL ARON PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN NEWSON

For months, as Revolutionary sentiments brewed in and around Williamsburg, Lord Dunmore, Virginia’s royal governor, warned he would retaliate. In April 1775, after he ordered the seizure of ammunition from the Magazine and an angry crowd gathered in front of the Palace, Dunmore threatened to “declare Freedom to the Slaves, and reduce the City of Williamsburg to Ashes.” In November, he carried out the first part of that vow.

He proclaimed: I do hereby farther declare all indented servants, negroes, or others (appertaining to rebels) free, that are able and willing to bear arms, they joining his majesty troops, as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this colony to a proper sense of their duty, to his majesty’s crown and dignity.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

How people from different stations reacted to Dunmore’s proclamation is explored in a performance titled Promise of Freedom. The show, which debuted this fall in the Historic Area, was scripted by Emily Doherty, Stephen Seals and Hope Wright. Each is experienced both as an actor-interpreter and as a writer.

“If the gunpowder incident is the spark that ignites the Revolution, Dunmore’s proclamation is the moment it becomes personal,” said Doherty, a creative lead in the performing arts department. “You have to make a choice.”

“This is a moment-of-decision piece,” said Seals, who as a Colonial Williamsburg Nation Builder regularly portrays James Lafayette. James was an enslaved man who spied on the British at Yorktown and provided information to the Marquis de Lafayette, whose last name he later

Dunmore’s proclamation prompted difficult discussions and decisions.

(Opposite page, left to right) David Allen is portrayed

by Austen Munden, Elizabeth Randolph by Megan Sirak and Betty

by Serena Williams.

(Above) Troy, portrayed

by Willie Wright, talks to Betty and David Allen.

27

About Town

DUNMORE’S PROCLAMATION

The Cast of Characters

BETTY

DAVID ALLEN

She is an enslaved woman in the household of Elizabeth Randolph.

He is serving a seven‑year sentence in Virginia after having been found guilty of theft in England.

ELIZABETH RANDOLPH

TROY

She is the widow of the patriot leader Peyton Randolph.

He is an enslaved man in the household of John Randolph, a loyalist.

took. “They are learning for the first time what Dunmore’s proclamation says, and they know the decisions they make will affect their lives.”

The setting is Nov. 19, 1775, after the proclamation has been printed as a broadside. Each of the characters ponders what to do.

Betty is a highly skilled enslaved person in the Randolph household. She must consider how to balance potential freedom with the risks of fleeing, especially

28

because the proclamation seemed aimed at men and not women.

Troy and Amy (characters alternating on different days) are enslaved in the household of John Randolph. They try to figure out what to do after realizing that the proclamation does not offer freedom to those enslaved by colonists who back the Crown.

David Allen needs to decide what the proclamation means for convicts like himself.

Elizabeth Randolph has recently been widowed; her husband Peyton died just weeks before the proclamation. Now, she struggles with finding a new identity for herself.

Bringing these historical figures to life involves creativity and, above all, study.

“We’re all history nerds,” said Wright, who for many years portrayed Eve, a woman who, like Betty, was enslaved at the Randolph house. “We keep searching for needles in haystacks. When I find something, I can’t wait until I can work it into an interpretation and reveal it to others.”

Not only is the script based on careful and extensive research, but it is also vetted by Colonial Williamsburg’s historians.

“Can we say this was a specific conversation? No,” said Seals. “But, do we know that specific conversations like these took place? Yes. These conversations were had, and people were making decisions.”

“Everything is either investigation or inference, not invention,” added Wright.

And sometimes the dialogue comes directly from an 18th-century source, as for example Elizabeth Randolph’s justification of slavery. “We took actual words from The Virginia Gazette and put them in her mouth,” said Doherty.

Promise of Freedom runs daily in the Historic Area through the fall.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

BR E NDA N S O S TA K

A Q& A W ITH VA LER IE TR IPP

A place of ‘pure enchantment’ On July 17, 2025, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation hosted a meet and greet with Valerie Tripp, author of the American Girl books, which feature six historical characters, including Felicity Merriman, whose stories are set in Williamsburg on the eve of the American Revolution. Nearly 250 people attended, many of whom brought their Felicity books and dolls.

Colonial Williamsburg’s Ellen Peltz spoke with Tripp to discuss Felicity’s legacy.

The conversation that follows has been edited and condensed.

About Town Q&A: VALERIE TRIPP

ment that the character had lived in.

The setting itself is a character in the Felicity books.

WHEN YOU BEGAN TO WORK ON THE FELICITY BOOKS NEARLY 40 YEARS AGO, DID YOU IMAGINE THEY MIGHT STILL BE PART OF THE NATIONAL CONVERSATION IN THE LEAD-UP TO

Of course I hoped girls would always enjoy the stories that I wrote, and I hoped that I was creating stories and characters that would endure. So, I wrote books that I would have loved when I was a girl growing up. But I don’t think I looked ahead 40 years.

I think it is actually wisest to write from the place and time you are in. If you start thinking about writing for posterity, your writing will be stiff and labored, as well as self-important and self-conscious.

WHAT IS THE MOST RELEVANT ELEMENT OF FELICITY STORIES FOR THIS NEW GENERATION OF GIRLS? WHAT WAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG BEFORE YOU WROTE THE FELICITY BOOKS, AND HOW DID IT EVOLVE?

My relationship with Colonial Williamsburg as a child was pure enchantment. Like so many American families, when I was 10, my parents put all five of us kids in the station wagon, and we drove down to Virginia to visit Colonial Williamsburg. I remember being struck by the beauty of the buildings and the gardens. I loved the scent of smoke in the air, the stirring fife and drum music and the elegance of the ball at the Governor’s Palace. When my husband and I visited as a young couple, we loved the food and the music and the romance of Williamsburg. By the

32

time I was writing the Felicity stories, I had a young daughter. I would drive down from Maryland and spend all day walking around the Historic Area, pushing my daughter in her stroller, going on every tour I could find. During those visits for research, I was filled with appreciation for how Colonial Williamsburg handles historical truth.

DO YOU PICTURE FELICITY IN THOSE SPACES WHEN YOU ARE THERE NOW, NOW THAT YOU KNOW HER AS A CHARACTER?

Absolutely. For none of the other characters I wrote about was there a place I could return to, and all of my readers could go to, to be completely immersed in the unchanged environ-

I have always felt that, just because children are smaller than we are, that does not mean that their passions are smaller than ours. Their passions are as strong as ours. Their feelings are as strong as ours.

One of the main things that Felicity’s stories show us is that you can disagree with people you love, and you can love people with whom you disagree. I believe that the girls who are reading the Felicity books now will understand that friends and neighbors today can have radically different views on what they think is important or what they think their government should do, but despite their differences, people should always treat one another with respect and kindness.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

L E F T: JA NIC E M cCOY ME M O R I A L CO L L EC T IO N FO R YO U T H, JO HN D. R O C K E F E L L E R JR . L IBR A RY; R IG H T: T O M G R E E N

THE SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL?

HISTORY DELIV ERED

DONATE

TO SUBSCRIBE

Trend & Tradition tells the stories of early America and this special place that honors our nation’s beginnings.

It’s our way of saying thank you for a donation of $50 or more supporting The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Go to colonialwilliamsburg.org/give

About Town IN RETROSPECT

Betty Ford asked Colonial Williamsburg to decorate the White House Christmas tree

FROM WILLIAMSBURG TO WASHINGTON IN 1975, WITH America’s Bicentennial just around the corner, first lady Betty Ford wanted an old-fashioned Christmas at the White House. She had in mind a tree with homemade ornaments crafted from inexpensive and natural materials — no foil, no glitter, no sequins, no Styrofoam. She turned to Colonial Williamsburg for help.

She and President Gerald Ford had visited Williamsburg two years before and admired the town’s Christmas decorations. Since Nelson Rockefeller was vice president, the first lady was surely also familiar with the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection (AARFAC), which originated with the vice president’s mother.

The first lady’s request wound its way from Carlisle Humelsine, Colonial Williamsburg’s president, to Beatrix Rumford, the director of the museum and an expert on folk art who later served for decades as a Foundation vice president. Rumford turned to employees and volunteers. She sent out a memo with the heading “CHRISTMAS CRAFTERS UNITE — AARFAC NEEDS YOUR HELP!”

The 20-foot-tall fir tree in the White House’s Blue Room would need about 3,000 ornaments. “The idea is to be as original and imaginative as possible in using ‘bits and pieces’ found in home sewing baskets, or by combining such materials as nuts, wood,

34

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

S P ECI A L CO L L EC T IO NS , JO HN D. R O C K E F E L L E R JR . L IBR A RY; O P P O SI T E , T O P A ND B O T T O M L E F T: T HE WHI T E H O U S E ; B O T T O M R IG H T: S P ECI A L CO L L EC T IO NS , JO HN D. R O C K E F E L L E R JR . L IBR A RY

by PAUL ARON

(Clockwise from top) First lady Betty Ford stands with the White House Christmas tree. Ornaments were made by Colonial Williamsburg employees and volunteers. The tree decorated the Blue Room of the White House.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

35

About Town

corn husks, yarn, and wire,” Rumford explained in the memo. “This is a unique and exciting opportunity for nimble fingers and fertile imaginations.”

Fingers and imaginations responded in droves, providing decorations that included figures fashioned from acorns; garlands of popcorn and red peppers; pine-cone angels; animals fashioned from gingham, felt and wire; wreaths, birds and stars made from dough; paper cutouts; and wooden fish, birds and other figures. Most were made by employees and volunteers in Williamsburg, though people across the country also contributed.

In addition to providing the decorations for the tree, the museum lent the White House antique portraits of children, antique toys and carousel figures including a horse whose saddle was decorated with Christmas greens.

In a 2010 oral history, Rumford reminisced about the experience, including not just getting the ornaments made but also transporting them to the White House and decorating the tree. “You felt if you could manage this assignment on six weeks’ notice, you could probably, with the right help. . .do anything,” she said. It helped that the Fords, Rumford added, “were very warm, very easy people.”

Nearly 100 of the ornament makers from Williamsburg attended the unveiling of the tree and a reception at the White House in December. Among them was seamstress Estelle Stewart, who sent the first lady a poem about the visit. One stanza reads: “The ornaments were hand-made by a special request. / Betty wanted this tree to be different from the rest. / It will always be remembered as the Bicentennial Tree / A brochure prepared for the With 19th-century ornaments that were made by you and me.”

White House tree provided a “nutshell history” of Betty Ford thanked Stewart for the ornaments and the poem. “As the ‘President’s American Christmas trees and House’ belongs to all our citizens, it is a true pleasure to share the spirit of Christmas quoted Charles Dickens as referring to a Christmas tree with many visitors,” she wrote Stewart. “I was pleased to meet you and others who as that “new German toy.” helped so much.”

President Ford also wrote to thank the many contributors: “Mrs. Ford and I were especially happy that for Christmas, 1975, we were able to share an ‘old-fashioned Christmas’ with the thousands of visitors who came to the White House. Of course, the tree was the center of attention, and decorated as it was, with the very beautiful handiwork of the many people like you who gave generously of their time and talent, it brought joy to all who saw it.”

The decorations generated so much attention that Colonial Williamsburg collected information from the contributors and in Williamsburg’s First Christmas Tree 1976 published Christmas Decorations from Williamsburg’s Folk Art Collection (now out of print), with step-by-step instructions for There were no Christmas trees in 18th-century Williamsburg. The town’s first came courtesy of Charles Minnigerode, an immigrant making ornaments. from Germany who lodged with Judge Nathaniel Beverley Tucker and his family at their home on Nicholson Street. In December 1842, Minnigerode showed the Tuckers how Christmas was celebrated in Germany by bringing a small evergreen tree into their house, attaching candles with bits of wire and then lighting the candles. Some early accounts say Minnigerode’s was the first Christmas tree in Virginia and even America. That’s unlikely, however, as previous German immigrants almost surely imported the tradition elsewhere in America.

36

Starting on Thanksgiving Day, the original ornaments, which the White House returned after that Christmas, will be on display as part of the Carolina Room exhibit in the Rex and Pat Lucke Gallery of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

T HE WHI T E H O U S E

IN RETROSPECT

TOP A ND B O T T O M L E F T: S P ECI A L CO L L EC T IO NS , JO HN D. R O C K E F E L L E R JR .

L IBR A RY; B O T T O M R IG H T: T HE WHI T E H O U S E

(Top) Members of the costume department made some of the folk art ornaments. (Bottom) Volunteer Lawson Carr made the straw star for the top of the tree. President Gerald Ford thanked the contributors.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

37

Summer 2025

The Bob and Marion Wilson Teacher Institute by the numbers.

The future of teaching is with the Bob and Marion Wilson Teacher Institute. Through our onsite, online and offsite programs, we are building a national community of passionate educators leading the way in innovative education.

Onsite Summer Program

Summer 2025 Program Reach

491 Teachers

44,730 Students

50 States, 1 Country This summer marks the first time all 50 states are represented onsite.

What Teachers Are Saying...

20 Sessions

will be impacted during 2025-2026 school year

"This was truly an amazing and transformative experience, one that re-ignited my passion for teaching and deepened my understanding of how to bring history to life with honesty and heart."

- 2025 Summer Participant

99% The program provided valuable learning resources that I can use in the classroom.

99%

Overall, I was satisfied with the program.

95%

The program increased my proficiency in using primary sources in the classroom.

99%

The program expanded my American History content knowledge.

NEW DIGITAL GAME: INVESTIGATION DECLARATION Step into the shadows of history with Investigation Declaration. This is the second exciting collaboration between iCivics and Colonial Williamsburg. Designed for middle and high school students, players take on the role of Secret Agent 6, charged with protecting our freedom, democracy, and rights.

Welcome to

history.org connects teachers to primary sources that bring key historical events to life and gives students tools to engage with the past in deeper, more meaningful ways. We recently launched our closed Beta site with pilot classrooms, and here’s what we found:

97% Powered by Colonial Williamsburg, in partnership with Leading Museums

Of participants said they were more likely to teach with a primary source that is new or unfamiliar to them because of history.org.

92%

Said history.org broadened the types of primary sources they tend to use with students.

90%

Said they were satisfied with the way their students reacted to, and learned from history.org.

Scan here to learn more about our educational incentives.

About Town AT THE MUSEUMS

40 Years of Showcasing Art Decorative arts collection continues to grow and impress

M O UR NING PIC T UR E : CO L O NI A L WIL L I A MS BUR G CO L L EC T IO NS , MU S E UM P UR C H A S E , T HE F R IE ND S O F CO L O NI A L WIL L I A MS BUR G CO L L EC T IO NS F UND

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JASON COPES

(Clockwise from above) A silk needlework was made by schoolgirls to commemorate the passing of George Washington. A tall case clock made by Edward Duffield was part of the museum’s opening display in 1985.

Twenty-seven unique textiles can be found on an easy chair that dates to circa 1750.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

While the nation and Colonial Williamsburg will celebrate major milestone anniversaries next year, this year the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum reached its own landmark of 40 years.

By the 1980s, the decorative arts collection had outgrown the confines of the historic buildings. A new museum was built, and during the past 40 years, the staff there has mounted more than 170 exhibitions, including award-winning displays such as The Language of Clothing, Tools: Working Wood in 18th-Century America and Upholstery CSI: Reading the Evidence.

One piece that was in the museum on opening day in 1985 in the exhibition Masterworks is the tall case clock that had been displayed in the Governor’s Palace. Made by Philadelphia clockmaker Edward Duffield, a good friend of Benjamin Franklin, it includes a moon phase sphere in the arch of the pediment. Painted silver on one side and black on the other, the sphere mimics the phases of the moon as it slowly rotates.

The clock is now one of the first pieces guests encounter when entering the museum’s introductory gallery.

Not all objects stand out as masterworks, but they are important nonetheless. An easy chair that descended in the Tayloe family of Mount Airy in Richmond County, Virginia, is remarkable in that it retains 27 unique textiles on the frame and cushion. The layers of fabric can be peeled back like strata in an archaeological dig to reveal changing tastes from the mid-18th to the mid-20th century. The chair’s original finish upholstery was a costly blue and cream silk.

Subsequent layers include several 19th-century printed cottons and even a Colonial Williamsburg reproduction stripe. Fittingly, the chair is on view in the Upholstery CSI: Reading the Evidence exhibition.

One of the more recent additions to the collection is a silk needlework mourning picture commemorating the 1799 death of George Washington. In early America, schoolgirls often learned reading, writing and needlework. As they finished their schooling, they sometimes completed large-scale needlework embroideries. This picture, one of three known examples made at an unidentified Baltimore school, is one of several pieces recently installed in Stitched in Time.

39

About Town AT THE MUSEUMS

Just Arrived The pervasive presence of counterfeit paper money was a significant problem in the years leading up to the American Revolution. The matter was so serious that some currency of that day included the phrase “’Tis Death to Counterfeit.” To prevent the recirculation of forgeries, the vast majority were confiscated and destroyed as soon as they were found. As a result, despite the scale of the counterfeiting, few survive today.

Colonial Williamsburg recently acquired a counterfeit $6 Maryland note that was printed in the early 1770s. (At that time individual colonies printed and issued their own currency in denominations that often seem strange to modern eyes.) The spurious $6

40

note is much cruder than the genuine bills that had been printed in Annapolis by Anne Catharine Green and her sons. Moreover, the forgery lacks a nearly imperceptible blemish the Greens added to their printing plate as an anti-counterfeiting device — a dashlike mark between the words “Assembly” and “of” in the main text block. This “blemish” was cleverly incorporated to look like stray printer’s ink.

In time this note, and others of the period, will appear in exhibitions at the Art Museums’ Joseph R. Lasser Family Gallery. In the meantime, read more about Colonial Williamsburg’s historic currency collection at emuseum.colonialwilliamsburg.org/ groups/-numismatics

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

Give Me Liberty, and Income for Life!

Nation Builder Nat Lasley portrays Col. Patrick Henry

A charitable gift annuity provides you with income for life and tax savings, while also making a meaningful gift to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Gift annuities can be funded with cash or securities, and a $10,000 minimum

A charitable gift annuity provides for your future and ours.

gift produces the returns shown here.

What better way to make history for generations to come? Contact the Office of Gift Planning at 1-888-293-1776 or legacy@cwf.org today or reply with the attached card to get started.

Annuitant’s Annuity Age Rate

65 70 75 80 85 90

5.7% 6.3% 7.0% 8.1% 9.1% 10.1%

Please consult professional advisors before making a charitable gift. Colonial Williamsburg cannot render tax or legal advice. Colonial Williamsburg® is a registered trademark of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation © 2025.

Tall Case Clock MAKERS John Jeffray (clock) and

unknown (case) DATE 1760–1770 PLACE Glasgow, Scotland MEDIUM Case: Mahogany, deal*, brass and glass; Clock movement: Brass, iron and steel DIMENSIONS Height: 94 inches;

Width: 19 3 ⁄4 inches; Depth: 10 3 ⁄ 8 inches *“Deal” was a term used in the 18th century for a variety of conifers used in British furniture.

About Town

CHRONICLES OF THE COLLECTION

Dunmore’s Time Was Up THE ROYAL GOVERNOR FLED THE PALACE, LEAVING BEHIND THIS CLOCK

O P P O SI T E : GIF T O F M A RY C A RY NIC H O L A S P HE L P S (MR S . P E LT O N P HE L P S ), JAQ UE L IN A MBL E R NIC H O L A S H A R V E Y (MR S . AUBR E Y E .

H A R V E Y ), E DL E Y C R A IG HIL L NIC H O L A S S T O NE (MR S . R IC H A R D F. S T O NE ), N O R V E L L T E MP L E M A N NIC H O L A S C A R R ING T O N (MR S . WIL L I A M A .

C A R R ING T O N), A ND H A R R IS O N T R E N T NIC H O L A S , JR ., IN ME M O RY O F T HEIR PA R E N T S , MR . A ND MR S . H A R R IS O N T R E N T NIC H O L A S

BY PAUL ARON PHOTOGRAPHY BY JASON COPES

As Revolutionary fervor spread through Williamsburg in the spring of 1775, Virginia’s royal governor, Lord Dunmore, was increasingly nervous. Tensions were especially high after, following his orders, British sailors seized ammunition stored in the Magazine.

“The People of this Colony are taking up Arms in all Parts of it, and every Species of Violence is threatned to be executed upon me, unless I restore some Gunpowder which I thought it my duty to remove from a Magazine in this Town,” Dunmore wrote Samuel Graves, an officer in the Royal Navy, on May 1.

A few days later a loyalist named James Parker reported that the governor “has fortified his House, with several guns at the windows.” On the night of June 3, a second incident at the Magazine ramped up tensions even higher: Several young men were injured after they broke into the building.

On the morning of June 8, Dunmore fled the Palace. A British navy ship, Dunmore reasonably concluded, was a lot safer than Williamsburg. By the end of summer 1776, he had returned to England.

Dunmore left most of his belongings in the Palace. His property, he later claimed, was worth about £35,000, the equivalent of about $7.5 million today.

That included land, animals, furnishings and enslaved people.

Later in June 1775, colonists broke into the Palace and took hundreds of guns and swords, many of which had been displayed in the building’s entryway. Among those who took the weapons was James Monroe, then a student at William & Mary and later the country’s fifth president.

In 1776, the new Commonwealth of Virginia auctioned off Dunmore’s possessions, including this clock. The buyer was John Ambler, a Jamestown planter. The clock was passed down through the family until it was donated to Colonial Williamsburg in 1965.

The clock is currently displayed in the Governor’s Palace parlor along with a tea table made in Williamsburg that was also sold in 1776. “This clock is an incredibly important document of Lord Dunmore’s choice of furnishings for the Governor’s Palace,” said Tara Chicirda, Colonial Williamsburg’s senior curator of furniture. “A tall case clock was often one of the more valuable pieces of furniture in elite Tidewater homes due to the cost of the metal mechanism. A clock would have been an important regulator of a wealthy household, both for the Dunmores themselves and for their staff. Its chime would have been audible throughout most of the house.”

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

About the Makers The piece was made by multiple people. The clock itself was crafted

by John Jeffray, who, like Dunmore, was a Scot. He worked in Glasgow starting about 1749. The high quality of his work, wrote Ronald Hurst and Jonathan Prown in Southern Furniture 1680–1830, is evident both from this clock’s mechanical elements and from its decorative components. The identity of the maker of the mahogany case is not known.

43

Where every book has a past.

The Colonial Williamsburg Bookstore is more than shelves and spines—it’s a treasure trove of early American life.

Whether you’re searching for historical fiction, beautifully bound classics, or a unique gift steeped in early American charm, you’ll find it here. Take a piece of the past home with you—one page, one story at a time.

Visit the Bookstore at 440 WEST DUKE OF GLOUCESTER STREET, WILLIAMSBURG, VA 23185

LEARN MORE AT COLONIALWILLIAMSBURG.ORG/CWBOOKSTORE

Live&Learn CHALLENGE YOUR PERCEPTIONS . DISCOVER FOOD FRESH FROM THE GARDEN . GET TO THE ART OF IT

p. 57

BR I A N NE W S O N

Grateful for grapes

CO L O NI A L WIL L I A MS BUR G CO L L EC T IO NS

to LOYAL the

CROWN

TH R I B E D R N A H E AT D L A STS C I I L T I A L Y O E LO H T HE P T F O

O

b y T IM

PE AU M O C TH Y

I A cartoon depicts the British perspective of lawless colonists resisting the imposition of duties.

In this image, a British tax official is being tarred and feathered.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

n August 1775, a “merciless rabble” in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, captured the loyalist Anthony Warwick and “dragged him, frequently by the hair of his Head, the distance of ten miles” to Smithfield to face Revolutionary justice.

Warwick, a self-described man of “considerable property,” had defied the local committee and refused to turn over his shipment of tea and, more importantly, “a quantity of Gunpowder which he . . .destroyed . . . rather than suffer it to fall into their hands for the traitorous purpose . . .they designed it.” The crowd may also have learned that the Virginia merchant had sent supplies to British troops besieged in Boston.

After the war, Warwick testified to British commissioners that in Smithfield he had been “stript, even of his Shirt, tied to a public whipping post, and subjected to the shameful punishment of Tar and Feathers, in the presence of many hundred spectators.”

The Virginia Gazette applauded Warwick’s “fashionable suit of tar and feathers, being the most proper badge of distinction for men of his complexion.” Throughout Revolutionary America, the press amplified and broadcast loyalist disgrace.

47

The tarring and feathering of Anthony Warwick was detailed in the Aug. 24, 1775, edition of The Virginia Gazette, published by Pinckney.

Live & Learn AMERICAN LOYALISTS

REASONS to REMAIN LOYAL

O P P O SI T E : V IR GINI A G A ZE T T E , DIGI TA L L IBR A RY, H T T P S:// R E S E A R C H.CO L O NI A LWIL L I A MS BUR G .O R G

Warwick fits the stereotype of the aristocratic Tory, but loyalists came from all walks of life. Perhaps a fifth of American colonists were attached in some way to the British cause, and they defy easy categorization. Some were loyal for ideological reasons, others out of practical business interests. Many judges, lawyers and officials regarded the issue as a point of honor and would not break their oaths to the Crown. Others rejected the violence of the rebellion or could not fathom a world in which they were not part of the British Empire. And some simply found themselves behind British lines and had to make the best of things.

Whatever the reasoning, the Revolutionary War grafted onto existing local feuds and tore communities apart. Some family networks and associations hedged their bets and played both sides or attempted to stay neutral. Both Britain and the Continental Congress courted Indigenous peoples who were drawn into the conflict in hopes of retaining their lands and freedom against incessant encroachment.

Especially in the South, tens of thousands of enslaved Black people fled their captivity in search of the freedom offered in proclamations first by Virginia’s royal governor Lord Dunmore and later by British Gen. Henry Clinton.

Names such as Anthony Loyal and Peter Brittain found in the “Book of Negroes” kept by British officers in New York testify to Black loyalists’ hopes for a new and better life.

The PERILS of PICKING the “WRONG” SIDE

Although loyalists represented a cross-section of colonial American society, myth and history preserved the memory of the effete, villainous gentleman Tory. And in reality, for white men who thought of themselves as gentlemen, the intense public humiliation Warwick experienced was a kind of death. He was stripped not only of his clothes but also his dignity, power and identity as a propertied man of public importance.

Warwick was a slaveholder tied to a whipping post, blackened with tar; a man who once wore imported suits, shamed in a coat of feathers; a merchant who held the

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

county in his debt, who would never see a penny of what he was owed. And there was nothing he could do about it.

The insults transformed a once powerful and privileged gentleman into a dishonored Tory.

The vast majority of loyalists were never tarred and feathered, but they were still denied what the Virginia loyalist the Rev. John Agnew referred to as the “rights of society.” Agnew testified that, to demonstrate his powerlessness, the rebels pilfered his farm, tormented his enslaved laborers, insulted his wife and locked him in a cell “with Sick and distempered Negroes and Sailors.”

Eventually, every state enacted some form of law to confiscate loyalist property. Ostracized, stripped of their rights, dishonored and emasculated, the loyalists were politically dead. The revolutionaries felt fully justified in attacking or banishing the internal enemies of their movement. One leading New York revolutionary wrote that the states “may rightfully banish . . .those, who aim at its subversion, and forfeit the property, which they can only be entitled to by the laws, and under the protection of the society, which they attempt to destroy.”

George Washington referred to loyalists as “parricides.” Throughout the war, the Revolutionary press consistently portrayed them as cowardly, treacherous villains who cared only for money and power. In the words of the South Carolina revolutionary David Ramsay, loyalists “unnaturally co-operated with strangers in fixing the chains of foreign domination on themselves and countrymen.” To forge the loathsome Tory archetype, patriot writers combined lurid tales of loyalist wives sleeping with British generals with reports of Tory cruelty on and off the battlefield.

The most despised loyalists were those who fought alongside Indigenous nations. Newspaper reports suggested that frontier Tories underwent a kind of metamorphosis and became indistinguishable from their Indigenous allies. At the bloody Battle of Wyoming, in eastern Pennsylvania, 300 patriot militia were killed.

The Connecticut Courant reported, erroneously, that the militia were attacked by 1,600 men “about 300 of whom were . . . Indians . . .the rest, Tories painted like them.” The article called for “speedy and effectual measures . . .to punish and extirpate these monsters in human shape.”

49

“IT WAS NOT I [who] DESERTED MY KING, but MY KING that DESERTED ME.”

A COMPLEX LEGACY

There were indeed atrocities committed by all sides in the Revolutionary War, but infamy stuck to the loyalists.

A late-19th-century novelist described the “beast-like bloodthirstiness [of]. . . native-born Tories.” According to the narrator, “Beside them the lowest painted heathen in their train was a Christian, the most ignorant Hessian peasant was a nobleman.” Stephen Vincent Benét even included two frontier loyalists attached to the British Indian Department, Simon Girty and Walter Butler, among the jury of the damned in his short story “The Devil and Daniel Webster.”

Loyalists bristled at such accusations and believed firmly that they were the tragic victims in this drama.

Though certain of their cause, they struggled throughout the conflict to broadcast their message and get organized.

They never found their Tom Paine to articulate their cause, nor their George Washington to lead them. They had their heroes, like the swashbuckling James Moody, and some effective fighting units, like the Queen’s Rangers, but it was not enough.

Philadelphian Joseph Galloway lamented after the war that loyalists “look[ed] up to Government to take the lead in suppressing” the rebellion only to find their hopes dashed by incompetent generals who spent more time throwing parties in New York than fighting the war.

Loyalists also felt betrayed and abandoned by the peace

50

treaty of 1783, which did nothing to restore their lost lands and property. One Georgia exile summed up the loyalist sentiment: “It was not I [who] deserted my King, but my King that deserted me.”

LIFE AFTER the WAR

If a fifth of the population were in some way connected to the loyalists during the war, most abandoned the cause afterward and simply went about their business as citizens of the new republic. Historians have noted the remarkably forgiving process of reconciliation, once tempers cooled, and even loyalists who bore arms for the British slipped back into everyday life in the late 1780s and 1790s. For some, a political rebirth among friends and families as American citizens was an honorable path to redemption.

For diehard loyalists, like the Harvard-educated New Englander Edward Winslow, such reconciliation was far more humiliating than exile. He denounced loyalists who gave up the cause as “giddy, eccentric, and discontented characters” who “made a voluntary sacrifice of their former honorable principles” and “meanly skulked into the United States.”

The hard-fighting men of Butler’s Rangers who settled near Niagara Falls agreed, writing that they “would

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

Live & Learn AMERICAN LOYALISTS

rather go to Japan than go among the Americans, where they could never live in peace.” For them, political rebirth would be found in Canada.

S P ECI A L CO L L EC T IO NS , JO HN D. R O C K E F E L L E R JR . L IBR A RY

FLEEING NORTH

Perhaps 60,000 American refugees fled the United States in the aftermath of the war. Among them was Anthony Warwick. He briefly returned to North America in hopes of recovering his property and spent the final years of the war in British-occupied Charleston. He tried his luck in the West Indies before finally returning to England in ill health and “in worse circumstances” than when he first left. Eventually he rebuilt his trading business, but others were less fortunate. A fellow merchant loyalist, Alexander Telfair, despaired at his losses and continuing hardship and took his own life in 1786.

More than 40,000 settled in what became Canada. The majority took up lands in Nova Scotia and in New Brunswick, which the British established in 1784 as a loyalist refuge. Others went to Prince Edward Island, and some went further west to Quebec, which was divided in 1791 into Upper Canada, with its loyalist settlers, and Lower Canada, with its French-Canadian majority.

The British government and the loyalists set about the monumental task of settling thousands of people at once while also building counter-revolutionary societies. The elite loyalists who established New Brunswick’s government dreamed of building a society that would be the “envy of the American States.” Upper Canada’s first lieutenant governor, John Graves Simcoe, a British veteran of the Revolutionary War, sought to prevent any further rebellions by building “a perfect image and transcript of the British Government and Constitution.”

The loyalists did their best to rebuild the world they had lost, but restoring status and pride was a multigenerational task. A Canadian historian referred to loyalist sons and daughters as “redeemer children” who worked to achieve their parents’ dream.

The great test of that dream came with the American invasions in the War of 1812. Upper Canada by this point was still sparsely settled, and perhaps 20% of the popula-

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

A watercolor painting depicts a rifleman of the Queen’s Rangers, which was a loyalist regiment in the British Army. Revolutionaries felt justified in banishing and attacking loyalists and, eventually, every state passed laws confiscating their property.

Timothy Compeau is an associate professor of history at Huron University. He is the author of Dishonored Americans: The Political Death of Loyalists in Revolutionary America.

51

A certificate shows the commission of Christopher Robinson as an Ensign in Lt. Col. Simcoe’s regiment, “The Queen’s American Rangers,” dated June 26, 1781. Robinson served in the unit until a peace agreement was reached in 1783.

52

loyalty to the British Crown became central to Upper Canada’s political culture, and one historian has noted the “Vesuvian mentality” of the loyalists who would explode at perceived threats from political reformers.

CANADA’S Lasting LOYALIST Impact

As the decades passed, the loyalist identity dissipated, though elements persisted into English Canadian culture. For much of the late 19th and early 20th century, public educators and nation builders embraced a loyalist myth of the genteel founders of English Canada. That myth has largely been replaced by a refugee narrative that more accurately includes Black loyalists and Indigenous allies.

Canadians and Americans today might not be aware of the significance of the political death and rebirth of the loyalists, but the reverberations continue to this day. The visit by King Charles III in May 2025 to open Canada’s Parliament, a gesture intended to assert Canada’s sovereignty, would make sense to the loyalists. It also serves as a reminder of the lasting impact of the political choices made by American colonists 250 years ago.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

S P ECI A L CO L L EC T IO NS , JO HN D. R O C K E F E L L E R JR . L IBR A RY

tion were loyalists. The rest were mostly settlers from the United States, attracted by land that could be had for a loyalty oath to the king. British authorities were doubtful that these “late loyalists” could be trusted. The situation looked grim.

The loyalists’ redeemer children, raised on tales of the Revolution’s injustice, played an important role in the conflict, stiffening the backbone of Upper Canadians and rooting out traitors.

Among those Canadian defenders was John Beverley Robinson, the son of the Virginia loyalist Christopher Robinson. Settled at York (now Toronto), the Robinsons established a prominent dynasty in the province. Acting as Upper Canada’s attorney general, John Beverley Robinson prosecuted Canadians who supported or joined the American invaders. At an infamous series of trials in 1814 that became known in Canadian history as the “Bloody Assize,” Robinson secured the death sentence for 15 men accused of treason, eight of whom were executed and the rest banished.

The survival of Upper Canada was a great vindication for the loyalists, but it was also a terrible warning for them to stay on guard against what they saw as the corrosive effects of republicanism. In the following years,

with

Made in America Bedding Collection Coming this Holiday Season

© 2025 The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation WILLIAMSBURG is a trademark of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

The Road to Revolution The key events of 1775 leading up to the American Revolution

i GUNPOWDER INCIDENT

March 23, 1775

In the wake of the Coercive Acts,

Liberty or Death

the Virginia House of Burgesses

Patrick Henry delivers his fiery speech

alarmed Lord Dunmore by declaring

to the Second Virginia Convention in Richmond. Henry argues that Britain’s unwillingness to reason and installation of troops in the colonies have made war inevitable.

support for Boston and a ban on

April 18–19, 1775 First Shots Fired British Gen. Thomas Gage orders the seizure of munitions in Concord, Massachusetts.

At Lexington, Massachusetts,

April 21, 1775 The Gunpowder Incident

colonial militia minutemen respond, and armed skirmishes ensue.

Fearing an uprising by colonists,

HMS Magdalen to seize the gunpowder stored in Williamsburg’s Magazine.

May 2–4, 1775 Armed Response A militia led by Patrick Henry to demand the return of the

Second Continental Congress Colonial leaders meet in what is now Philadelphia’s Independence Hall as a de facto provisional government to discuss their response to British legislation and the recent armed clashes with royal troops.

discontent and convinced delegates to the Second Virginia Convention to raise forces to defend Virginia from British aggression. Dunmore then thought it prudent to order the gunpowder seized from Williamsburg’s Magazine.

Even though the sailors acted under the cover of darkness, colonists front of the Governor’s Palace. Earlier

marches on Williamsburg

May 10, 1775

speech further fanned the flames of

discovered the removal and gathered in

Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of the Virginia colony, orders sailors from

English imports. Patrick Henry’s

seized gunpowder. A payment is negotiated in recompense for the powder, and Henry’s troops de-escalate.

in April, there had been insurrections reported among the enslaved in Prince Edward County, Chesterfield County and Norfolk. Without the gunpowder, colonists feared they would be unable to defend themselves against an uprising. An agreement was reached, and 300 pounds was paid in lieu of returning the gunpowder.

Live & Learn TIMELINE

June 1–24, 1775 General Assembly Reconvenes Lord Dunmore reconvenes the General Assembly for the first time since May 1774 to respond to Lord North’s Conciliatory Resolution. The Assembly rejects the resolution, stating that “it only changes the form of oppression, without lightening

June 3–4, 1775

its burthen.”

Spring-Gun Incident Three men are injured when a group breaks into Williamsburg’s Magazine to steal weapons. In an echo of the Gunpowder Incident, the event is

June 8, 1775

blamed on Lord Dunmore, causing unrest and the mobilization of Williamsburg’s Volunteer Company.

Dunmore Flees Early in the morning, Dunmore flees Williamsburg.

With the last royal governor of Virginia gone, the General Assembly continues to meet. Later in the month, 24 men, including future president James Monroe, break into the Governor’s Palace and remove hundreds of guns and swords.

June 14–15, 1775 A Continental Army The Continental Congress adopts the New England Army of Observation as a “continental” army that represents the 13 colonies. Congress asks George

June 17, 1775

Washington to serve as its commander in chief. He agrees and soon leaves for Boston.

Bloody Victory In one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War, British Maj. Gen. William Howe assaults Breed’s Hill in Boston. It later becomes known as the Battle of Bunker Hill.

July 5–6, 1775 War of Words As a final effort to avoid war, the Continental Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition, but the king will refuse to read it. The following day Congress also adopts the Declaration of the Causes

July 17–Aug. 26, 1775

and Necessity for Taking Up Arms to justify its position of self-defense.

The Third Virginia Convention The Third Virginia Convention establishes a Committee of Safety that resolves to better defend the colony. Six resolutions state plans to raise two new regiments, revise military regulations and provide more money for munitions.

July 31, 1775 Congress Rejects North

L IBR A RY O F V IR GINI A

Congress resolves to reject Lord North’s Conciliatory Resolution because it violates an established right to raise revenue. Congress characterizes the resolution as “unreasonable and insidious” concluding that “Parliament has no right to intermeddle with our provisions for the support of civil government, or administration of justice.”

Live & Learn TIMELINE

Aug. 23, 1775 Open Rebellion George III proclaims his North American colonies are in “open and avowed tively ends any attempt at reconcili-

i

LORD DUNMORE’S PROCLAMATION Desperate for troops and

ation. The document goes on to urge all British officers and civilians to use “their utmost Endeavours to suppress such Rebellion.”

Oct. 22, 1775 End of an Era Peyton Randolph, president of the Virginia Convention, suffers from an apparent stroke while dining with

fearful of a colonial assault,

Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia

Dunmore signs a proclamation

and dies. He is succeeded by Edmund

declaring martial law and

Pendleton. Randolph played an

freedom to the enslaved and

extremely significant role in the politics

servants of “rebels” to restore

of Virginia. As Speaker of the House of

“peace and good order.” While the proclamation applies only within Virginia, it is widely published, inspiring thousands

Nov. 7, 1775

Burgesses and later the first president

Potential Freedom?

admiringly described as “the father of

Making good on the threat he made in

across the colonies to seek

April, Lord Dunmore issues a proclama-

freedom with the British. Over

tion offering freedom to enslaved and

time, enough recruits side

indentured people in “rebel” hands if

with Dunmore for him to dub

they will fight for the king. The move

them the “Royal Ethiopian

is seen as deeply cynical in the minds

Regiment.” When British forces flee in the summer of 1776, those emancipated share

of infuriated colonials, and in response they threaten death to any enslaved person who takes up the offer.

of the Continental Congress, he was your country.”

Dec. 9, 1775 First Blood The Battle of Great Bridge marks the first set-piece battle in Virginia.

the fate of the British army,

Dunmore’s forces attack colonists

suffering through a smallpox

defending Norfolk at a crossing of the

outbreak on Gwynn’s Island,

Elizabeth River called Great Bridge.

Virginia, and then being moved

Many former enslaved individuals

through Manhattan, with

side with Dunmore. But Virginia

many eventually ending their days in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Dec. 22, 1775

troops defeat Dunmore, marking a significant victory for the rebels and

Although forged from political

Outside the King’s Protection

forcing Dunmore and his troops to

expediency, Dunmore’s

In response to America’s “open and

evacuate Virginia.

proclamation changes British

avowed Rebellion,” the king gives his

policy toward the enslaved. The

assent to the Prohibitory Act. The act

extent of this legacy leads some

prohibits “all manner of trade” with

to argue it sets a precedent

the 13 colonies. More shockingly to

for Lincoln’s Emancipation

colonials, if caught, goods and ships

Proclamation 88 years later.

would be forfeited, and crews could be impressed. The act constitutes

Dec. 31, 1775 The War Goes North

one of the grievances laid out in the

The last day of 1775 is marked with

Declaration of Independence the

an attack on British forces in Quebec.

following year.

Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold lead the American attack but are repulsed with heavy losses.

These losses include the death of Montgomery, the wounding of Arnold and the capture of many Virginians.

L IBR A RY O F V IR GINI A

Rebellion.” This proclamation effec-

Grand, Glorious Grapes

A sweet side and a healthy refreshing snack

BY BARBARA RUST BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN NEWSON VARIETY Muscadine PLANTING Before planting vines, design and build your trellis. Muscadine grapes require full sun and prefer well-drained soil that has a pH of 6.5. Vines should be planted in early spring after the danger of the hardest frost is over.

NOTES Vines should be planted 20 feet apart.

They need to be planted at the same soil depth they were at previously. As with all new plants, keep them watered in the first year until established.

I

n 17th-century Jamestown, colonists

A Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

tobacco than grapes. Soon, the com-

research paper from 1973 titled “Fruit

petition among tobacco farmers and

Culture in Colonial Virginia” reveals

an increase in the importing of wine

an argument between growers of

led to the appeal of growing grapes.

native grapes and those who planted

But native grapes produced inferior

imported vines.

wines, and imported grapes fell vicGrapes have captured Virginia farmers’ attention since the 17th century. Today they are the foundation of the state’s wine industry and also serve as a way to dress up a plate and as a sweet, nutritious snack.

58

back their wine-making secrets.

were more interested in cultivating

According to the research paper,

tim to disease. In 1619, the London

in 1769, Virginia passed an act

Company sent European “wine dress-

“encouraging the making [of] Wine,”

ers” to tend the vineyards. They

authorizing 450 pounds sterling

succeeded in growing grapes but still

from the public treasury to buy land

produced inferior wines. They blamed

“not exceeding one hundred acres,”

the French, believing they had held

erect a house and plant a vineyard.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

Live & Learn GARDEN-TO-TABLE

Halibut Véronique with Broccolini Williamsburg Inn SERVES 4

2 bunches broccolini 4 halibut fillets, about 6 oz. each salt and pepper to taste 2 tablespoons blended oil 2 teaspoons + 1 tablespoon butter, divided 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour ⅔ cup white wine 1½ teaspoons lemon juice 4 sprigs fresh tarragon 2 sprigs fresh thyme 1 bay leaf ¾ cup half-and-half 1 tablespoon minced shallot 20 seedless white grapes, halved 1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccolini and cook for 1 minute. Drain the broccolini

and chill in ice water and then remove and set aside.

2. Season the halibut with salt and pepper. Heat the oil on high in a large saute pan until the oil begins to smoke. Add the halibut and sear one side. Flip the fish and allow it to finish cooking to an internal temperature of 135–145°F, about another 5 minutes. Remove the fish from the pan and set aside. Keep warm.

Reserve the pan.

3. Make the Véronique sauce: Melt 2 teaspoons of butter in the reserved pan. Whisk in the flour until smooth to make a roux.

Continue whisking while cooking at a gentle boil for a minute or two. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and allow it to reduce

by half. Add the lemon juice, fresh herbs, bay leaf and halfand-half. Let the sauce cook and reduce until it is of a consistency that coats the back of a spoon.

Remove the tarragon, thyme and bay leaf. Keep warm.

4. Finish the broccolini: Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the broccolini and then the shallot and season to taste with salt and pepper. Saute for a minute or two just to heat through.

5. To serve, ladle ¼ of the Véronique sauce into each of 4 dinner bowls, fan broccolini in each and top each with a halibut fillet.

Garnish with the white grape halves. Serve hot.

Estave and the trust and questioned the use of public money for such an experiment.

The two men argued their cases back and forth in a series of pointed essays Three enslaved men were purchased

published in The Virginia Gazette.

for labor; four boys were added as

In a 1776 report to the General

apprentices and a Frenchman from

Assembly, Estave stated the 30,000

Bordeaux named Andrew Estave was

vines he had planted were flourish-

hired to oversee it all. If, over six

ing and the enslaved laborers were

years, he produced 10 hogsheads of

in good health, but later that year the

good wine (about 600 gallons), the

General Assembly closed the vineyard

trustees would convey the title of

and sold the land and the enslaved

the land, the house and the enslaved

men to help pay for the coming war.

men to Estave.

Bolling died at the age of 37 without

At the same time, a wealthy Virginia

proving his theory of growing Euro-

planter named Robert Bolling believed

pean grapes in the Piedmont area —

the only way to succeed was to grow

which is today one of Virginia’s most

European grapes. Bolling was aware of

prolific wine-producing regions.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

Grape varietals that thrive in Virginia include viognier, cabernet franc, chardonnay, petit verdot and petit manseng.

59

The Williamsburg Inn’s Executive Chef Julianne Gutierrez said that grape varietals that thrive in Virginia today include chardonnay, cabernet franc, viognier (Virginia’s state grape), and petit manseng and petit verdot, both of which are gaining popularity.

Gutierrez said she had a grapevine when she was growing up, but the grapes were so full of seeds they were barely edible. Today, she enjoys frozen grapes as a tasty and healthy snack. She also recommends pairing grapes with strawberries or adding to chicken or tuna salad.

Her Williamsburg Inn recipe is Halibut Véronique, a classic French dish. A glass of viognier would pair nicely.

MASTER OF HISTORIC FOODWAYS Frank

Clark suggests turning to grapes for a refreshing early version of sorbet.

His apprentice Abbey Shoaf offers a recipe for Grape Ices from a cookbook written in 1770 by the “head confectioner to the Spanish Ambassador in England.”

The original 18th-century recipe — as well as the Foodways team — uses a sabotiere, the French word for ice cream maker (sorbetière in modern French). Making ice cream involves agitating the mixture to prevent it from freezing in place. Modern versions are typically electric or hand cranked. In its simplest form, though, as in the 18th century, a sabotiere is just a sealed pewter mold or small bucket nestled in an ice and salt mixture that the cook works by hand.

Pewter is a cool metal that helps the freezing process.

Barbara Rust Brown is a freelance writer living in Williamsburg, Virginia.

60

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

Live & Learn GARDEN-TO-TABLE

Grape Ices Historic Foodways Adapted from The Court and Country Confectioner: Or, the House-Keeper’s Guide; To a More Speedy, Plain, and Familiar Method of Understanding the Whole Art of Confectionary. . .

by Mr. Borella (London, 1770)

SERVES 4

4 pounds red seedless grapes cheesecloth 1–2 cups sugar (to taste) 4 lemons, juiced 1 box ice cream salt 10–20 pounds ice 1. Place the grapes in a large saucepan. Add water to just cover. Boil for about 10 minutes until the skins soften. Drain the grapes but reserve the water. Allow the grapes to cool.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

2. In small batches, squeeze the grapes by hand through cheesecloth, collecting the juice in a bowl. Double and/or change the cheesecloth if necessary.

After squeezing, drop the skins and flesh of the grapes back into the reserved water. Set the juice aside.

3. Boil the skins and flesh again for about 5 minutes. Strain out and discard the skins and flesh, but reserve the infused water.

4. In a saucepan, combine the infused water, grape juice, sugar and lemon juice. The volume of the mixture will vary but should roughly measure about a quart.

Boil until the sugar has fully dissolved, about 5 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool completely.

Refrigerating will facilitate the next step.

5. With an electric or hand-cranked sabotiere: Place the mixture into an ice cream maker and, following

the manufacturer’s instructions, allow the mixture to churn until it becomes firm and sets up like sorbet. Serve immediately or store in the freezer.

—OR— With a manual sabotiere: (Note that this process will take at least 1–2 hours.) Spread salt and ice at the bottom of a bucket a few inches larger than the sabotiere.

Place the mixture into the sabotiere and then the sabotiere into the bucket. Fill the gap between the sabotiere and the bucket with alternating layers of ice and salt about ⅔ up the side of the sabotiere. Replenish the ice as necessary. Spin the sabotiere by hand until the mixture firms, pausing every 10–15 minutes to scrape the ice that forms on the inside and bottom of the sabotiere. Once firm, serve immediately or store in the freezer.

61

‘Out of the protection of the British crown’ VIRGINIA AND THE AMERICAN PROHIBITORY ACT OF 1775

by CATHY HELLIER

O P P O SI T E A ND T HIS PAG E : S P ECI A L CO L L EC T IO NS , JO HN D. R O C K E F E L L E R JR . L IBR A RY

The Continental Congress in Philadelphia was in an uproar on Feb. 26, 1776.

The delegates had just received a stunning letter smuggled out of Bristol, England, in the bottom of a bread barrel. It contained a copy of a bill the House of Commons passed on Dec. 11, 1775, that showed just how frayed the colonies’ relationship with the Crown had become — a bill that would, ultimately, help catapult them toward declaring independence.

Known as the American Prohibitory Act, it contained some good news for the colonies as it repealed the Boston Port Act of 1774 and did away with two acts that restrained the trade of most of the colonies that were protesting British policies.

But the negatives far outweighed the positives: Firstly, it cut off “all Manner of Trade and Commerce” with the 13 rebellious colonies. Secondly, it declared colonial trading ships and their cargoes (and any vessels trading with the colonies) subject to forfeiture to the king “as if the same were the Ships and Effects of Open Enemies.” And, lastly, it provided that any seized colonial crews could be impressed into the king’s service and thus forced to fight against their own countrymen.

Clearly a change in status had occurred, and the colonies had been thrown, as congressional delegate John Adams said, “out of the Royal Protection.”

Other provisions caused the colonists consternation as well. The act would be retroactive, making legal all instances in which “Persons, Vessels, Cargoes, and other

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

Colonists did not learn of the Prohibitory Act of 1775 (a page of which appears above) until after it was passed and had become law.

63

Live & Learn PROHIBITORY ACT

Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee called the new law, the “infamous retrospective robber y Ac

t.”

Effects” were “seized, detained, examined, searched, damaged, or destroyed” since the “unnatural Rebellion” began. In addition, the act was to take effect before the colonists could even learn of its passage. Finally, persons “authorised by His Majesty” could grant pardons to any person or locality “disposed to return to their Duty,” a provision designed to divide communities and colonies. Taken together, the provisions of the act were intensely coercive. When the bill received royal assent on Dec. 22, 1775, the British government drew a line in the sand. And Virginians responded.

TENSIONS HAD BEEN ON THE RISE A cascade of events in 1774 and 1775 had brought Britain and her colonies to this crisis. In a nutshell, Parliament responded to the Boston Tea Party with a series of Coercive Acts, including the Boston Port Act. In protest of this act, 89 members of Virginia’s House of Burgesses met extralegally in May 1774 at the Raleigh Tavern.

They established a nonimportation agreement and called for a general congress of the colonies that were protesting British policies. When the Continental Congress met that fall, it established a Continental Association, a nonimportation and nonexportation agreement, following the lead of Boston and Virginia. In March and April 1775, Parliament responded with two acts that restricted the trade of New England and several other colonies and banned New England ships from the North Atlantic fisheries, a serious blow to New England’s economy. The conflict became a war in earnest with the shots fired at Lexington and Concord on April 19. In August, the Crown officially proclaimed the colonies in rebellion. The American Prohibitory Act followed.

Richard Henry Lee called the act the “infamous retrospective robbery Act.” (Opposite) The nonimportation agreement was signed by 89 members of the late House of Burgesses and shows Virginia’s commitment to the other colonies.

64

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

NE W YO R K P UBL IC L IBR A RY

THE LAST STRAW The act was a catalyst that propelled Virginia and then the country toward independence. It was Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee, at the instigation of Virginia’s Fifth Convention in part in reaction to the Prohibitory Act, who moved for independence in the Continental Congress in June 1776. Even so, the act’s significance is seldom recognized.

Virginians’ descriptions of the act emphasized its provisions for seizure of property, with Lee referring to it as the “infamous retrospective robbery Act.” The Virginia Gazette published a letter purportedly written on April 22, 1776, by a gentleman in Philadelphia (possibly Lee) to a Virginian, in which he noted that the act provided “our property [is] made seizable wherever found on the water.” Edmund Pendleton, presiding over Virginia’s Committee of Safety, wrote John Hancock of the committee’s “warmest resentment” of Parliament’s “last Act Retrospectively Sanctifying

S P ECI A L CO L L EC T IO NS , JO HN D. R O C K E F E L L E R JR . L IBR A RY

Live & Learn PROHIBITORY ACT

every instance of rapine, Violence, and Plunder.” The Virginia Gazette printed a piece that referred to the act as “Lord North’s piratical act.” Virginians had been protest­ ing violations of property rights since the Stamp Act. This one seemed like a tyranni­ cal last straw.

Virginians were angered by the king’s intention to treat his colonies as enemies.

On March 23, 1776, The Virginia Gazette printed extracts from a Virginia gentleman’s speech to the “BILL OF RIGHTSMEN” in London in which he invoked the Lockean theory of social contract: The sovereign offers protection, and the subject responds (Below) The Virginia Gazette reported on with obedience. By breaking this contract, the king released colonists from obedience. the many ships that On April 19, Alexander Purdie printed an anonymous contribution that wrote of the had been seized under “late act of parliament; which, at one stroke, has put 13 colonies out of his protection.” the Prohibitory Act. Also in April, Lee noted that colonists were “with­ out the Kings protection.” That same week, James City County freeholders published instructions to their Fifth Virginia Convention delegates to part from Great Britain because the mother country had “repudiated us, by a rapid succession of insult, injury, robbery, murder, and a formal declara­ tion of war.”

Virginians also detested how the act targeted its shipping. While heretofore the British navy had been active against American shipping “in a law­ less manner, without even the semblance of just — James City County freeholders authority,” the act made seizures legal and mandatory. Afterward, the British navy became brutally efficient at taking American prizes.

The Virginia Gazettes increasingly reported seizures in Virginia waters and the taking of Virginia ships in other Atlantic ports. County committees and other bodies were vigilant and took action to keep American vessels out of British hands.

A TIME FOR ACTION Virginians fitted up “cruisers” to protect Vir­ ginia’s rivers. George Mason and John Dalton were tasked with “providing & equiping arm’d Vessels for the Protection of this [Potomac] River.”

The Gloucester County Court of Commission­ ers recommended a vessel they had confiscated as “particularly calculated for fast sailing” to the Virginia Committee of Safety, which was attempt­ ing to acquire armed vessels to protect the James River. The committee empowered the Northamp­ ton County Committee to acquire two armed ves­ sels to protect its coastline. Landon Carter wrote

66

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

S P ECI A L CO L L EC T IO NS , JO HN D. R O C K E F E L L E R JR . L IBR A RY

Great Britain has “repudiated us, by a rapid succession of insult, injury, robbery, murder, and a formal declaration of war.”

L IBR A RY O F CO NG R E S S

of a New England vessel loading corn at the mouth of Piscataway Creek pursued by a British tender to Hobbs Hole (near present-day Tappahannock) and subsequently retaken by Virginians.

It all came to a boil in spring and summer 1776. That May, 45 members of the House of Burgesses met at the Capitol and adjourned themselves because “the people could not now be legally represented according to the ancient constitution, which has been subverted by the king, lords, and commons of Great Britain.”

Presumably, if the burgesses were the king’s enemies, the House of Burgesses was no longer a legally constituted body.

Later that month, when the Fifth Virginia Convention resolved for independence, the resolution’s preamble identified the American Prohibitory Act as a contributing factor: “By a late act, all these colonies are declared to be in rebellion, and out of the protection of the British crown, our properties subjected to confiscation, our people, when captivated, compelled to join in the murder and plunder of their relations and countrymen, and all former rapine and oppression of Americans declared legal and just.” Thomas Jefferson’s preamble to Virginia’s 1776 constitution also hearkens back to the act in listing the culpable actions of King George III, including “for cutting off our Trade with all parts of the World”; “by plundering our Seas, ravaging our Coasts, burning our Towns, and destroying the lives of our People”; and “finally, by abandoning the Helm of Government, and declaring us out of his Allegiance and Protection.” Jefferson used his draft of that preamble to begin the Declaration of Independence, reiterating the above (slightly rephrased) and adding the king “has constrained others, taken captives on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.”

Although some Americans exaggerated when they asserted that the act made them independent (Britain was, after all, waging war to regain control of the rebellious colonies), Virginians nonetheless considered the act further evidence of an unbearable tyranny. While it was certainly not the only factor in Virginia’s call for independence in the Continental Congress, it was a far more important factor than has been generally recognized.

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

The Prohibitory Act was one of the factors that led the Fifth Virginia Convention to resolve for independence.

Cathy Hellier is Senior Historian for The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. She holds a doctorate in American studies from William & Mary.

67

Despite ideological differences, brothers Peyton and John Randolph are buried together

At Odds in Life,

Reunited in Death S T E P HE N S A L P UK A S/ WIL L I A M & M A RY

By Kelly M. Brennan

A view of the Wren Building from the campus of William & Mary, looking west. The chapel is on the right, with the crypt underneath.

Live & Learn RANDOLPH DEATHS

Peyton Randolph served as president of the first and second Continental Congresses and enjoyed near-universal popularity among his fellow delegates. He was given a grand funeral in Philadelphia, which was attended by the entire congress.

70

Peyton the Patriot

Peyton served as attorney general from 1744 to 1766 and speaker of the House of Burgesses from 1766 to 1775. But when he died, he held an office that his father could never have fathomed. His final and greatest public office as president of the Continental Congress would have challenged Sir John’s understanding of colony and empire. The world had changed significantly in the nearly 40 years between Sir John’s and Peyton’s deaths. The relationship between Crown and colony that Sir John so dutifully cultivated was being dismantled by a new brand of statesmen determined to preserve their rights and demand their freedom.

Peyton was not a radical when he became the first president of the Continental Congress, nor did he convert during his short tenure there, despite the radical legislation passed during his term. He was known as a moderate who carefully considered options and obstacles; he was not one to beat the war drum.

His approach was legalistic: Virginia and the other colonies were not only capable of self-governing, but they also had the right to do so. This ideology clashed with the British concept of parliamentary sovereignty, where Parliament and its laws reigned supreme. Congress respected Peyton for his reasoning even if some delegates thought he moved too slowly on the matter.

His near-universal popularity made his death that much more tragic. While having dinner with an acquaintance outside of Philadelphia, Peyton “died very suddenly. . . soon after Dinner he was taken with a choaking and one Side of

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

V IR GINI A MU S E UM O F HIS T O RY & C ULT UR E (185 8.6)

W

hile much is known about the lives of the patriot Peyton Randolph and his loyalist brother, John, some elements of their deaths and burials remain elusive.

Peyton, who dedicated his life and career to Virginia and helped lay the groundwork for a new nation, died on Oct. 22, 1775 — 250 years ago. John died nine years later.

Far more is known about the funeral and repose of their father, Sir John Randolph (1693–1737), the inspiration for Peyton’s and John’s illustrious careers. During his lifetime, Sir John served as speaker of the House of Burgesses, treasurer of Virginia and attorney general of the colony. He was eulogized as “a tender and indulgent [willing to overlook failings] Parent, without Weakness or Folly,” but, more importantly, “he was even more attentive to. . .the Interest of the Publick.”

His sons inherited that dedication to “the Interest of the Publick,” even though they did not always agree on how. For Peyton, it was a call to duty and liberty. For John, his loyalist leanings would be the undoing of his public life. In different ways and for different reasons, their beliefs took them far from — and they died far from — the city they lovingly called home. Both bodies traveled for weeks in leadlined coffins to be reunited in an underground crypt beneath the Wren Chapel at William & Mary.

his Face was distorted and about eight He expired.” It is possible he had a stroke.

Congress immediately resolved to give Peyton a grand funeral in Philadelphia, including the clergy, the whole of the Continental Congress and three battalions of artillery in the procession. City church bells rang out in muffled mourning, and standards were wrapped in black gauze.

S P ECI A L CO L L EC T IO NS , JO HN D. R O C K E F E L L E R JR . L IBR A RY

John the Loyalist

John lived and worked in the same political environment as his brother, serving at different times as clerk of the House of Burgess and as attorney general. By 1775, John came to a different conclusion than his brother as to the colonies’ future. John believed that they would eventually separate from the mother country, but it was not yet time.

John’s understanding of the problem was also legalistic. Parliamentary sovereignty was a core component of the British constitution, and John believed that it was not to be trifled with by mere provincials.

His thoughts on the matter reflected his personality and his career. Scholars have described John as “snobbish and contemptuous of his social and intellectual inferiors, he made almost as many enemies as he did friends.”

Unlike Peyton’s, most of John’s positions were appointed roles, not elected ones, with limited interaction with the populace. John had few supporters or friends aside from his brother and extended family when he fled to England in 1775.

Once there, John hoped his long-standing allegiance to the British government would improve his situation. After all, his position as attorney general, in which he served for eight years, had been an appointment by the royal governor. John was also acknowledged as one of the most impressive legal minds in Virginia, counting his cousin Thomas Jefferson and George Washington among his clients before he absconded. This acumen, however, was not evident in the five loyalist claims he submitted in the years he lived in England: They were poorly written and made tenuous assertions. The sums he requested to support his family were modest in his estimation, 500 pounds a year, which was half of his salary as attorney general. Despite that, the claims office only granted him an average of 100 pounds a year.

John died in London in 1784, mostly forgotten. Not until his death does he reemerge as a historical figure. He was homesick at the end of his life and requested that his body be returned to Virginia and placed in the family crypt under the Wren

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

The commemorative tablet in the colonnade of the Wren Building on the campus of William & Mary mentions the burials of Peyton and John Randolph in the chapel crypt.

71

Live & Learn RANDOLPH DEATHS

Chapel. His daughter and son-in-law obliged and took his corpse with them when they returned to Virginia in October 1785. His body was deposited in the crypt, where he and his wife, Ariana, were supposed to enjoy eternal repose. Ariana, however, made no such request to return to Virginia after her death.

Buried in Their Native Land

The extravagant fanfare of Peyton’s Philadelphia funeral was not replicated in Williamsburg. In 1776, his wife and his nephew Edmund Randolph escorted Peyton’s

T O P L E F T: S P ECI A L CO L L EC T IO NS , JO HN D. R O C K E F E L L E R JR . L IBR A RY, T HE CO L O NI A L WIL L I A MS BUR G FO UNDAT IO N; B O T T O M L E F T: S T E P HE N S A L P UK A S/ WIL L I A M & M A RY; R IG H T: V IR GINI A G A ZE T T E S , DIGI TA L L IBR A RY, H T T P S:// DIGI TA LCO L L EC T IO NS .CO L O NI A LWIL L I A MS BUR G .O R G

(Top left) Work began in 1928 to restore the Wren Building, including its chapel, to its colonial appearance. (Bottom left) The chapel, as it appears today, is nondenominational and is used for both religious and secular events. (Right) A memorial notice for Peyton Randolph was printed in the Nov. 11, 1775, edition of The Virginia Gazette.

72

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

Live & Learn RANDOLPH DEATHS

body back to Williamsburg. Betty Randolph was described as his “inconsolable widow,” and the funeral procession included local Freemasons, both houses of the General Assembly and prominent citizens. His father’s funeral, in 1737, was grander than that of his extraordinary son, even though Sir John requested to be buried “with as little trouble and expense as may be.”

Peyton’s simpler funeral was likely intentional. Even in death, with the help of his wife and his nephew, Peyton demonstrated his devotion to American virtue.

Peyton was president of the Continental Congress in 1774 when it passed resolves to stop the importation and exportation of goods to and from Britain. The resolves also introduced restrictions on everyday life. No theater. No cockfighting. No dancing. No mourning clothes. There were no restrictions on having a funeral, but the language of “Frugality Economy, and Industry” encouraged a restraint that Congress seemed to forget when planning Peyton’s funeral in Philadelphia.

The Crypt

With only six students from the 1693 Scholars Program admitted each year, most visitors can only pay their respects above ground.

Today, the Randolphs — Sir John and his wife, Susanna; Peyton and his wife, Betty; and John — do not get many visitors. Nor do the other luminaries buried under the chapel. It is physically difficult to get into the crypt, and only William & Mary’s most academically elite students can enter with escorts. With only six students from the 1693 Scholars Program admitted each year, most visitors can only pay their respects above ground.

Funerary objects in the crypt, revealed by work done over the years, confirmed aspects of the brothers’ personalities and appearance. John, a man who was described as elegant by his contemporaries, has a coffin and coffin plate that highlight his expensive tastes. Peyton’s are simple, supporting his status as a paragon of American values. Jefferson’s description of Peyton as being “heavy and inert in body” is reflected in the size of Peyton’s coffin.

At the time of their deaths, traveling from Philadelphia to Williamsburg took roughly two weeks, and the trip from London took about six — long distances to transport a corpse before modern embalming, transportation and refrigeration. It is likely, but not definite, that the Randolphs’ bodies were wrapped up like mummies in waxed or tarred sheets and then covered with varnish.

“Persuade Us To Love One Another”

Neither brother had the luxury of dying in Williamsburg among friends and extended family. Both died far from home, one championing the right of selfgovernance and the other staying true to his ideals in the face of hardship. The two maintained a good relationship after John left, but the opportunity for reunion died with Peyton. Though at odds ideologically, the brothers were connected through their love of family and devotion to the colony of Virginia. In his 1735 will, their father wrote, “Destroy all factions and parties . . .persuade us to love one another. . . and to establish peace and liberty among all nations.”

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

Kelly M. Brennan is a historian for The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and holds a doctorate in history from William & Mary. Her fields of expertise include deathways, religion and belief, medical history and legal history.

73

Live & Learn BOOKS

Title Page Painting the Revolution: New books on artists, famous and not

Glorious Lessons: John Trumbull, Painter of the American Revolution

BY RICHARD BROOKHISER

Yale University Press

The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution

BY ZARA ANISHANSLIN

Harvard University Press

74

LIKE JOHN TRUMBULL, other famous

and first Revolutionary governor of Con­

painters of the Revolution, including Ben­

necticut, and with Jefferson. Trumbull

jamin West, John Singleton Copley, Charles

introduced Jefferson to Maria Cosway,

Willson Peale and Gilbert Stuart, painted

with whom the widower Jefferson had

portraits and battle scenes. Trumbull’s

a passionate flirtation and possibly an

ambition, as described by Richard Brook­

affair, and acted as a go­between to facili­

hiser, was grander: “Trumbull wanted to

tate the relationship. Jefferson encour­

tell the creation story of America — what

aged Trumbull to paint The Declaration of

it should mean to Americans, and what it

Independence, which hangs in the Capitol

could mean to the world, and to the future.”

rotunda in Washington, and provided

Or, as Trumbull himself put it in a letter

Trumbull with a sketch of the Philadelphia

to his good friend Thomas Jefferson, he

State House room where the Continental

wanted “to give to the present and the

Congress met. Jefferson’s eloquence is,

future Sons of Oppression and Misfortune

of course, why Americans remember the

such glorious Lessons of their rights and

Declaration’s message of self­rule by rep­

of the Spirit with which they should assert

resentative government. But, Brookhiser

and support them.” Brookhiser chronicles

writes, “Trumbull’s image, flashed like an ad

Trumbull’s story, including his relationships

on the nation’s retina, has also imprinted,

with his father, who was the last colonial

and continues to imprint the message.”

ZARA ANISHANSLIN TELLS the intertwin­

made clear when he enlisted to fight for

ing stories of three lesser­known artists

the patriots. Artists such as Trumbull and

of the Revolution: Patience Wright, Robert

Gilbert Stuart have shaped the image of

Edge Pine and Prince Demah. Wright, a wax

the Revolution through their works, but,

sculptor, was the most famous of the three,

Anishanslin writes: “Revolutionary­era

at least in her own time. She was also a

patriotism was far more cosmopolitan,

London­based spy for the American cause.

geographically broad, and diverse than it

Pine, who was likely of African descent,

is often remembered to be. The Patriots

used his art to criticize Britain while living

who dedicated themselves to the cause

in England; after the war he moved to

of American liberty included Black and

America to portray the Revolution’s great

mixed­race people, women, people from

moments. Anishanslin argues that Pine’s

outside what became the national borders

painting Congress Voting Independence is

of the United States, and people who

more realistic and less romanticized than

practiced idiosyncratic politics outside

John Trumbull’s much more famous The

the bounds of elected office, through art,

Declaration of Independence. Demah was

popular culture, and espionage. Folding

an enslaved portrait painter who gained

the transatlantic story of these creative

his freedom when his loyalist enslavers

Patriots into the wider story of the nation’s

fled North America. His own loyalties were

origins both complicates and enriches it.”

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

DIY: CARDINAL

The Cardinal Rule A classic folk art ornament to perch upon your tree A PROJECT FROM THE ART MUSEUMS PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN NEWSON

A

merica’s 200th birthday, like the upcoming 250th, prompted an appreciation of the nation’s traditions. In 1975, Betty Ford wanted to decorate the White House Christmas tree with homemade ornaments. The first lady called on the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, and employees and volunteers responded by making more than 3,000 ornaments for the White House.

The ornaments were made from everyday objects, none more everyday than a wooden clothespin.

Clothespins are often turned into reindeer by Christmas crafters, but for the 1975 White House tree, a clothespin made a fine perch for the state bird of Virginia.

So popular were the ornaments on the White House tree that instructions for them were collected in the 1976 book Christmas Decorations from Williamsburg’s Folk Art Collection, which is now out of print. The clothespin cardinal has been updated — just in time for another milestone American birthday.

What You Need (A) Felt in red, gold and

black

C

(B) Stuffing

B

(C) 2 black beads, 8/0 (D) Clothespin

D

A

E

(E) Glue (F) Scissors I

(G) Green paint (H) Needle (I) Floss in matching red,

(J) Pins (K) Paintbrush

76

F

J

gold and black

H K

G

TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

Live & Learn DIY

The Process

Find the template at colonialwilliamsburg.org/downloads

STEP 1 First, paint the clothespin with the green paint. While it dries, construct the bird: Use the templates to cut 2 each of the body and the tail feather in red felt. Cut 2 beaks (gold felt), 2 masks (black felt), 4 wings (red felt) and 1 base cover (red felt).

Using matching thread, stitch 1 beak and 1 mask to each body.

1

2

STEP 2 Place the assembled bird bodies wrong sides together and pin.

With red thread, start stitching the bodies together from the back of the base to the tail area. Stop and tie off the thread and restart on the other side of the tail area, leaving an opening for the tail. Continue stitching the bodies together, using matching thread to stitch the edges of the mask and beak to hide the red felt underneath. Be sure to leave the base open for stuffing.

STEP 3 Layer the tail feathers and stitch them together using matching thread. Add the tail feathers to the bird by pinching together the top and bottom of the tail area, inserting the tail feathers, and stitching closed.

3

4

STEP 4 Use the blunt end of the paintbrush (or a similar implement) to push the stuffing into the bird through the open space at its base. Then stitch the red felt base cover over the opening. Layer and begin stitching together 2 wings, beginning at the bottom of the wings. Just before finishing the stitching all the way around, stitch the wing to the bird. Repeat.

STEP 5 To add eyes, push a threaded needle through the bird at eye location and pull through all layers. Slide a bead onto the needle and return the needle through the bird to the start position. Add a second bead and stitch through all layers several times to secure.

5 TREND & TRADITION • AUTUMN 2025

6

STEP 6 To finish the ornament, glue the bird onto the dry painted clothespin.

77

Shop small, and celebrate big in Merchants Square.

Discover Merchants Square, the vibrant heart of downtown Williamsburg. Shop and dine local with over 40 unique stores and restaurants, offering curated treasures and unforgettable flavors.

Steps from history, it’s the perfect blend of charm and community.

Aromas Café

The Christmas Shop

illy Caffé

Baskin-Robbins

Colonial Williamsburg Bookstore

J. Fenton

Berret’s Seafood Restaurant & Taphouse Grill

Colorful Stitches Fine Yarn

Pepper Palace Williamsburg Precarious Beer Project

J. McLaughlin The Jewish Mother’s Deli

The Precious Gem R. Bryant Ltd.

Danforth Pewter

Kimball Theatre

DoG Street Pub

lululemon athletica

R. P. Wallace & Sons General Store

Brick & Vine

Eleva Coffee Lounge

Mellow Mushroom

Scotland House Ltd.

Campus Shop

Ember

The Carousel Children’s Boutique

Everything Williamsburg

Blink Blue Talon Bistro

The Cheese Shop

Fat Canary and Downstairs at Fat Canary

Chico’s

FatFace

Pizza Bakers Monkee of Williamsburg The Peanut Shop of Williamsburg Penny and a Sixpence

Talbots Three Cabanas: A Lilly Pulitzer Signature Store The Williamsburg Winery Tasting Room & Wine Bar Walkabout Outfitter Wythe Candy & Gourmet Shop

Secret Garden Sole Provisions The Shoe Attic The Spice & Tea Exchange of Williamsburg

Scan here or visit merchantssquare.org to learn more about becoming an insider and the fantastic events that are coming later this year.

Tag us with #LoveMSQ on Social Media!

Puzzles & Prize Wordplay: From the 18th century History Essay to today

by Ben Swenson

HISTORY ESSAY Across

by Ben Swenson

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

1. Kaput 15 16 14 5. Metric distance 18 19 17 ACROSSmeasurement 47. 24-hr. news pioneer 1. Kaput 48. Soap ingredient 10. Elementary particle 21 22 20 5. Metric distance 49. Fill to satisfaction 14.

Tabula ___ measurement 53. Noted Boston 25 23 24 15. Borden bovine 10. Elementary particle rabble-rouser 14. Tabula _ 58. Neutral shade 26 27 28 29 30 31 16. Hoop and stick or bilbo 15. Borden bovine 59. “Same” in footnotes catcher 35 36 32 33 34 16. Hoop and stick or 60. Picture Eager bilbo17. catcher 61. Visage 37 38 39 40 17. Eager 62. Have power 18. Rips 18. Rips 63. Fuel a wedding party 19. Fencing sword 64. Cut back 42 43 41 19. Fencing sword 20. Gave20. sustenance Gave sustenance65. French summers 47 44 45 46 21. James Lafayette behind 21. James Armistead66. Eighth Greek letter British lines 67. Urban setting 48 49 50 51 52 Lafayette behind British 23. “The Waste Land” poet lines 25. Narrow inlet DOWN 58 53 54 55 56 57 26. Be on the"The side of 1. poet _ horse 23.

Waste Land" caution?

2. Roof extensions 60 61 59 25. Narrow inlet 27. Colonial duty requiring 3. Stage whisper 26. Be a special sealon of the side of4. Papa 63 64 62 caution? approval 5. Shooting star 32. Time-tested saying duty requiring 6. Send into office 66 67 65 27. Colonial 35. Sphere starter 7. Nicholas II, for one a speacial seal of approval 36. Court an interest 8. Ireland, to locals Time-tested 37. How32.

Founding Fathers saying 9. Hold back 28. Treasury officials, 38. Very run down 51. Implied guaranteed the security 10.

Cause of a scandalous for short 39.

Dings 52. Foe 35. Sphere starter 63.perhaps 12. Warning40.sign 45. Slips Fuel a wedding party of their newly freed marriage, 29. Wows _-pedi (spa 53.past King’s address 36. Court an interest11. Roll the _ state treatment) 54. Share a boundary with 64. Cut back 30. Ice cream vessel 13. ___ and greet 46. Vote for 41. _37. d’Orleans, Quebec 12. Warning sign 31. Wee ones 45. Slips past 55. Imperial distance How Founding Fathers 47. Canonmeasurement French summers of myth or Nikon 42. _guaranteed Brockovich the security 13. _ greet 32. Fixer-upper 21. Temptress 46. Vote for of and65.

43. Dialstheir back newly-freed state 21. Temptress of myth conditional 47.

Canon or Nikon 56.

Indian nursemaid 66. Eighth Greek letter 22. Goal 49. Late Full House actor 44. Pistols and daggers, 22. Goal 33. Sandwich shop 49. Late Full House actor 57.

Go out with Bob 41. ___ d'Orleans, Quebec 67.

24.

Urban setting Kid's building block for Revolutionary War 24. Kid’s building block 34. Crushed Bob 61. Gov. consumer 50. Classicwatchdog home arcade 42. ___ Brockovich 27. 18-wheelers soldiers 35. Hippocratic Oath 50. Classic home arcade 27. word 18-wheelers Down 51. Implied 43. Dials back 28. Treasury officials, for 1. ___ horse 52. Foe short 44. Pistols and daggers, for 2. Roof extensions Revolutionary War 29.

53. King's address Wows In Williamsburg, interpreters walk upright on two feet.

ANSWERS soldiers 3. Stage whisper 30.clip-clop Ice cream vessel Well, mostly. Sometimes history goes down the street. 54. Share a boundary with 47. 24-hr. news pioneer Check our 4. Papa 31.

55. Imperial distance Here, too, the part is accurate — the oldWee daysones unalloyed.

Winter issue Each48. lineSoap of this ingredient 18th-century measurement 5. Shooting 32. Fixer-upper Because we havestar a dynamo our ancestors employed. conditional for the answers wordplay puzzle offers a clue to 49.

Fill to satisfaction 56. Indian nursemaid 6.

Send into office to these puzzles. a single answer of up to three 33. Sandwich Kind of good at everything, these creatures hit theshop grind, words. you solve it? Email 53.Can Noted Boston rabble- But7.inNicholas 57. Go out with for one their magnitude 34. Crushed the age ofII,industry, declined. your answer to puzzles@cwf.org for arouser chance to win a copy of 8. Ireland, to locals 35.toHippocratic Coach and Livestock joined the push halt their long slide down, 61. Gov. consumer Oath word The Art-Full Tree: Ornaments 58. Neutral shade watchdog 9.

Holdthis back And now, breed is cherished in38. ourVery 18th-century town.

To Make run down 59. "Same" in footnotes 10. Cause of a scandalous 39. Dings 60. Picture marriage, perhaps 40. ___-pedi (spa 61. Visage 11. Roll the ___ treatment) 62. Have power •

Our Prize Enigma

TREND & TRADITION AUTUMN 2025

79

SUMMER 2025

PUZZLE ANSWERS TRADE TALKS

T A U S R E B A I D E S T O P U S R A N T O E D N A B A D H A I R D A Y A M A L I N A N E I N S T O R E H U E D W E D C R I M E F A M I L I A R R I N G O B O R I G F L E A L U M B E R E D A L O N G E S A U N E B C G I S T R U C K A C H O R D A N Y A E A M E S S D I P E R P S M E N O T T I O F F T H E C U F F L A S T E P I C E S O S L O U I E F A N S M S R P T E N S E

PRIZE ENIGMA

Catherine Blaikley Congratulations to Judy Allen of Norwalk, Ohio, whose entry was chosen from a pool of correct answers to the puzzle in the Summer issue. She received Williamsburg Ginger Cake Tea by Harney & Sons.

Want to play, too? Here are the rules: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. Sweepstakes ends 11/24/25.

For entry and official rules with complete eligibility, prize description, odds disclosure and other details, visit www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/trend-and-tradition-prizerules. Sponsored by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Void where prohibited.

Parting Shot

Smoke Screen

Andrew Evans, who recently moved back to Williamsburg from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, made this atmospheric photo of a cannon firing near the Courthouse.

He said he was drawn by the emotion of the scene and that the artillerymen put on a genuine experience that felt true to the time and location of Colonial Williamsburg.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SUBMITTED PHOTOS. PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING! Send your favorite Colonial Williamsburg photo — a .jpg or .tif that is at least 300 dpi at 5" ×7", please — to partingshot@cwf.org. Tell us why you love the image, and we may choose it for “Parting Shot” in an upcoming issue. Don’t forget to include your hometown.

A FEELING SO

BOUNTIFUL

Plant Roots Where Your Passions Bloom.

Dig deep into our resident community gardens. Cultivate hobbies, new and old.

At WindsorMeade, a Pinnacle Living Community, opportunities to flourish are always in season. Find yourself where retirement never ceases to blossom.

Call 757 848 4300 today. WindsorMeade.org

WindsorMeade is proud to be credentialed by SAGECare.