When Pocahontas pledged herself to John Rolfe in April of 1614, she cemented an alliance that would bring seven years of peace between the English and the Powhatan. Four hundred years later, on April 5, 2014, the wedding will be reenacted at Jamestowne Island on the footings of the very church where the couple exchanged vows four centuries ago. Sheryl Mays and Mark Summers of Preservation Virginia anticipate the event.
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In 1776, England had every expectation of winning a war with her upstart American colonies, and rightly so. And what if the war had gone their way? This is the premise of a class of fiction called “alternate history,” and Director of Publications Paul Aron has found some food for thought in its reimagined histories.
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Founding mothers increasingly are recognized for their roles in Revolutionary America. Resolute, intelligent, and insightful, these women shaped history with their words, letters, and actions. Martha Jefferson joins the cast of players in Colonial Williamsburg’s Revolutionary City, shedding light on the central relationship in Thomas Jefferson’s life.
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A new blog launching March 3 follows the restorative conservation of a rare survival: an organized piano. A piano combined with a pipe organ, this unique instrument towered at nine feet tall and seven feet wide.
Its restoration raises questions at every step. Repairing a broken element could mean erasing a piece of the object’s history. Conservator John Watson prepares to meet the challenges publicly in the Organized Piano blog, where he’ll search for the best balance of repair and conservation.
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Williamsburg was a town of revolutionaries, but not everyone thought rebellion was a good idea. Men like William Hunter Jr., printer of the Virginia Gazette, stayed loyal to king and country. Actor-Interpreter Sam Miller explains how patriotic fervor made life difficult for those men and women who opposed it.
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A quiet, restrained genius is animated on the streets of the Revolutionary City by Actor-Interpreter Bryan Austin. Hear his approach to filling the shoes of the fourth president.
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