Did I see Historic Williamsburg when I visited William and Mary College my junior year of high school? I can’t remember. We did visit as a family at some point. Either way, it’s been over 50 years since I last saw this:

I am a sucker for anything archaeological, so when I spotted an active dig, I made a beeline for it. They are excavating the site of the first Baptist church in Williamsburg. They have discovered part of the burial ground, and Historic Williamsburg is working with the College of William and Mary and the current members of the Baptist church, who all have a voice in the project. A great example of a culturally sensitive, collaborative effort.

And THEN I spent the better part of an hour at the feet of Gowan Pamphlet (well, the interpreter), learning all about the history of the early ”dissenting” churches—Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist: basically any denomination but Anglican—the role they played in the American Revolution, and Gowan’s life as an enslaved man and an ordained minister of that very Baptist church that was being unearthed across the street. The interpreter completely inhabited his role as Gowan, and was a master storyteller.

Side Note:
Did you know that Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, etc., pastors played a key role in raising troops for the Colonial armies? Ben Franklin printed over 100,000 copies of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and distributed them to ministers of the dissenting churches. Remember, it was illegal to practice anything but Anglicanism in most colonies at that time, except for Pennsylvania (yay for my home state!) and Rhode Island (yay for Roger Williams!). So men of these congregations, fired up by Paine’s words and exhorted by their ministers, took up arms to fight for their religious freedom.

Every time I visit historic sites, I get so engrossed in things that I’m fascinated with that I don’t get around to much else. I hung out with the tailor and the weavers and asked a lot of questions. I did get to the art museum, with its wonderful Rockefeller Collection of Folk Art, but then it was time to head back and release the pups before they destroyed my camper! In my defense, it’s not possible to see all of Colonial Williamsburg in one day—the place has grown enormously in the last 50 years.

I stayed an extra day in Newport News in order to visit Williamsburg, so tomorrow it’s off to Lake Anna for four days.