Sounds to me like the makings of a good letter to the editor (or two). 
. . .

--Jurretta


On Mar 27, 2007, at 8:08 AM, Brent Tarter wrote:

> Julian Walker's article, "Oldest incorporated town is in Va. Try 
> Bermuda
> Hundred in Chesterfield County," in the Richmond Times-Dispatch for
> yesterday is, indeed, a very interesting article on a community and its
> recent history.
>
> It is a pity, though, that nobody thought to research the early 
> history.
> Bermuda Hundred was never an incorporated town, period.
> But that newspaper headline will undoubtedly result in reference
> librarians in the future being badgered for information on the
> incorporation and by people searching for similar non-events about 
> other
> places. Any reference librarian or good historian is aware of numerous
> instances in which such ill-informed publications generate myths or
> misstatements of fact that work like just so much kudzu, clogging up
> understanding of the past and leading future readers astray.
>
> It's like the "Do you still beat your wife?" questions that muddy the
> waters rather than illuminate the past.
>
> PS: Twenty or thirty years ago there was a sign on the north end of the
> James River Bridge Tunnel where you emerged from underneath the water
> and entered Newport News and Hampton. The sign read something like:
> "Welcome to the oldest continuously inhabited English-speaking town in
> the western hemisphere." Now: That was true, and I'm sorry that the 
> sign
> isn't there, any more.
>
> $0.02 worth from
>
> Brent Tarter
> The Library of Virginia
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at http://www.lva.lib.va.us
>