To add to Jurretta's on-target post, the 18th-century planter elites
who became the leading aristocratic revolutionaries in the South
cannot be fully appreciated apart from their rural "seats."  Colonial
Williamsburg can't represent and interpret that without Carter's Grove.

And we must also remember that the 18th century evolved from the
formative 17th-century, which was represented at the Carter's
Grove site by the Wolstenholme Towne/Martin's Hundred excavations
and wonderful archaeological museum that Ivor Noel Hume spent so
many productive years developing.

One more thing, if I may be repetitious and a bit self-serving:  Martin's
Hundred was the site of highest mortality in the Powhatan Uprising/
"Barbarous Massacre" of 22 March 1622--the first largescale terrorist
attack against an English-speaking population in American History--
which, apparently, will have no role to play in the Jamestown Quadri-
centennial.  How short-sighted, when a bit of creative marketing could
have generated increased visitaton to that site in 2007.

Too bad that Colonial Williamsburg, despite its healthy endowment, has
sacrificed its broader educational mission for financial concerns.  It's a
vicious circle, with kids being turned off to classroom history and having
decreased opportunities to experience the alternative--the excitement of
historic sites.  The future of the past is increasingly dismal at present.

Fred Fausz
St. Louis

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html