Aha! You are referring to the Watermens' Museum in Yorktown. It is, indeed,
located somewhat beneath the Coleman Bridge whch spans the York from
Yorktown to Gloucester.
The museum is the work of a most delightful lady, Marion Hornsby Bowditch,
who died last year after a lifetime of energetic community service. Mrs.
Bowditch came from a long line of watermen and it was soley through her
tireless efforts that this extraordinary museum which depicts many, many
aspects of life and fishing and crabbing and oystering on the Chesapeake Bay
and its tributaries was established back in the 1980's.
I vividly recall the day that the house in which the museum is now held was
moved, by barge, across the York from Gloucester to Yorktown. The house was
an old place that had been donated to the cause of the museum but it had to
be moved. This move was made in 1987.
The Watermen's Museum is a first class museum that all of us here in York
County are very proud of. For those of you who are planning to come to the
Historic Triangle this year, I highly recommend a visit. Plus, I don't know
if all of you Listers are aware of it but the waterfront in Yorktown has
recently been totally renovated and it is a pure joy to go down to the water
now and stroll around and see all that has been done there. There are shops
and restaurants and the place has a lovely park-like area for folks to amble
and rest.
I cannot do justice describing the great job that the planners and
implementers have done in this renovation project. They have not tried to
imitate Williamsburg or recreate something as it may have been once before.
But they have given honor to the past and created something that is
historically pleasing if not historically accurate. There are some wonderful
places off the waterfront to visit as well. I highly recommend the
Carrotree Restaurant on Main Street for a healthy and delicious lunch (I'm
not sure if they're open for dinner).
It is located right across the street from the Nelson House. Period Designs
http://www.perioddesigns.com/
is a fantastic shop also on Main Street where my daughter happens to work
one day a week (Thursdays so tell her you know me if you go on that
day...her name is Anne). Period Designs was started by three interprising
young people who had gone to William and Mary and been involved in a variety
of endeavors from the archeological to artistic. They started Period
Designs about 15 years ago (I believe) and they sell historically accurate
reproductions of household "niceties" which Michelle Erickson creates in her
kiln in Hampton.
Rob Hunter and Virginia Lascara, the other two owners, sell old and rare
maps and prints which they will also frame in Virginia's exquisite handmade
frames to which she can apply gold or silver leaf .
You can see examples of their wares in such movies as Amistad, The Patriot
and The New World.
Some filmmakers who are interested in accuracy very often call upon Period
Designs to supply them with information and artifacts.
Another place to visit would be Nancy Thomas' Studio www.nancythomas.com ,
if you are an aficianado of what I think is called "primitive" art although
her work is not primitive at all. She makes very fetching items for the
house and garden and her paintings are collected by people from all over the
world.
If you are in Yorktown do not miss a visit to Grace Episcopal Church on
Church Street. It is a wonderful, ancient place. The following is lifted
from their website:
The sturdy marl walls of Grace Church have been standing since 1697 despite
the ravages of war during the two sieges of Yorktown (1781 and 1862) and
despite the "great fire" of 1814. It continues, as it has for generations,
to serve the York-Hampton Parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern
Virginia.
Our church celebrated its 300th anniversary in 1997. It bears witness to the
living faith of our Ancestors and now supports members of a growing
congregation who seek to know Christ more fully and to make Him known:
----- Original Message ----
From: "Anne Pemberton" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 9:41 PM
Subject: Re: Native American Culture
> Thanks to Lyle, on the list, and Lee, in private email, for explanations
> that will change the outline of my story. Lee forwarded the piece from
> JSTOR that I had no idea how I would get it. It is a gold-mine for my
> children's story!
>
>
> By comparison, fishing by hook and line is a long, lazy occupation, to the
> net or penning of fish. I remember when there were "pound poles" supporing
> large nets to catch fish in the Chesapeake bay. There was always good hook
> and line fishing on the coming tide side of the "pound poles". Alas, they
> disappeared a few years ago - I have no idea why. I understand from a
> museum in Yorktown (Mariners'?, just under the York bridge), that this
> method of fishing was taught to Mathews folks by a buy from New York, who
> lived there for a while, and without having his contribution put to his
> name, returned north.
>
> Anne
>
> Anne Pemberton
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.erols.com/stevepem
> http://www.erols.com/apembert
> http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lyle E. Browning" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 8:56 PM
> Subject: Re: Native American Culture
>
>
>> Regarding fishing, the drawings of DeBry and White done for the first
>> settlements at Roanoke Island, NC show netting as the primary method,
>> with spearing as the second. Hook and line was not something shown, if I
>> remember correctly. With nets, the yields are far greater and that's
>> what's needed in a village. The methods of fishing appear to have been
>> taught by the Powhatans to the English as one can transpose directly all
>> the net types from DeBry to those in use in the middle of the 20th
>> century by commercial fishermen on the James and Chickahominy Rivers.
>>
>> Beads were also a different matter. These appear to have uniformly been
>> a high status item until the English flooded the market with them
>> whereupon they became worthless. Copper items were also in high demand
>> early on, until again, idiots flooded the market. Smith remarked on that
>> with disgust in his writings.
>>
>> Lyle Browning
>>
>>
>> On Feb 11, 2007, at 7:45 PM, Anne Pemberton wrote:
>>
>>> Thank you Paul and Nancy for your help. I will check the Jamestown
>>> site. I also found there is something useful on Native women in a
>>> journal in JSTOR, but I have no idea how I could access it from home.
>>>
>>> My stories (as some of you know) are personalized to the Reader. In
>>> this story, the Reader will don his/her History Hat and arrive on the
>>> James River between the Powhatan village and Jamestown in mid- summer of
>>> 1609. I know my blackberries are ready usually around the 4th of July,
>>> but know nothing of other berries. The Reader will arrive at sunup, and
>>> go west to the Powhatan village, meet Pocahontas in the village garden
>>> picking summer squash for breakfast. They will go to the village and
>>> help cook the squash and eat it, then pack a basket full of dried corn
>>> and together carry it to Jamestown to trade. The Reader will help
>>> Pocahontas make a good trade, perhaps getting some fish hooks in
>>> addition to shiny beads, and maybe also a pot, and perhaps a wooden
>>> toy. Since Pocahontas is 14-15 by then, and budding, she will don a
>>> shirt given her by John Smith to wear in Jamestown so the men don't say
>>> crude things to her. The Reader and Pocahontas will head back to the
>>> village, stopping along the way to swim in the river, gather some rushes
>>> to make baskets, and maybe catch a few fish with the new fish hooks
>>> and some worms. They will continue back to the village, add the fish to
>>> the village supplies for supper. Then they will play for awhile, with
>>> the other Indian children.
>>> I know that colonial children could have played hopscotch, but I'm not
>>> sure what games, that a reader could recognize or understand, that the
>>> Indian children would play. Dinner would be as the sun is going down,
>>> and after a hearty stew of meat and roots, Reader would press the HOME
>>> button on his/her History Hat and return to the current time.
>>>
>>> If anyone sees hole or improvements on this outline, I hope they will
>>> say so.
>>>
>>> There will be music background to the story. I have already used Colors
>>> of the Wind on another project, so I will be looking for something
>>> different. I am open to suggestions. It should be in public domain and
>>> hopefully in midi or MP3.
>>>
>>> Thanks to any and all help, and an extra thanks to those who tell me
>>> where I am tripping up.
>>>
>>> Anne
>>>
>>>
>>> Anne Pemberton
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>> http://www.erols.com/stevepem
>>> http://www.erols.com/apembert
>>> http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Finkelman"
>>> <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 7:19 PM
>>> Subject: Re: Native American Culture
>>>
>>>
>>>> lots of seafood (oysters, clams, crabs; and remember at this time
>>>> there
>>>> were elk, bison and probably moose in Va.
>>>>
>>>> Paul Finkelman
>>>> President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
>>>> and Public Policy
>>>> Albany Law School
>>>> 80 New Scotland Avenue
>>>> Albany, New York 12208-3494
>>>>
>>>> 518-445-3386
>>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>>>>> [log in to unmask] 02/11/07 6:39 PM >>>
>>>> Folks,
>>>>
>>>> I am starting a new story for children and it will be about spending a
>>>> day
>>>> with Pocahontas in the summer of 1609. I believe Pocahontas would have
>>>> been
>>>> 14 or 15 by then, and John Smith still in the colony???
>>>>
>>>> I am wondering what young Native Americans drank with their meals.
>>>> Water?
>>>> Did the press juice from berries and fruit?
>>>>
>>>> Also, does anyone know if there was any husbandry among the Powhatans?
>>>> Did
>>>> they keep chickens for eggs? Gather eggs from ducks? Never eat eggs?
>>>> Cook
>>>> eggs hard or fried?
>>>>
>>>> I am, as you may recall, a long way from a library (and can no longer
>>>> drive
>>>> on the Interstate) and on limited means, so borrowing or buying books
>>>> is
>>>>
>>>> tough. Following internet links to sources is my favorite way of doing
>>>> research. Email addresses are also helpful, if you just know someone
>>>> who
>>>>
>>>> knows.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for any help on the Pocahontas' diet in the summer months.
>>>>
>>>> Anne
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Anne Pemberton
>>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>> http://www.erols.com/stevepem
>>>> http://www.erols.com/apembert
>>>> http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
>>>>
>>>> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
>>>> instructions
>>>> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>>>>
>>>> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
>>>> instructions
>>>> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>>>
>>> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
>>> instructions
>>> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>>
>> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
>> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
|
