Senior Moments

Scenes from Westover Parish Church, Charles City, Virginia. June 23, 2009.

On our anniversary trip in 2007 Betsy and I drove toward Richmond after leaving Jamestown-Yorktown-Williamsburg.  Our route took us parallel to the James River, which was the ‘highway’ of colonial Virginia.

About halfway to Richmond we came to Westover Parish Church.  I knew that Westover was one of the earliest Virginia plantations, so we decided to stop.

Westover Parish was formed in 1613 and a church was constructed between 1630 and 1637 on Westover Plantation.  The present church building was completed about 1730.  Between 1803 and 1833 the church was abandoned and used part of the time as a barn.  But in 1833 the building was repaired and restored and religious services were revived.  Westover Church was badly wrecked by Federal troops during the Civil War, but it was restored again in 1867 and has been in continuous use ever since.

Through the years farmers, plantation owners, slaves and presidents have worshipped at Westover Church.  The presidents include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler (whose plantation is nearby) and Theodore Roosevelt.

To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

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I’m grateful to the people who love and preserve the history of this wonderful country.

Scenes from our second day at Williamsburg. June 22, 2007.

A couple of days ago I posted about our first day at Williamsburg.  Betsy and I went back a second day to see more of the historic area.

We visited the Museums of Williamsburg — the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum.  Both museums were wonderful and they had excellent collections.  Betsy was especially impressed with the grandfather clocks we saw (she has always wanted one).  Fortunately we had to check our back packs before we went in and she couldn’t fit one in her pocket!

We also visited the College of William and Mary, where we toured the Wren Building, the oldest academic building still in use in America.  Construction on the building began August 8, 1695.  It was destroyed by fire three times, but was always rebuilt.  Today it looks very much as it did in 1723.  It was the first major building restored by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., after he began Williamsburg’s restoration in the late 1920s.

We also enjoyed a military review on Williamsburg’s Market Square by the 2nd Virginia Regiment and the Fife and Drums Corp.  The review included drills, musket firings and the firing of a cannon.

To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

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I’m grateful for the blue skies we enjoyed yesterday after a week of dreary gray skies.