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For the past few days I've been conducting location research, preparatory to writing the Ghost Guns Guide to Yorktown. I've got a few more days of research left, and a few days of writing before it is ready to be presented here. The goal is to provide a guide that will enable visitors to Yorktown to see everything, and understand what they see, so as to enrich their experience of this storied town.
What goes in to the preparation of such a guide? I share that information in a series of 'blog-like' entries below.
So, here we go.
October 30, 2006, Monday
I drove to the Yorktown Battlefield Visitors Center and parked there. I did this because I wanted to know how long it would take to walk from the Visitors Center to Yorktown's Riverwalk Landing, as I'd decided that I would use that as the starting point for the Guide. I'd been told ten minutes, but I wanted to see for myself.
As I got out of my car, I saw the Williamsburg bus sitting at the bus transit area adjacent to the Visitors Center. I went over and asked the driver how long it took him to get to Williamsburg. "30 minutes," he said, "but tomorrow's the last day." I'm a bit literal-minded, so I looked at him in horror. But, he'd just meant the last day for the bus until April. April - November is the schedule for the trolleys and the buses that take tourists from Jamestown to Yorktown to Colonial Williamsburg and back.
Some days earlier, on October 21, I had learned the lesson that I should always carry my digital recorder with me wherever I go, because you never known when you might not see someone who'd be interesting to talk to.
Well, I learned that lesson again today. I was going to Yorktown only to take photographs and make a preliminary "recce". I didn't intend to talk to anyone, I didn't expect to meet anyone...so I didn't bring my recorder or even a notebook. |
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(Since I have a digital camera I can take 'digital notes' of the text of signs, etc., and not have to worry about wasted film.) Well, on the way back from the town to the Visitors Center, I passed by a couple of tourists who had stopped to talk to a Park Ranger. He'd just come home for lunch, it seemed, and so their seeing him had been an accident, of fortuitous timing.
He stood in front of the white picket fence of his house, talking to these people, saying interesting things, such as that the Main Street of Yorktown that we were walking on was the same as it had been over 200 years ago, except it had been built up by about ten feet (or did he say four? Just two hours later I couldn't remember the number he'd said.) And about how the British re-enactors had taken over this location and that during the Anniversary Celebrations of a week ago...and I had no tape recorder to record all this interesting stuff! Merde!, as a French soldier would have said. In my frustration I just walked away.
Swan Tavern antiques
Building circa 1935, reproduction of building
destroyed in 1863. |
November 1, 2006, Wednesday
I returned again to Yorktown, again parking in the Yorktown Visitors Center lot. (I have a membership to all National Parks, so I'm entitled to use their parking facilities.) This time I was prepared with my digital recorder, and so was able to record the comments of a groundsman who was cleaning up the remnants of the fallen trees after Ernesto.
On this day, I walked down Main Street very slowly. The day before, I hadn't entered any of the houses, I'd just wanted to get to Riverwalk Landing and back to check times. So although I did pause to take photographs of the historical houses I passed, I was just getting the exterior story.
I moved much more deliberately this time. As a result, I saw two signs that I'd missed the days before. Not incredibly exciting signs, to be sure. |
One stated that a particular house was on the National Register, the other pointed out the site of the William Nelson house, which was no longer in existence. (The Nelsons of Yorktown were a very important family, as I'll describe in the Guide.)
The Thomas Nelson house was open to visitors, so I went inside and looked around, took a few photographs, and recorded a few notes. (There's a notebook in the foyer which gives information on the house.) A volunteer sat in a corner of the foyer, and we exchanged a few words.
I'd collected enough material for one day, I decided after I'd finished with the house, so I decided I'd just go into the Swan Tavern Antiques and look around, and then return home. This antique shop is located in the building built in 1935 to replace the famous Swan Tavern that had been destroyed by an explosion on December 16, 1863. It looks just like a furnished house from the 1800s, but each of the items has a price tag on it. The rooms looked gorgeous.
I took photos upstairs and downstairs, and then on my way out the door saw a notice that said, "No indoor photography." So I won't share those photos in the guide!
I speculate that they have that rule to prevent someone from using detailed photographs to make a copy of an object, and sneaking in and replacing the original with the copy. Makes sense. But I cannot feel guilty about breaking this rule to begin with, since how can they expect someone to obey a sign that is placed on the door where you will only see it as you leave?
November 2, 2006
The last few days of October have been warm (in the 70s), so much so that I was thinking of entitling an article, "Fall tourist season in Yorktown...No big deal." Today, however, the temperature was in the 60s, and felt cooler because of the wind. I decided to forego my daily visit and go to the Mariners' Museum instead. (The Monitor Center is on pace to be open in March 2007, and the old/new entrance is already open. An article about the Mariners' Museum will be coming soon.)
Meantime, I have a couple of books on the history of Yorktown, including Colonial Yorktown by Clyde F. Trudell, that I must read. And come rain or snow, tomorrow I'll be back in Yorktown.
November 3, 2006, Friday
The Daily Press got it wrong! The Thursday, November 2 edition of Hampton Roads newspaper, in its Local News/York/Poquoson section, (pg. C13) had a lovely color photo of some of the re-enactors who are going to be performing the York Towne Tea Party re-enactment on November 5, 2006. Problem is, November 5 is a Sunday, but the headline said: "Virginia will be raided again on Monday as interpreters gather in the third annual re-enactment at the Watermen's Museum in Yorktown."
I'd been puzzled when I'd read this yesterday, as nowhere in the article is their a 'summary box' to give the who, what, when and where. All the information is to be found in the text, and one of the paragraphs there said "Forty more descendants of signers [of the Declaration of Independence] will be present in the audience Sunday...
So I visited the Watermen's Museum today and the docent in charge there said that yes, it was Sunday, and that they weren't too pleased with the Daily Press, as they'd been getting quite a few calls wondering which was the right day.
Also, I noted that the tablet in front of the new George Washington/Comte de Grasse statue is missing. It was a useless tablet - it didn't identify who was who (and there's no way to tell from the men's faces)! - but I would have thought there was no need to take it away and leave a blank space! Have a new tablet created, and switch the one with the other. But don't take the old tablet away! (Unless, in addition to a lack of information which it had possessed, it also had incorrect information. Then I could understand it being removed so quickly.)
November 6, 2006. Monday
Yesterday I attended the Tea Party Re-enactment at Yorktown. I was unable to talk with the participants afterwards, but I have the phone numbers of the organizers and hope to line up some interviews later on this week.
Today is a rest and relaxation day. I've got books on Yorktown to read, and also a general Civil War book, The South Reports the Civil War. Hopefully by tomorrow my batteries will be recharged and I'll be able to get back to work on all my projects.
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