Jamestown Journey

The Journey

2007-06-19T18:05:00.002-05:00

In June of 2007, many families from our congregation journeyed to Jamestown for Vision Forum's Quadricentennial Celebration. Others had at least part of their family there, and a few families had registered but at the last minute could not make it. This blog was set up so that we could share our journey with our church family at home.

To make it easier for those who are just now visiting the blog for the first time, here are links to the posts in sequential order! Happy browsing!

In The Beginning...
On Our Way! - Driving east
Sunday - visiting DC & Richmond, Virginia
Monday - The First Landing, Williamsburg, & Yorktown
Tuesday 1 & 2 - Monticello & Scotchtown
Wednesday - Colonial Williamsburg
Thursday - Jamestown Island, Jamestown Settlement
Friday & Saturday - Fort Pocahontas
Sunday - Heading home
Resounding Voice
...and a few more pictures

Just a few more pics!

2007-06-19T18:03:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd stick a few more pictures up here!

Resounding Voice

2007-06-19T11:17:00.000-05:00

I would be remiss to close this blog without a post of pictures dedicated to our men who made it possible for us all to attend. The Resounding Voice crew. Three cheers for an incredible job done by our very own men and boys.

The amount of planning and replanning, and scheduling that happened ahead of time, and then the hours of work and tons of equipment and staff scattered over multiple venues for six days was very impressive. The set up, tear down, reset up, move, pick-up, drop-off, wait, go, stop, eat, run, record, amplify, lend, repair, rehearse, run-without-rehearsals/script... you guys were incredible!

Many thanks to Uncle George for adding his expertise to the crew for the weekend.

Of course, they were on the move so much that we didn't get many pictures of them until Friday and Saturday when they only had to run the sound and recording in one location...

Packing up and moving equipment after an outdoor presentation, the Welcome and "First Landing" presentation on Monday morning.

Recording one of more than 30 mini-tours at Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg.

No, this wasn't taken during a session... :-)

Sunday

2007-06-19T10:58:00.000-05:00

Sunday morning was relaxed - we didn't have to leave the hotel until 9:30! After the church service, held again at the big tent at Fort Pocahontas, the guys had to tear down all the equipment, inventory it, load it into the trailer - with all our luggage, and some overflow from some others... :-)

It was nearly 3:00 before we all were finally saying our final goodbyes. Most were headed straight home, but we were so exhausted from the week, we decided to spend one more night in Williamsburg. We spent the afternoon sleeping, the evening packing up as much as we could, and VERY early (3:00am) on Monday morning were pulling out. The work was done, the "vacation" behind us. It was time to go. Despite the heavy headwinds and very heavy trailer, we made it back to the place in Chicago that Josh rented a bunch of equipment from, in time to return all the stuff before they closed. We waited while they tested, inspected, and inventoried the equipment (they were very impressed with how the RV guys had packed things up). Finally, just before 9:00pm, we pulled in the driveway and were home safe and sound! We were greeted home by a torrential downpour and lulled to sleep that night by long, low rumbles of thunder.

So the world is very green this morning and reminding us of all that needs to be done - gardening, lawn mowing, cleaning up some branches that came down... Yes, even after an inspiring, fun, educational, long, busy week in Virginia - life goes on! :-) May we carry with us, however, an ever-present remembrance of how God worked out His plan for His glory through the faithfulness of our fathers at Jamestown. Young maidens, merchants, soldiers, farmers, pastors, and sailors - various callings and circumstances, yet one God working in all and over all. To His name be all glory!

Friday & Saturday

2007-06-19T09:49:00.001-05:00

Just outside of the John Tyler estate, Sherwood Forrest, sits Fort Pocahontas - the site of a battle from the War of 1861, and the site of our final two days of celebration of the Jamestown Quadricentennial.

The open fields had been filled with multiple tents for lectures, book sales, old books and artifacts, food, etc.

The grounds were covered with picnic blankets and lawn chairs, and thousands of men, women and children in varied costume. It was truly a very pleasant atmosphere. And God graciously sent us very bearable weather to compliment the event.

Not enough lawn chairs? Just pull the seat out of the van! :-)

That also allows the van to become a portable nursery...

...which helps little people keep smiles on their faces!

Although throughout the weekend, some of us were in and out with little ones, the lectures that we heard throughout the day were really very high class. Jamestown, the events, people, precedents, and the work of God in and through them, were, of course, the main theme of all the lectures. Be sure to contact Josh about getting some of the highlights.

On Friday afternoon, we were privileged to witness the laying of the 2007 Children's Monument - a monument expressing the gratitude of today's children for those who have preceded us. The crowd witnessing the event, was large and I'm afraid that the above is the only picture of either the ceremony or the monument that we captured on our camera. Perhaps I can get some other pictures from someone else to show you all the monument and inscriptions.

After the laying of the monument, it was time to start costuming our guys.

Part of the evening's entertainment was the first "on the road" presentation of the 2nd Virginia Convention.

Wigs don't travel so well, so there was lots of "primping" the guys had to endure! :-)

Are the curls even??

Finally all was ready and the evening began. Two keynote lectures, and performances by Charlie Zahm preceded their performance and the crowd dwindled some before they actually took "stage".

But those who remained were in for a treat! Not all of the cast was able to make the trip, so we had some last minute substitutes jump in with only quick rehearsals.

Nonetheless, it was an outstanding performance, with certain parts being given better than ever! The crowd started cheering and applauding before they even had a chance to vote on the resolution. :-)

Many of the guys had children come up afterwards asking them for their autographs. They were also encouraged to take the show on the road and invited to a few different places - from South Carolina to Washington state!

Saturday morning started up bright and early and the sessions were opened by a performance of a fife and drum corps from Williamsburg.

We also had the treat of hearing from two former presidents. President John Tyler came and shared with us a small portion of the three-hour lecture he gave on the 250 anniversary of Jamestown. And President Teddy Roosevelt also showed up and gave a very amusing presentation - what a character!

As we were sitting near the sound booth at the very back of the tent, we weren't in a good place for taking pictures. But we heard some really fabulous lectures again on Saturday afternoon. Be sure to talk to Josh about getting the audio. Paul Jehle was, as always, absolutely excellent over the weekend. You want to hear the Jamestown mini-tour presentation and his lecture on Saturday afternoon on Plymouth & Jamestown... oh, yes, and his Sunday morning sermon...

Saturday afternoon also saw the conclusion of the Jamestown 400 Treasure Hunt, which was followed by an auction of rare books, paintings, papers, etc.

Saturday evening brought the event to a close. I spent much of the early part of the evening walking Winston to sleep, so I missed some of the closing lectures. But he managed to fall asleep before the Academy of the Arts from South Carolina took the stage to close the event with a presentation of the Marriage of Pocahontas. Very well done!

Pocahontas was busy afterwards signing her name for a large crowd of young folks!

The evening then came to a close. It was hard to believe that the entire week of celebration was over. But it came to a good end with the Star Spangled Banner playing in background to one of the best firework displays we've ever seen. Then it was time to close up and leave.

By the time we got back to the hotel it was well past midnight, but nobody seemed very eager for bed - despite the exhausting hours kept through the week. So we ordered pizza and stayed up a couple more hours out on the hotel patio!

Looking through pictures of the week, and telling stories, was how we spent most of our time.

What a week! What a celebration! What an education! What a great group of people to be with!! We missed y'all that had to stay behind... and hope to do it again sometime with everyone! :-)

Home again!

2007-06-19T08:57:00.001-05:00

We're back home! The last two days of the week were spent at Fort Pocahontas all day. I do hope to get a post up here about those days as well - after we get a little unpacking done! Today we'll be doing lots of laundry and unpacking - as well as cooking and repacking, as tomorrow us kids head out again for the CHEO convention in Ohio this weekend... Oh, and hopefully we'll get a few minutes out in the garden before we leave as resembles a wild prairie more than a garden right about now! :-)

Thursday

2007-06-14T22:04:00.001-05:00

In the morning Dr. Jehle led us on a mini-tour of Historic Jamestowne Island that was wonderful! You all need to listen to the audio of that one... In the afternoon we drove over to Jamestown Settlement - the more "touristy" area that has been recreated to look like the old town. Here are a few pics, and then I need to hit the pillow! Tomorrow and Saturday will be big days! Good night!

The old church - on the other side of the building is the original 1647 church tower. AND, just this week, archaeologists think they have found the foundation of the original wooden church that was one of the first structures built by the Jamestown colonists.

The ruins of an old foundation.

The Rev. Hunt monument.

The Princess Pocahontas who later became Lady Rebecca Rowlfe

John Smith looks out over the James River

Over in Jamestown Settlement - a reproduction of a church like the early colonists worshiped in.

Evin, Josiah, and Stuart try on some 17th Century armor!

The Susan Constant

Winston tried on the armor, too. I think it was a bit too heavy for him yet....

Wednesday

2007-06-13T21:30:00.000-05:00

Today we spent the day entirely in Colonial Williamsburg. There is so much to see and do there, that one day just isn't quite enough! We had group admission tickets, but then spent the day scattered all over the town (it's a couple of blocks deep about 1 mile long). Here are some pictures of what some of us saw and did:

Bruton Parish Church

The Powder Magazine (where they kept all the military supplies). [Above & below pics]

The Capitol Building

The Governor's Palace & Gardens

Many shops....

And look who welcomed us back home: The Patriot Lamp!

A piece of art in the Hill's hotel room window!

Tuesday - Part Two

2007-06-13T21:07:00.000-05:00

Well, it is after the session... about 24 hours afterwards, but hey - here we are!

Like I said, we spent yesterday morning at the home Patrick Henry lived in from 1771-1778, Scotchtown. It is called Scotchtown, because it was originally a sort of "manor house" for a settlement of Scotch immigrants. The settlement never really came to fruition as many of them died of disease and some other issues came up (if I remember correctly...) Anyhow, eventually the house had to be sold to pay some debts, and Mr. Henry picked it up at an incredible deal.

We had to divide into 4 groups to tour the home, and some had better tour guides than others, but overall they were very good. Our tour guide was excellent and very excited about Henry, his character as a man, and his family, the Great Awakening and more! We could have spent lots of time with her, but we had to get on our way to Monticello.

After a gorgeous drive through the Virginia countryside, we made it to Monticello with just moments to spare.

We got our group tickets and then headed over to the shuttle that would take us up the Little Mountain to the Monticello house.

Monticello is just a very fascinating and lovely residence built by a very brilliant and unique man. And the grounds, the gardens and the view are just absolutely incredible!

While we were there, the weather was absolutely beautiful, but as we made our way back down the mountain to our vehicles, the clouds began to roll in and the thunder started rumbling and raindrops started falling... We're so grateful that the Lord held them back until as we left.

The walking path down the mountain back to the parking lot takes visitors past the Jefferson family graveyard - where is buried Thomas Jefferson himself. It is a lovely path and if you ever visit Monticello, if you have the time, take the walk!

Tuesday - preview!

2007-06-12T18:04:00.001-05:00

I'm sitting here in the Williamsburg Lodge listening to Mr. Phillips and Dr. Foster, but wanted to take advantage of the internet connection to post up a few pictures from today. So, here are a quick couple from the Carlson's camera... I don't have our camera with me so I don't have those pictures, more later!

Our first stop of the day was Patrick Henry's home - Scotchtown.

The afternoon was spent at Monticello.

More after the session....

Monday

2007-06-11T19:05:00.000-05:00

Our morning started on the banks of the James River - just outside of Jamestown, at "Archer's Hope" where the Jamestown settlers first landed. Although the men who landed there recommended it as a place to settle, it wasn't conducive for the larger vessels, so they choose Jamestown, instead. As we stood/sat there along the beach with several hundreds of others, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Potter, Dr. Jehle, Col. Eidsmoe and Dr. Foster welcomed us to the quadricentennial celebration.

During Mr. Phillips introductory comments, he began describing to us that day and the events of the first landing. While we listened, three boats came around a bend in the river and we saw for ourselves what that historic moment may well have looked like and heard the words that were spoken. How inspiring it is to hear of men who brought with them such a vision for Christ's kingdom and dominion.

Jeremy, Sara, and family, on the banks of the James River.

Ah, yes. Nothing like a nap...

We brought our morning to a close "tailgating" lunch on site at Archer's Hope.

Our afternoon saw us in old Colonial Williamsburg for a mini-tour. In two hours we were only able to touch on a couple of people and places of significance in the town, but what we heard was very good - and our guides were kind enough to seek out shady areas for us to sit as we listened to them! :-)

Yes, we are in Virginia in mid-June. The heat has not been too bad - though the sun is very hot and many have some fairly rosy skin... and there is definitely a humidity factor. But today at least we had a pleasant breeze and overall it wasn't too bad. Thank the Lord!!

As during the morning presentations, some got more out of it than others... :-)

Much of our time was spent sitting on the "green" in front of the Goveror's Palace. We hope to explore the house and gardens more on Wednesday when we have a full day to spend in Williamsburg.

A few familiar faces.

One of our tour guides - Mr. Dan Ford - showed us numerous original documents significant to early America. And Grant Strand was the Resounding Voice representative to record this particular tour.

After Williamsburg, we ended our afternoon on the Yorktown battlefield. We briefly visited the visitor's center, and then visited the field itself upon which the decisive blow was struck by Washington against Cornwallis.

Others took many more pictures than I was able to catch today, so tomorrow - perhaps on our drive out to Patrick Henry's home at Scotchtown - I'll see if I can get some of those really good ones over on this computer and post them later!

Sunday

2007-06-10T19:18:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning those of us who drove out on Saturday left our hotel in Gaithersburg and drove over to Washington DC and the Iwo Jima Marines memorial.

We spent some time there - mostly taking pictures!

After spending a brief time together there, we attempted a driving tour of DC. Yes, that's right. We "attempted" a driving tour. We encountered two challenges. First, due to more recent security measures, certain roads have been blocked off. Secondly, a number of roads that are open for vehicles are closed to "trucks" which includes our suburban and trailer. So, after a round about tour of DC where we did get to see a number of things, we headed out for our next stop: Richmond, Virginia.

St. John's Church, Richmond, Virginia

It was at this church back in 1775 that Patrick Henry arose and gave his famous "Liberty or Death" speech. We arrived in time to get seats and watch the weekly reenactment of the 2nd Virginia Convention that they hold at the church.

Of course, pictures aren't allowed during the reenactment, so we made sure to take some beforehand....

...and afterwards!

How about those curls!?!? The reenactors were kind enough to spend some time afterwards talking with us.

Our next stop in Richmond, was the lovely and historic Hollywood Cemetery - named Hollywood after the trees, not because of the numerous famous men buried there.

Situated right on the James River the cemetery is BEAUTIFUL and quiet.

I talked to many of our group who agreed that we could easily spend a full day just roaming around the grounds. Many of the gravestones are very ornate, and the epitaphs are beautiful, touching, comforting, and inspiring.

Scripture verses were prominently displayed on many of the grave markers - all sorts of passages from all parts of the Scriptures.

The grave of our 10th President John Tyler is there. President Tyler's grandson, Harrison Tyler, will be the Grand Marshall of the celebration in Jamestown this weekend.

President James Monroe is also buried at Hollywood.

Among other sites, many stopped to admire the stump of what must have been an enormous tree!

Another President - Jefferson Davis, and family.

This memorial to the Davis family erected by "Little Boys and Girls."

Many grateful children erected monuments honoring their mothers with this verse.

The monument to the Confederate soldiers. There are 18,000 Confederate soldiers buried in Hollywood Cemetery. Many of them unknown, and there were a number of plaques with epitaphs reading "So-and-so is likely buried somewhere in this area...." In the Confederate section we also visited the grave of General Pickett of the famed Pickett's Charge.

Many of the soldiers buried here are from among the Southern Gettysburg casualties. After the battle, most soldiers were buried on site, and then moved to Hollywood later.

Amen!

On our way...

2007-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00

At 6:30am on Saturday morning, we were on our way. Phone calls and text messages with the occupants of a couple of other vehicles confirmed that the VonHoltens, Carlsons, N Dels, and "the 3 girls" pulled out at approximately the same time from their respective homes.

"Scenery " along the way...

This year is a big year for cicadas in the Chicago area - But apparently we live in a non-cicada area, so we haven't seen ANY until we stopped to pick up some sound equipment when we spotted this one in the parking lot.

Ah yes, loading up the sound/lighting equipment for the festivities this week here in Jamestown

The various ones of us that left together in the morning took different routes, made different stops (to pick up equipment, to visit relatives, etc.) but we all arrived at our hotel in Gaithersburg within 2 hours of each other. After a short night's sleep and quick breakfast, we were once again on the road Sunday morning.

In the beginning...

2007-06-06T17:23:00.000-05:00

Well, we're going to try it. It will be a fun and exciting trip, but, in all honesty, it is also going to be a long and grueling week. I am really going to try, though, to keep this blog updated with pictures and reports for all of you who are unable to join us on our Journey to Jamestown.

Blessings!

In Monumentum est Opulentia