When You Are An Historian

You are never bored.

Where ever you are revelations will appear.

By golly in Norfolk, Hampton Roads, Portsmouth, New Port News.

Even when you are staying in a hotel in the center of the re-development zone that hopes to become the regional NYC Broadway.

Considering how successfully the state of VA has been since the Constitution at getting federal support for its grand plans, from the Navy, the Army, the Marines, and everything in-between, including the presidency, this may succeed.  The beer and and food are -- well, maybe not world class (though a lot of the beers are, and in a few places they manage to stay local as opposed to the overwhelming number of franchises), damned good -- when local and not chains.

The light though -- oh it's too bad that the construction of everything is so frackin' ugly.  What a place this small intimate region must have been before the concrete and the immense cranes. But -- it's still a port, both military navy and mercantile, which it always has been.

Think of how many slaves were shipped out of here from the Old South down to the New South, tens of thousands every decade for decades.

At the start of the day we managed Yorktown. I knew so much about the siege and the surrender, thanks to my time at the Fraunces Tavern Museum, where I  began in many ways to actually learn my nation's history.  We both got good and sunburned, but there too were revelations. (It was also funny how all these middle-aged and elderly men were shocked at how much I knew -- girls aren't supposed to, but they knew nothing -- including they didn't know that water over there? That wasn't the Atlantic Ocean, but the York River.)

But seeing it all -- it wasn't at all as I'd imagined Yorktown to be -- which was a lot more interesting as a town -- a Port -- than I quite realized.  Additionally, this is George Washington Land, not T. Jefferson's fiefdom (he who ran away from the Brits so fast -- all the way to PARIS! -- and never saw a battle in his life, much less participated in one).

 And o my ghoddessa, I have a much more instinctive sense now of the immensity of the Chesapeake System -- that we're destroying this is a criminal act and a sin.  Goddessas, I love this environment -- paradise it was.

Except like a satellite screwed GPS, my brain processing is getting my wars and my battlefields and eras all mixed up: French and Indian War, Bacon's Rebellion, Nat Turner, the War of 1812, the War for Independence.  One of the best things though, is that the siege of Yorktown is a battlefield I can understand and see.  Got some great photos.

Also: Historic Yorktown is a beach resort.  Who knew?  Shoe crab soup for lunch, with a view of college kids almost naked all over the place.  :)

Virginia still smells great.  The food just gets better and better.

Tomorrow, North Carolina.