Category Archives: Virginia history
Nosy neighbor
I’m hardly the only one whose personal geography has shrunk dramatically since Covid-related social distancing began back in March, nor am I the only scholar who has found it hard to concentrate on researching and writing amidst the pandemic and … Continue reading
Powhatan land acknowledgement
Before COVID-19 arrived in the US and prompted social distancing, self-quarantines, business closures, and event cancellations, I was scheduled to spend today moderating a conference panel at the Virginia Forum in Richmond. The three panelists would have been speaking about … Continue reading
Oral histories from the Rappahannock River
As a colonial historian, I never thought I’d be working on an oral history project, but a couple of years ago a student from my environmental history class, Woodie Walker, who is also a conservationist at Friends of the Rappahannock … Continue reading
Confederate monuments and white landscapes
It has been less than a week since white nationalists and white supremacists gathered in Charlottesville to protest plans to remove a statue of General Robert E. Lee, just one of the many Confederate monuments throughout the state. With a … Continue reading
The Jamestown Colony, Donald Trump, and the Problem of Patriarchal Leadership
*Edward Maria Wingfield’s 1607-08 presidency of the Jamestown Colony might lend insight to PEOTUS Donald Trump’s refusal to divest from his business holdings Last semester’s Colonial America class inevitably spent some time thinking about the Jamestown Colony, especially the struggles … Continue reading
Feds recognize Pamunkey Indians of Virginia
I spent the last couple of weeks in Washington, D.C., and they turned out to be fairly momentous. There were landmark Supreme Court decisions on the Affordable Care Act and gay marriage, but there was also a much quieter announcement … Continue reading
Fredericksburg ghost stories
It’s spring break and almost daylight savings, and so maybe I should be thinking about spring cleaning. But since we’re still dipping down into the single digits, and looking at 3-5 inches of snow and ice and frozenish crud tomorrow, … Continue reading
Rappahannock film premier
RAPPAHANNOCK 8×11 Friends of the Rappahannock, a local conservation organization in Fredericksburg, will be hosting the premier of a documentary by Oscar-nominated director Bayley Silleck at UMW’s Dodd Auditorium on Sunday, November 9, from 3-4 pm (you can grab the promotional … Continue reading
The Great Dismal Swamp
Between moving from two apartments and a storage unit into a single house, attending three weddings in three different states, revising and submitting one article manuscript and working on another, writing a conference paper, and creating/revising syllabi, I didn’t make … Continue reading
Reading about home
I suppose I live in Virginia now, huh? That’s not entirely why these are my two most recent reads, but it maybe had at least a small influence. At any rate, it was fun to see Fredericksburg, Stafford County, the … Continue reading
