Before Plymouth, there was… Jamestown (04-28-13)

  How many places do you know that qualify for a Quadricentennial Plaza? Jamestown, VA does.  This town became the first permanent English settlement in North America when 104 men and boys arrived in May of 1607. The first few years were extremely difficult.  They didn’t realize they had arrived during one of the worst droughts ever.  The first year they were here they did ok because they had brought enough food to last until the first harvest.  Unfortunately the harvest didn’t provide enough food and by early 1610, two thirds of the settlers had died from starvation, sickness or Indian attack. Still, more settlers were sent, with some women in the mix now, and families were started in Jamestown.

Jamestown is the site of an ongoing archeological dig and one of the things they found was the footings for the original fort, so they know exactly where it stood.







There are actually two sections to modern day Jamestown- the National Park, which is the part we went to, and the Living History Museum, which charges a higher admission.  We decided to pass on that until we toured the national park- then we’d see if we wanted or needed more information (we didn’t).


 

The national park has rangers giving tours and we went on a tour with “Rebecca”. She was one of the best interpretive rangers we have ever seen. She was funny, and informative, and played quite a character, complete with accent.  Her “role” was essentially the town busybody, and we, as a group, were the latest batch of indentured servants getting off the ship. She taught us the ropes- what to expect for our daily lives, what the work would be like, working in the tobacco fields, and explained how much better life is there “now” compared to a few years ago. 

After describing the life, and how people literally drop dead in the field, she asked why we had come, and why did we sell 7 years of our lives to get here?  By asking questions and cleverly answering them herself, she taught us that England is a land of “haves” and “have nots” and we all came from the “have not” side of the equation.  There would never be any hope of ever having more, of even ever owning a house, in England. 

America was the land of opportunity.

Tattoo Tonight! (04-25-13)

Nope, not that kind of tattoo. The musical kind.  After trying, and being unable to figure out a way to get to Canada by early June to attend the International Tattoo being held there, we were astounded to learn that there was one being held this weekend, in Norfolk Virginia, a mere hour from where we are staying.  So, what is this kind of Tattoo?

The name is derived from an 18th century term  "Doe den tap toe", or just "tap toe".  Literally translated, it means “close the tap.”  The British encountered, and adopted this term while stationed in Belgium. The Corp drummers, or pipe and drummers, would signal, with music, for the tavern owners to close the tap, and stop serving soldiers drinks, so they would head home and get a decent night’s sleep.
Nowadays, its an extravaganza of military music.

We bought tickets for Thursday night, figuring it would be less crowded than the weekend shows.  We arrived in time for “hullabaloo” which takes place for the two hours before the show.  Hullabaloo is outside, and features food and drink, as well as many musical groups. We heard bagpipers, fife and drum corps. and military jazz bands from all over the world. Hullabaloo was great because the music was free to the public, and it was up close and  personal.

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New Orleans Military jazz band

Colonial Williamsburg

Fife and Drum Corp

Scottish Pipe Band

Virginia is home to a large military population, and I took this picture when this group of guys pulled up in their jeep.  I didn’t think much of it until 15 minutes later when they pulled in front of the stage…

  

Within two minutes they had completely taken apart the jeep, and put it back together again.  Then they drove off. They are the “Jiffy Lube” team.

The Hullabaloo was awesome, but the show inside was even better. Precision marching, singing, dancing, and of course band music were all part of the show.  One French group came out singing, moved on to playing musical instruments, and ended up dancing. Strange, but cool.

 



The United States was represented by the Air Force, the Marines, the Navy and the Army. International performers included groups from England, Australia, Norway, France, Canada and Scotland.
These are some of the videos I took of the Tattoo itself: