Markers of History

Colonial Parkway mark­ers
Jones Mill Pond

Location: Colonial National Historic Pkwy, Williamsburg, VA 23185

Visited: July 4, 2009, 12:15pm

Transcription of marker: This mill pond and the mill dam (now cov­ered by the Colonial Parkway) show on Civil War maps, and may have existed in Colonial times.

My impres­sions: I find this marker dis­ap­point­ing. First of all, it’s sim­ply a “this was also here then” sign for two things (one of which is hid­den now). I don’t know if Jones Mill Pond is famous in some way that I haven’t yet learned, but this marker really didn’t illu­mi­nate me. If it was here, please tell me WHY it’s important!

Two pairs of mark­ers today. This marker and the next one (JONES MILL POND) are from one pull-off and then later today, from another pull-off along the Colonial Parkway, will be GREAT OAKS and THE PALISADES.

Colonial Parkway mark­ers
A Union Advance

Location: Colo­­nial National His­­toric Pkwy, Williamsburg, VA 23185

Vis­ited: July 4, 2009, 12:15pm

Tran­scrip­­tion of marker: On May 5, 1862 Lt. George A. Custer (who in 1867 made his “Last Stand” on the Little Bighorn River in Montana) led a detach­ment along a road­way here over “Club Dam Creek” to occupy the Confederate work on the bluff imme­di­ately beyond. This maneu­ver in the Battle of Williamsburg came as the Union Army advanced toward Richmond in the Peninsular Campaign.

My impres­sions: I like the bit of connection-making on this marker. I’m sure EVERYBODY has heard of Custer and his last stand, even non-Americans who may know noth­ing beyond the con­nec­tion between his name and that phrase, so it’s nice to take what peo­ple know already and link it to what you’re tech­ing them from the marker. I think it can also make a nice reminder that his­tory didn’t stop in this area at a cer­tain point in time. Because we’re trav­el­ing between Yorktown (where his­tory was made dur­ing the Revolution) and Jamestown (where his­tory was made much ear­lier). Here, we’ve got his­tory hap­pen­ing nearly a cen­tury after the Revolution. Of course, there’s plenty of time since the Civil War…so maybe my point is a lit­tle suspect.

Notes for future snar­fers: This marker and the next marker are from the same pull-off, but for ease of dri­ving, stay­ing in the car, and tak­ing pho­tos from the pas­sen­ger seat, they are in the reverse order from our usual direc­tion of travel. (So this one is closer to Williamsburg than the next marker I’ll post about, and that one is closer to Yorktown than this marker.) Nobody else prob­a­bly cares, since they’re at the same pull-off, but I feel bet­ter for explaining.

Colonial Parkway mark­ers
Cheatham Annex

Location: Colo­­nial National His­­toric Pkwy, York­­town, VA 23691

Vis­ited: July 4, 2009, 12:05pm

Tran­scrip­­tion of marker: The piers and struc­tures across the water are an exten­sion of the Naval Base at Norfolk. This takes advan­tage of the excel­lent York River deep water chan­nel as did Cornwallis when, in 1781, he chose Yorktown as his base.

My impres­sions: It is about this point where I decided (espe­cially with the dis­tance involved) not to worry too much about mil­i­tary stuff. I mean, the US wouldn’t be stu­pid enough to put some­thing sen­si­tive within site of a tourist attrac­tion that includes sig­nage point­ing out that the mil­i­tary is oper­at­ing there. Besides, how much can you tell from this far away anyway?

The third and fourth mark­ers I’m post­ing today (this one and the “Cheatham Annex” marker to be posted later today) were both at the same pull-off along the Colonial Parkway.

Colo­nial Park­way mark­ers
Bellfield Plantation

Loca­tion: Colo­nial National His­toric Pkwy, York­town, VA 23691

Vis­ited: July 4, 2009, 12:05pm

Tran­scrip­tion of marker: The Bellfield house site and grave­yard are located some 300 yards to the east. This was the home of two early Virginia gov­er­nors, Captain John West in 1632 and Edward Digges who bought the prop­erty from West in 1650. Here Digges pro­duced supe­rior tobacco and led attempts to develop silk cul­ture in the colony.

My impres­sions: I will admit that I did not under­take a thor­ough search, but one of my dis­ap­point­ments with this marker is that it men­tions the prox­im­ity of the home site and grave­yard but doesn’t spec­ify if they are vis­i­ble or not from the road, etc. And on a curv­ing park­way, some hints as to how to face east would have been appre­ci­ated. That said, I do find it inter­est­ing that we have two gov­er­nors own­ing the same home. I won­der how often that sort of thing has led to the cre­ation of “offi­cial res­i­dences” where a cou­ple of office­hold­ers liv­ing in the same home, and at some point it is sold or willed to be a res­i­dence for the holder of the same office.