THE BIG WRAP UP POST

I'm not behind on posting.....

Friday, after our meeting with a Dean of Admissions of W+M, I headed to CW with two friends; we kind of just strolled around, taking our time and taking in the Revolutionary City before heading to the Art Museum. Eventually we made it back to the bookstore where we grabbed lunch (I had a coughing fit inducing spiced pizza thing from Starbucks), then headed back to the dorms. We had a dance practice at 4PM for the closing ceremonies that night; that got done early but I stayed and learned a harder dance which 6 of us performed at the reception after the actual ceremony. The closing ceremonies were bittersweet; I was happy to be heading home, but VERY VERY sad to be leaving VA and all my friends. That night we watched Tangled, stayed up until midnight, and ended the night with a group hug involving me standing on a table...

TJ portrait at the art museum!

George Washington at the art museum!

CW LAMB!!!!

On Saturday, I left my dorm fairly early in the morning; maybe around 11am? Other than that, my morning was filled with getting breakfast and watching Tarzan with whoever remained. Saying goodbye was hard, and I'll admit there were some tears, but I made it and headed to CW with Mom and Dad! We toured the Randolph House, the Charlton Coffehouse, got a WONDERFUL lunch at Chownings (I missed food), went to the Public Gaol, heard some people speak about spies, and heard Patrick Henry and George Wythe speak. Then I met up with one of my dorm friends who was in CW for the day with her mom before their flight home tomorrow, and we hung out and MET THE MARQUIS and another dashing officer from Pennsylvania and generally had a great time.

Tea at Charltons!!! Mrs. Randolph was there, and she had some nice gossip as well. 

SPIES...no Ben Tallmadge, though...

Happy as can be in a holding cell...at least it has a window!

George Wythe and myself

Me, Anna, and the MARQUIS!! We got to pet his horse and it was SO COOL OH GOSH I'M FANGIRLING!

Anna, the officers, and I. They were on their way to Yorktown and we were both headed home, but we made time for a quick picture!

 My last journal has been turned in, so other than waiting for my grades and texting with friends, I've said goodbye to W+M and my AMAZING NIAHD program. I made so many memories, learned so many new history things, and visited some great sites, and I'm going to miss it terribly. Thankfully we have technology in this day and age, so I have pictures, friends on Facebook, and phone numbers so I can keep in touch and remember all the good times!

The Civil War group traveled over 1,000 miles during the 3 weeks; WOW. I can't even believe we went that far or to that many places.

Anyway, I'm onto another historical site (Gettysburg) tomorrow for some college visiting (never a dull moment), so I'm heading to bed soon. It's been wonderful writing for anyone who's been tuning in, and I hope you enjoyed listening to my ramblings on history, historical men, and such.

Thanks for listening!!
-Tessa :D

Packing

I'll post some pictures from yesterday later, but right now I'm packing up my room. Mom and Dad should be here fairly soon, but I'm not exactly sure when.

 

It's going to be over soon and I'm sad!! 

-Tessa :D

I have to start packing soon....?

I just got back from a WONDERFUL VICTORY at our final Jeopardy extravaganza--> I messed up a few times during the game, getting names wrong and such, but redeemed myself by knowing the answer to the Final Jeopardy Question and winning candy bars for my team. HUZZAH!-- so I'm a little adrenaline crazy. Also the other three girls that are on my floor and in Civil War and myself had a dance party, which was fun. :D I'm definitely going to miss them!

On Wednesday we visited Gaines Mill Battlefield and Cold Harbor National Cemetery, and today we visited Shockoe Hill Cemetery, the Hebrew Burying Ground, and Hollywood Cemetery. This basically means I stepped on a few graves and saw lots of dead people. You might be wondering why we went here- aren't we supposed to be learning about the Civil War? Well, we were talking about how people remembered the Civil War, which I found fascinating coming from NJ and having a more Northern view. I loved seeing how Southerners memorialized the war and remembered their dead!

We walked the path that Confederate soldiers from Texas charged up as they forced the Union soldiers to flee at the Battle of Gaines Mill. We also reenacted it, which involved me running up a hill; I took a very blurry video.

Cold Harbor National Cemetery; a very sedate and peaceful place.

A medal of honor recipient!!

A marker memorializing all the unknown soldiers buried there; some are inside the cemetery's walls and others are buried outside the wall. I can't even believe the amount of unidentified bodies they must have found; brutal!

I placed a penny on the grave of this unknown soldier; this symbolizes that someone has come by and paid their respects.

John and Mary Marshall's graves in Shockoe Hill Cemetery!!

The grave of Elizabeth Van Lew; a woman of high standing in Richmond, she was a spy for the Union during the Civil War. She not only gave aid to Union POWs but also helped some escape prisons!

The graves of some young girls who died during the Confederate Laboratory explosion; it was a munitions factory that exploded during the Civil War. Mainly young women were working here; some were as young as twelve!

President James Monroe's fancy grave aka The Birdcage!

'His Accidency' John Tyler's grave.

The view from Hollywood Cemetery; beautiful!!

Tomorrow is a pretty free day; we're meeting with admissions people in the morning, but other than that I'll be working on my journal!!

I can hear the Colonial people returning, so I have to go continue writing my journal!!

-Tessa :D

I'M BEHIND ON POSTING

I'm going to use the excuse that I've had a lot to do, so I haven't been posting. It's true, I've been having lots of fun so far this week, so here's some info on the past few days!!

On Sunday we went to Williamsburg in the afternoon and hung out/had fun/yay. We went to the brickyard, which I'd never seen, so it was cool, and the coffee shop (I recommend going if you're in the area; it's fun, and they give you free samples). Sunday night we had a walking tour of CW given by a NJ man who's now in charge of the Civil War trails in VA (I believe). He was really engaging, so the tour was awesome! For anyone who's wondering "But nothing happened in Williamsburg??" YES there was a battle in Williamsburg and there were about 4000 casualties! And African American slaves gave information to the Union soldiers which allowed them to take the enemy flag! SO COOL!

Making bricks!! They let kids walk in the clay, which looked fun but messy.

On Monday we checked out some Confederate fortifications and Ft. Monroe, which overlooks Hampton Roads, where the Monitor and the Merrimack dueled it out. Edgar Allan Poe was also a soldier there and Jefferson Davis was held there too. They had some really interesting exhibits as well as a Civil War diary in the gift shop that I almost bought...

Bad fortifications picture

View from the top of Ft. Monroe overlooking Hampton Roads!

A part of the 'moat' at Ft. Monroe. It was to the gate by this body of water that 3 slaves rowed up and were taken as contraband by the Union forces at Ft. Monroe. This began the practice of taking male slaves as contraband and females/children as wives/kids of contraband. Slaves would then be sent to contraband camps. 

Today we went to the Mariners' Museum; first to check out the USS Monitor Center, then to see the rest of the Museum. We got to see preserved pieces of the Monitor, which sunk in 1862, and learn about life on the ironclad (which actually was really uncomfortable because it was over 100 degrees and smelled bad and was cramped). We also watched a little yet intense video on the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack, which I would argue accomplished nothing in the war but was big for technology and PR. Also the Mariner's Museum had a little Titanic exhibit, so guess who was happy?

A preserved piece of the Monitor's gun turret. This doesn't really convey how big it is, but it's HUGE. THIS IS HISTORY, PEOPLE!

I found a lifeboat. Also Boxhall is in the background. (I'm on a last name basis with the crew of the Titanic??)

A picture showing the different sections of the Titanic and which classes they were available for. Basically a poster I need on my bedroom wall. 

I have to get started on my next journal, which will be on women and their involvement in the Civil War, but that's what's been going on recently. I can't believe that I leave in a couple days. :(

-Tessa :D

As if I didn't have enough to worry about..

Now I'm sick.

Okay, it's not that bad, but I went to see a doctor this morning because I just felt ehhhh, and now I have some nice medicine to take and Mucinex if I'm feeling particularly horrid. Right now I'm a bit more chipper, probably because I had some lunch and a croissant left over from breakfast (food is the ultimate cure).

Anyway, here's some pictures from the past few days!!

Slave quarters at Somerset Place Plantation!

The house at Somerset Place!!

Garden at Somerset!

View from the balcony of the house at Somerset Place!

Ferry ride to Bacon's Castle!

Slave quarters at Bacon's Castle--> Note the fact that they're raised up; this was to prevent slaves from digging subfloor pits to keep valuables in, basically another way slaveholders would control their slaves. 

Bacon's Castle!!

At Bacon's Castle we also reenacted a duel using water guns, which I took a video of. It was hilarious!

After this morning's craziness I'm planning to relax the rest of the day; we have a Target shopping spree at 3PM and Sno-To-Go (like Rita's) at 8PM, but other than that I'm going to finish my readings for Monday. I finished my journal, but I might edit it a little bit more. I'm not as proud of it as I am of my first journal, but I'm not really sure what more to add to it so I'm at a bit of a stalemate.

Tomorrow our background lecture is a tour of CW at 7PM, so I'm planning to do laundry, then hang around CW all day. We'll see what happens.

-Tessa :D

Early morning

Wake up today was 6:20am because we're heading to Somerset Place Plantation in NC. Hopefully it's one of the last early early wake ups that I'll have for the rest of the program.

Last night we watched Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and barely survived. My friend and I practically screeched our way  through the movie, and Kleenex were on hand. I've never laughed so much actually.

Well hopefully I've recovered from that and can survive NC today.

-Tessa :D

Lazy Day

Today marks HALFWAY THROUGH THE PROGRAM!! Wow!! I can't believe we're already halfway through, and I'm very excited for what the rest of my time here will bring.

Today was an open day as well, so we didn't have anything official to do except a tour about TJ and his body-servant/slave Jupiter in CW in the morning and dance at 2PM. We've decided which dances we're performing at closing ceremonies; Haste to the Wedding and the Duke of Kent. Both are a lot of fun, so I'm excited. I skipped a lot today at practice, so that was my exercise for the day.

Other than that, I've been lazing around listening to Joe Iconis music, revising my journal, reading for tomorrow, and thinking about what my next journal will be on. I just finished revising my journal, so I thought it would be a nice time to post some pictures from yesterday's adventures. We went to the site of Lumpkin Slave Jail, which is now a parking lot, the Kanawha Canal, Tredegar Iron Works, and the American Civil War Center. Basically, we debunked the 'South is all agriculture' myth by talking about industry in Richmond (iron works, munitions factories, textile mills, etc). It was a lot of walking, but still good!

The York River...I believe....

An actual picture of me, wow, I'm alive!

RIVER

Not many pictures...probably because the sites we visited weren't really there; the slave jail isn't there anymore, and the canal was just a canal. I should've taken pictures outside Tredegar, but whoops...and we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the Civil War Center. Tomorrow we're going to Somerset Plantation in NC, however, so I'll probably have a lot of pictures to post!!

For my next journal, I'm considering writing about African American women; maybe comparing their status/education by parents/etc to that of white women....I'm not really sure. Going to go formulate that idea now. :D

-Tessa :D