For the last several months, my self-imposed discipline for writing these daily essays has required me to look at the newspaper on Wednesday mornings and then write about something in the paper that either inspires or informs in an interesting way. Today, in a shameless act of self-promotion, I’m writing about a monthly column I write for the Virginia Gazette, our local newspaper. I’ve been writing this column since February, and I’m finding it interesting and rewarding. Don’t read the “rewarding” part too generously – they pay me $50 a month for my column. This money was my “walking around money” for the week I was at Chautauqua. I paid for everything I did there with the cash I had on hand. This had two impacts: I was more aware of what I was spending, but I was also more willing to buy a souvenir tchotchke or two because I had my own permission to spend this money. This was what it was “for.”
I’m free to write pretty much what I want – as long as it roughly completes the sentence that begins with “Did You Know That?” (DYKT, which is at the top of the column). In recent months I’ve written about local beaches, day trips from Williamsburg, places to take a good walk, where you can donate clothes and other items, and where you can research genealogy. All of this is focused on being useful to people who live in Williamsburg. It’s working, at least to some extent; the Ford’s Colony “Newcomers” Club has asked me to talk to their group about by “day trips from Williamsburg” article, and other articles have generated a little “buzz” on the website – at least according to the newspaper editor.
The premise of this article is simple: the names of neighborhoods in and around Williamsburg reflect bits and pieces of the history of the region. I feature neighborhoods named Berkeley’s Green, Governor’s Land, Drummonds Field, Chanco’s Grant, St. George’s Hundred, Jamestown Hundred (where I live), Port Anne, Queen’s Lake, and New Town – all of which harken back to the earliest days of the Virginia Colony. I go into some detail on the historical significance of these names.
My goal is to alert people to the fact that history is observable not only when it slaps us in the face with the superb historical interpretation that is the purpose of the anchors of our local history – Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown, which are referred to collectively as the Historic Triangle. They cost money (although not a lot) and some time to visit; however, we drive past these neighborhoods every day as we run errands to the library, grocery store, or doctor’s office. Once you start playing this game, you find that you can play it everywhere.
I bet that’s true where you live also. Do you know why your street has the name it does? What about your town or your neighborhood? You may think they’re obvious For example, Hancock County, Illinois, where my father was born, was named for John Hancock, signer of the Declaration of Independence — but Hancock died in 1793, long before the state of Illinois was settled and counties were created. I know that 10 states have named counties after him, but I haven’t been able to figure out why, exactly, they chose him. To be fair, I haven’t looked very hard.
Great article, Karen.