Here’s an interview with a costumed interpreter at Plimoth Plantation that popped up today on one of the Boston Herald blogs. Describing his job, he invokes the names of both Batman and Santa Claus, neither of whom are subjects of frequent discussion in most other professional circles.
Archive for the ‘Colonial America’ Category
Chatting up a Pilgrim
Posted in Colonial America, Museums and Historic Sites, tagged Pilgrims, Plimoth Plantation on November 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »
A frontier outpost of the British Empire
Posted in Colonial America, Museums and Historic Sites, Tennessee History, tagged Cherokee, Fort Loudoun, Fort Loudoun State Historic Area, French and Indian War, Sequoyah, Tellico Blockhouse, Tennessee History on November 1, 2009 | 4 Comments »
It’s been a while since I’ve posted one of my historic site reviews, but the other day I tagged along on a trip to Fort Loudoun State Historic Area near Vonore, TN. This is another of those fascinating frontier-era sites in East Tennessee that I’ve intended to visit for a good, long while. (It’s funny how you’ll drive hundreds [...]
This just in: Columbus not as popular as he used to be
Posted in Colonial America, Teaching history, tagged Christopher Columbus on October 11, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Here’s an item from the AP on how today’s schoolteachers are giving their students “a more nuanced picture of Columbus than the noble discoverer often portrayed in pop culture and legend.”
Anybody else having a hard time thinking of instances in which Columbus has been ”often portrayed in pop culture” at all these days, let alone nobly?
If that’s [...]
A look behind the banner
Posted in American Revolution, Colonial America, History and Memory, Tennessee History, tagged East Tennessee, Lloyd Branson, Revolutionary War, Sycamore Shoals on March 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Ah, the banner—that nifty picture strip that runs along the top of so many sites and blogs with a dash of personalized flair. Maybe you’ve been wondering where I got mine. If you guessed that it’s from Lloyd Branson’s painting Gathering of the Overmountain Men at Sycamore Shoals, 1780, now in the fabulous Tennessee State Museum, then give yourself a [...]
Piedmont history on the battlefield’s doorstep
Posted in American Revolution, Colonial America, Museums and Historic Sites, tagged American Revolution, Guilford Courthouse, Revolutionary War, Tannenbaum Historic Park on March 22, 2009 | 4 Comments »
My string of Guilford Courthouse-related posts is finally coming to a close, with this last historic site review from my jaunt over to North Carolina. The final site in this batch is Tannenbaum Historic Park in Greensboro, managed by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department and Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, which is just a stone’s throw away.
Two centuries [...]
Pay a visit to Old Salem Museums & Gardens
Posted in Colonial America, Museums and Historic Sites, tagged Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Old Salem Museums & Gardens on March 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
One of my favorite things to do is visit museums and historic sites, and I might as well make good use of it. So from now on, when I get back from one of my historical excursions, I’ll be posting an informal (but hopefully informed) analysis of the sites I visit, from the perspective of [...]
Raid on Deerfield: Online history done right
Posted in Colonial America, History on the Web, tagged Raid on Deerfield on October 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
There are many things about the internet which I dislike intensely. For one thing, it discourages disciplined, linear thought; it’s detrimental to the kind of careful, disciplined reading that’s critical to understanding something.
Still, this flexibility offers tremendous potential. If you can harness the non-linear, layered, undirected nature of web browsing, then there’s an opportunity to create an in-depth learning [...]
David Hackett Fischer’s Champlain Biography Released
Posted in Colonial America, Historiography, tagged Champlain's Dream, David Hackett Fischer, Samuel de Champlain on October 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I was in a bookstore earlier today and found, to my surprise and delight, that David Hackett Fischer’s Champlain’s Dream is now available. In my opinion, Dr. Fischer is simply the finest American historian working today, simply because he does so many different types of history incredibly well.
His range is considerable; he’s written about everything [...]
Virtual tour of the French and Indian War
Posted in Colonial America, History on the Web, tagged Fort Carillon, Fort Duquesne, Fort Necessity, Fort Pitt, Fort Ticonderoga, Fort William Henry, French and Indian War, Wikimapia on September 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I’m working my way through a book that’s been on my reading list for a long time: Fred Anderson’s Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766. It’s a fantastic piece of work that’s set me to thinking about the French and Indian War.
Some time ago, [...]
Traces of Jamestown
Posted in Colonial America, tagged Jamestown archaeology on August 19, 2008 | 2 Comments »
The AP has just released a story about some significant finds at Jamestown, including a rare contemporary depiction of a Powhatan Indian. Check out this Virginia news site for details and a slide show.
