Meeting Dates
The organization meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month September through May. Meetings are held in the Williamsburg Regional Library Theatre located at 515 Scotland St in Williamsburg, VA, unless otherwise posted. The meetings begin at 7 PM. Membership is open to the general public.
This Month's Speaker
MONTHLY MEETING NOTICE
TUESDAY, October 27, 2020 at 7 PM
Our October presentation is
"Hoop Skirts and Gunpowder"
A "Shades of Our Past" Performance
by Lee Ann Rose
On Friday March 13th, 1863, shortly after 11:00 AM, there was a terrible
explosion at the Confederate State Laboratory,
located on Richmond’s Brown’s Island on the James River.
The Richmond Examiner described the initial reaction thusly:
“ A dull, prolonged roar in the direction of Brown’s Island, across the James River from the foot of Seventh Street, startled
that portion of the city and directed attention to the Island, on which is located the Confederate Laboratory Works, for the
manufacture of percussion caps and gun cartridges,,, a tide of human beings, among them the frantic mothers and kindred
of the employees in the laboratory, immediately set towards the bridge leading to the island, but the Government authorities,
soonest apprised of the disaster, had already taken possession of the bridge, and planting a guard of soldiers, allowed
passage to none except the workmen summoned to rescue the dead and wounded from the ruins.”
The explosion was blamed on 18-year-old Mary
Ryan.
Hear tonight from her sister, the story of what really happened,
what the inquiry into the explosion found out,
and was it wholly her sister’s fault?
Learn of the works and lives of the girls and women who worked the
Laboratory,
and hear some of the names and stories of those that were lost the
fateful day.
Lee
Ann Rose is the co-owner of "Shades Of Our Past LLC”, which provides
historical education and entertainment ranging from America’s founding
to WWII. She received her Theatre Degree at Davis and Elkins College
and studied also at Richmond College in London, England. Lee Ann is not
only an historical interpreter, but also a playwright writing such plays
as “Are We Not One”, and “Back to Our Kitchens”. She is also currently
performing a one woman show entitled “Stowaway on D Day”, a performance
about Martha Gellhorn. Along with Susan B Anthony, she also plays
Suffragist Victoria Woodhull, and First Ladies Martha Washington, Mary
Todd Lincoln, and Edith Roosevelt.
Zoom Meeting Presentations
September 21, 2020 - Kevin Pawlak presented "Robert E. Lee Defends the Confederate High Water
Mark at Sharpsburg" (view presentation -
73 minutes)
Kevin can be reached at
https://antietamguides.com/antietam-guides/antietam-battlefield-guides/kevin-pawlak/
Visit the American Battlefield Trust site to view animated Peninsula Campaign map
Visit the Williamsburg Battlefield Association (view
newsletter)
(http://www.williamsburgbattlefieldassociation.org/)
(https://www.facebook.com/WilliamsburgBattlefieldAssociation)