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From valiant knights to the Virginia National Guard

Military Through the Ages Celebrates 25th anniversary at Jamestown

You never quite know what you’ll find at the Military Through the Ages event at Jamestown Settlement each March.

This year marks the 25^th consecutive year for the special event that will be held on March 15-16. Reenactors representing nearly 2,000 years of military history will be on hand, showing how soldiers dressed, armed and fed themselves through the ages. In many eras, women and children followed along, so spectators get the full spectrum of life in wartime.

The groups also demonstrate military tactics and weapons and stage skirmishes and mock battles throughout the weekend. Past exhibits have included a medieval unit slinging cabbages with a trevochet, the Devil’s Nightmare Brigade with their colorful clothing and long lances, and military checkpoints with orders barked in foreign languages.

This is an outstanding event, with numerous field demonstrations and reenactors eager to answer questions. The units are judged throughout the weekend for historic authenticity, public interaction, military skills and, for those that choose to participate, historically accurate cooking.

Visitors this year get the added bonus of the special World of 1607 exhibit which runs through April 9, providing a global view of life in 1607, with the social, intellectual and economic changes that accompanied the development of the “New World.”

Even if you visited Jamestown during last year’s “America’s 400^th Anniversary” or any of the past 24 MTA events, you’ll want to stop back for MTA weekend and the current museum exhibits. There’s always something new during this look at the past. I’ve participated in this event as a spectator and as a volunteer and I look forward to returning each year to see what the reenactment units have come up with to impress the judges this time.

For additional entertainment news, log on to www.howyouspinit.com Send your travel experiences and photos to chris@howyouspinit.com and you could be featured in an upcoming column.

More than decorations

By Christine Haines

 

I am an avid collector of Christmas ornaments and I frequently give them as presents. I look for new ornaments every time I travel, that way each year as I celebrate Christmas I also get to reminisce about past vacations.

 

I have a whale on my tree from a trip to Cape Cod a few years ago that included an incredible whale watch and a visit to Plimouth Plantation (Plymouth, Mass.) The finback whales played around our boat for hours, turning our short cruise into an all-day excursion because the whales were too close for the captain to restart the engines.

I gave my niece Emily a replica of a 19^th century toy giraffe from the toy museum at Old Salem in North Carolina. When she was a pre-schooler someone told her she could be anything she wanted to be when she grew up. Being relatively short and highly imaginative, Emily said she wanted to be a giraffe. The toy museum, in addition to being a great place to find wonderful presents, is an amazing place dedicated to the playthings of the past. The intricacy of some of the old animated or mechanical toys can still fill a person with wonder.

On that trip I also picked up a delicate, folded paper Moravian star for my own tree. Old Salem was founded by a group of Moravians who had moved to North Carolina from Pennsylvania. The restored historic village within the city of Winston-Salem is a gem for history buffs. I found it at least as interesting as Colonial Williamsburg, but without the crowds and commercialism.

More than 20 years ago I flew to Seattle with a friend and on that trip I found the most delicate wooden snowflake and an elegant lit rose. Even though it was early spring, flowers were in bloom everywhere I looked in Seattle, yet we found ourselves in a blinding snowstorm when we headed up Mount Rainier. (Don’t ignore the signs that say “Last chance for snow chain rental.”)

A scale model of the Susan Constant was added to our tree this year, commemorating the 400^th anniversary of the landing at Jamestown. Many of our vacations are spent volunteering for the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation in Virginia, so it also reminds us of our many good friends who work for the foundation.

A gumball machine (floor model) reminds me not of a vacation, but of the many trips to my grandmother’s house when I was a child. My grandfather, who had died long before I was born, had run a shoe shop and had a gumball machine that eventually ended up in the basement at my grandmother’s house. The ornament provides a connection for me to a man I never met, but whose history is part of my past as well.

An ornament of a black bear making a snow angel reminds me of the incredible man I married. I spotted the fanciful ornament on a summer trip to Snowshoe, W. Va., but had passed it by as being too expensive to justify buying for myself. I still have no idea how my husband, who I swear never left my side, managed to purchase it and hide it not only during our vacation, but for another five months until Christmas!

E-mail your travel memories and photos to chris@howyouspinit.com.

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