Everyone should visit Jamestown once in their life. My once occurred years ago when our children were young. We walked the dusty trails. We climbed aboard one of the tiny ships. We marveled. And then we boarded the Jamestown-Scotland ferry, crossed the mighty James and ate at the famed Surry House. All things considered, I enjoyed the Smithfield ham biscuits better than anything experienced at Jamestown.
It was with some reluctance that I recently placed Jamestown on the itinerary for a house guest visiting from England. In years past, she already had experienced her once. Two things compelled the visit: the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first permanent English settlement in the New World and the fact that my guest's sovereign had just visited Jamestown during Her Majesty's trip. Since the Queen already had been to Jamestown once in her life, during her visit of 1957, I wondered why on earth she had returned. I had to find out! At the ticket booth, I inquired if the Queen had toured the new exhibits building; and I was told that she did not, preferring to spend her time at the other Jamestown with its archeological site.
Fred Anderson
There are two Jamestowns: Jamestown Settlement with its museum galleries, outdoor living history venues, re-created fort and, of course, the three little ships. The other Jamestown includes the archeological dig sites and the brick ruin of the old Anglican church.
We visited the galleries and it was not long before we were awestruck by the numerous professionally-crafted exhibits. Historians and exhibit fabricators of the 21st century had rightly chosen to tell the Jamestown story from three perspectives: the Native Americans, the African Americans and those other would-be Americans, the early English settlers. Everyone finally gets their due at Jamestown Settlement.
The outside living history areas offer a native village with long houses as well as encounters with costumed interpreters posed as the first settlers. The fort even includes a replica of the original church. Our soles grew weary before we could even think about a visit to the other Jamestown. This columnist was wrong. Jamestown is worthy of more than one visit per lifetime. I must return again sometime before the 500th anniversary!
If I had lived a century earlier, I certainly would have gone to the Jamestown Exposition of 1907, the Tercentennial Celebration. It was not even held at Jamestown but some 30 miles down the James in the Hampton Roads area. Several cities had vied to host the exposition and Norfolk won.
The first call for a grand exposition of national scope likely came in the pages of the Religious Herald. Editor Robert Healy Pitt claimed as much. “The Religious Herald, under my editorial guidance, first suggested the Jamestown Exposition. It was pressed vigorously in our columns ….” Once the suggestion caught hold, the Baptists began to clamor for space at the great fair. The Baptist Argus, a Kentucky paper, wrote: “It is very important that there shall be a proper and adequate Baptist display at the Jamestown Exposition by the Baptists of the country. It was in Virginia that Baptists began and won their great fight for religious liberty …. It is now admitted by all that Baptists put religious liberty into the American Constitution. This is the great Baptist contribution to human government.”
The Baptist General Association of Virginia appointed a committee to erect “a Baptist building” on the grounds. The building was to have equal exhibit space for Northern and Southern Baptists and was to be called the Roger Williams Memorial. It ironically was located next to the building called “War Path.” It was anticipated that after the exposition closed, the Baptist building would become a church. The building even included a “sleeping room” for the exhibit's curator.
Great permanent structures were erected on the some 400 acres along the waterfront. (Some survived to become part of the Navy base.) President Theodore Roosevelt opened the exposition. Among the many famous visitors was the popular author Mark Twain. The Southern Baptist Convention met in Richmond in May and many delegates found their way to the exposition. On May 21, a “joint meeting of the Baptist Assemblies, North and South,” was held in the “Convention Hall” on the grounds. May 23 was declared “Baptist Day.”
Many states had their own exhibit buildings. There were amusement rides. The great San Francisco earthquake of the previous year was recreated — at least through sound and light effects — in one of the buildings.
The Baptists saw potential for evangelism with a million visitors expected. One preacher argued: “Shall these strangers come and go with no effort on our part to impress them denominationally and spiritually?”
The Baptists assembled their exhibits which included “a few scattered memorials of heroic men and women [who helped secure] the great principle of liberty of conscience.” At least two items known to have been exhibited were the oil portraits of Robert Baylor Semple and Andrew Broaddus, two leading figures in Virginia Baptist history; and these portraits today grace the walls of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society's building.
Someone had to manage the Baptist building. George J. Hobday, at age 60, was a seasoned Virginia Baptist minister and he was retained as curator. He installed the exhibits, greeted some 50,000 visitors and swept the floor at the close of each day. He missed only one day's work in the seven months of the fair. For his work, he was paid $100 a month plus car fare from Norfolk. Hobday was a recognized face at least for the Virginia Baptists. He had served as clerk of the General Association and as superintendent of the Children's Home at Salem for its first 15 years.
When the exposition closed, Hobday evaluated the effort. “The universal verdict has been one of admiration and delight at our exhibit. Its influence has been broadcast over the land and even into foreign lands.” The Baptists' exhibit won the gold medal as the best religious exhibit on the grounds.
Now that was a Jamestown exhibit which I really wish that I could have seen!
Fred Anderson may be contacted at [email protected].