Cousins' Big Trip To Virginia

Four Cousins and three Cousin-In-Laws made a 10 day trip around Virginia. It was a combination of family reunion, genealogical research, and historical sight seeing.
We began by meeting at a bed and breakfast inn at Williamsburg.

We spent the first day at Jamestown Settlement, the site of the first permanent British colony. This was an archeological dig at the site of a home's foundation. When the Queen visited in 2007, she insisted on climbing down into the dig, in spite of the mud from recent rains.

We learned a lot from the docents that were on site.

Next was a day at Historical Williamsburg. This is a view looking up the main road, from William and Mary college's Wren building.

Our tour guide filled us in on many interesting details.

There were pretty fall colors, too.

Looking back toward Willliam and Mary.

Another day, we visited Dogham Farm, which bordered the Horn farm in the mid 1800's.

In Richmond, we visited St. John's church, where Patrick Henry gave his famous 'Give me liberty, or give me death' speech.

We had a nice dinner at the inn in Williamsburg where Thomas Jefferson stayed.

Later on, we toured Appomattox Courthouse, where General Lee surrendered his army to General Grant, effectively ending the secession of the South. This is the Courthouse at Appomattox Courthouse. We were shocked to learn the surrender ceremony was NOT at the courthouse. Appomattox Courthouse was the name of the town.

The ceremony was actually at the McLean house.

We moved on to a lovely lake house on Smith Mountain Lake, south of Bedford. This is Rusty.

David and Robin.

Cousins - Rusty, Gaylene and David.

David had set up several meetings with people to whom we are distantly related, to discuss their knowledge of our ancestry.

This is a 'bill of marriage' - similar to a marriage license - for John Horn and Sophia Sinar, in 1836.

We had s'mores on the deck one evening.

We moved on to Bedford, where we visited the National D-Day Memorial.

Oops, this is back in Williamsburg. That's Tom Jefferson with Gaylene and Robin.

We stayed in a modern log cabin outside of Bedford. It got cool enough to have a fire one evening.

All of us on the porch of the cabin ...

On the last day, as we headed to the Richmond airport to drop off Robin and David, we toured Jefferson's Poplar Forest home near Lynchburg, where he retired after serving as President.

Thank you David and Robin and Rusty and Phyllis and Gaylene. We had a really nice time!