Guest Blog: Colonial Williamsburg in the Big Easy

Conferences and workshops are a great opportunity for us to bring Colonial Williamsburg to people throughout the country! Our education team spent the past two years preparing to take New Orleans and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) by storm.

Since the four-day conference was in La Nouvelle-Orléans, it seemed reasonable to bring the two gentlemen who brought it into the Union—our very own Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon Bonaparte!

Maria Cosway (portrayed by Erin Sloan), a woman known to both men, also attended the conference to speak about her work as a painter and founder of a school for girls. If you missed last month’s blog we went into great detail about Cosway’s past and why many consider here “the most fascinating 18th-century woman you’ve never heard of.”

All three of them presented both in character (and then out of character) to help educators understand and learn how to do this kind of first person interpretation themselves and with students and also adapt our strategies into their curriculum back home.

The conference officially opened up bright and early on day one. And American history fans were itching to get into the exhibit hall. It started off a little slow but believe me when I say it was simply the calm before the storm. The line kept growing as people stopped by to take pictures for social media using #HistoryandMe. Our crew mingled with upwards of 100 people in 90 minutes. Whew!

One of the pleasures of representing Colonial Williamsburg at conferences is you never know who you will meet. Of course we accept a lot of compliments about how wonderful someone’s last visit was or the excitement from people about their next, or first, visit. This time we had a special guest. Rick Steves, of the public broadcasting show “Rick Steves Europe” stopped by our booth to say hello.

The day continued with a special presentation by Jefferson and Napoleon moderated by the Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Charlie Winham from Louisiana Public Broadcasting. The room seated 518 and we were hoping to have at least 200 in attendance. The crowd exceeded our expectations as we ended up with more than 560 people in the audience. Some people had to sit in the aisles! After a vigorous discussion about the pros and cons of acquiring the Louisiana Territory, Mrs. Cosway arrived to end the program and lead the participants back to the exhibit booth for yet another successful photo op.

We then had an event at the Napoleon House that was quite special. We were there assisting a videographer who is doing a documentary on character interpretation with Napoleon. They did some “Napoleon on the Street” interviews and Mark was gracious enough to pose for yes, even more photos! (Doesn’t this look like a Paparazzi shot?).

The highlight of the evening was the vigorous singing of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, in French by Napoleon and a gentleman who we suspect was the establishment’s owner. Culminating in a “Huzzah” for “la Belle France et les États-Unis” partners forever. Given the recent events in Paris, needless to say, it was a moving experience.

The next day, Napoleon presented his ideas on human rights and his influence upon them throughout Europe. He also delved into his Napoleonic Code and how that still influences countries across the world today.

The afternoon session featured Jefferson presenting his views on how to sustain a democratic society. He referred to three of his most important bills dealing with the ending of the importation of slaves, the general diffusion of knowledge, and establishing religious freedom.

At the end of the weekend, we along with our fellow exhibitors had mixed emotions as we tore down our displays and said our goodbyes. Tired and looking for a decent meal, our experience ended with a sense of satisfaction and like the Cabinetmaker in the Colonial Williamsburg film “Eighteenth Century Life,” a well-earned “night’s repose.” Until next year!

GUEST BLOGGER: DALE VAN ECK

Dale has been in Education Outreach for 16 years and was privileged to have lived on the Duke of Gloucester Street for most of those meeting guests from across the globe, finding some of them on his back porch when returning home. As a young Michigan teacher he first visited Colonial Williamsburg in the early 1970’s and decided that “someday” he would live and work in Colonial Williamsburg and in 1999 that dream came to be realized.

Dale’s role as Manager Educational Partnerships has him working with public television stations across the country to air the HERO Live! broadcasts and with donors who provide funding to place Colonial Williamsburg teacher and student educational resources in schools.