Saturday, August 31, 2024

Still Here

26 Aug 24:

Slow time this August, dodgin' the heat, but we're still here. We have been playing with the generator, which needed a new battery. Turns out the new battery is a bit too tall for the hold down bracket, so we did some field engineering after referencing our flowchart.



Duct tape = zip ties in this case. Once the factory battery comes back into stock, we'll order that. 

Let's see, why was I in the HEUER GARAGE? I was looking to see if we had spare "old style" Sunfish rudder assemblies to sell...We do.


The Sunfish Shack, Mid-Atlantic style.


Tucked in for the night.


Saturday, August 24, 2024

Smith's Fort - Surry, VA

24 Aug 24:

Skipper and I went on a recon trip to Surry, VA to visit Smith's Fort, the oldest remaining Eropean earthworks in America. Soon after Virginia Company Adventurers arrived in their New World at Jamestown Island, John Smith was sent across the James River to build a fort. Not much was built before efforts were consolidated back at Jamestown, but today the earthen berm remains.




A large amount of the acreage was later gifted to the marriage of John Rolfe and Matoaka (Pocahontas), the land was let out to tenant farmers and eventually sold by Thomas Rolfe, the son of John and Matoaka. In the mid 18th Century the current house was built, and archaeologists are aware of footprints of previous 17th Century European structures and pre contact Native activity.


The craftsmanship inside the Faulcon home is spectacular, very little repair was needed during the restoration. We loved the design of the butterfly shelves.


I love the gadgetty and utility of the 4 legged table. Before this day I assumed that drop leaf table had 6 legs.


Local heart pine flooring. 


The gift shop commonly found in 18th Century cellars...The arch structure is not a fireplace but rather an ingenious support of the brick chimneys above, the arch design used significantly fewer bricks while still providing the necessary strength.


Did Skipper behave during the tour? No, of course she didn't. She kept asking questions just before the tour guide got to that part of their presentation...finally the tour guide said "Let me finish." He was super fun to talk to, turns out he is a wooden boat fan to an even greater degree than we are, and we'll have fun learning about the wooden boat scene on this part of the James.



Smith's Fort...circa 1609...the "Plantation" came decades later with Thomas Rolfe's tenant farmers....and then Faulcon's manor house in the 1760s.




 Smith's Fort Plantation

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Jamestown Island

20 Aug 24: 

Took a ferry ride to Jamestown, then headed over a small causeway to Jamestown Island.


Pocahontas statue. 


Skipper checking out the footprint of the old State House. 


Up until 40 years ago many folks thought that there was no trace of the original fort. They were wrong. Archaeological teams are carefully rediscovering the history of the 17th Century English settlement.


Skipper had an ancestor in the Governor's Guard, who later crossed the James and ran around our Shire/County for a while. This structure marks where the Guard House would have been.