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The Williamsburg Effect

  
The Williamsburg Effect, Times Past and Pastimes, an update

Last fall one of the assignments for my Urban class was deciding the best location for the Philadelphia baseball team's new stadium. During the preparatory discussions we noted that the most successful of the new generation of baseball venues for the national pastime like Camden Yards included something old, a visit to times past as part of the entertainment. At the time only two of the old wood frame ball parks were in use.

The ball parks were designed to include nostalgic themes and details that would remind fans of the old days and "old neighborhood." Many of the fans came to the ball park to enjoy the ball park and its amenities that linked them to the good old days as much as they came for the game. Then the game of baseball itself was a visit to times past, an old neighborhood, a reminder of afternoons playing bounce or fly or pickup games on a vacant lot. A lot that no longer existed. Or perhaps stick or hose ball, where a fire plug was first base on a street that no longer existed outside of memories. Game winning hits that echoed through the generations. All part of the pastime's times past.

Most of the students had never played these old games, but they did recall their parents conversations about them. They also recalled talk of escape from the old neighborhoods where these games were played. Their families had moved to the suburbs at about the same time that baseball teams like Brooklyn moved, to the new turfs and designated hitters. But even after the escape the old neighborhood still held fond memories.

The use of memories as entertainment is not new. It can be found in museums where the entertainment includes tours of the "old days." Museums use of tours as a way of making it possible to "experience" what we as a society have escaped, or the stages that we have passed through. For example, we know that we have escaped the old neighborhood called the Stone Age because we have tours and displays of the Stone Age life and artifacts. Human populations such as the Tasaday that continue to live in the Stone Age are often museumized, studied and protected by converting the place they live into a reserve. We have learned debates over the introduction of non stone age technology to these populations. These debates may be an additional form of entertainment.

The range of these experiences is considerable and may even include working archeological digs or reenactments and halls of fame that preserve old heroes whose heroism can not be tarnished. We even have rules to ensure that prevent active players from creating the "time warp" that would result from being in the hall at the same time that they are active. Thus, we could suggest that the tours, Disney World, Colonial Williamsburg, The Tall Ships, The Rodeo and other such symbols, are indicators of times past that we have escaped or left behind. These Parks display times that are past, times that no longer exist or as in some museums what is yet to exist or is undiscovered.

One oddity is the rodeo and cowboying. Whites who work with cattle were cow men. They were able to go into town and have fun, shoot up the town, etc., when not at work. All the black cow hands called boys could do was stay with the animals and invent the cowboying that was to become the rodeo.

For our purposes Colonial Williamsburg is used as an example. Mainly because the Williamsburg area is one of the top three international tourist destinations. Colonial Williamsburg, including Jamestown, Yorktown and the area are living museums. The appearance of authenticity is everywhere. Perhaps, even staged authenticity. There are plaques, people dressed in 18th Century Colonial attire, working Taverns, historical tours and active digs where you can go up and discuss the project. On the Colonial Mall there is place where you can purchase plants that were in 18th Century gardens. During your stroll you can pause and carry on a conversation the an 18th century character, a housewife, a smith or a person working the fields. They will speak to you in the language  of 18th century Colonial Williamsburg. There is attention given to the even the smallest details. Buildings and furniture are restored using 18th Century tools and plans. They even make bricks the 18th century way. The sheep are sheared and the land farmed with attention to 18th century detail. There is even a harpsichord factory that turns out one or two "original" 18th century harpsichords each year.

However, for all the detail and authenticity Colonial Williamsburg remains no more than a half truth. Or as one of those involved in the foundation Colonial Williamsburg called it "a historical monstrosity." For all of this authenticity there is one glaring gap. The During the colonial times every other person you would see in Colonial Williamsburg would be of African descent. However, when one visits Williamsburg today, amidst all of the authenticity there are very few people of African descent to be seen.

This observations would suggest that we have not left the issues of race and slavery behind. I suggest that an observer could conclude that race in the "old neighborhood" was not displayed because we had not yet escaped the racial part of the old neighborhood. That failure to escape would also explain another authenticity gap, the absence of Indians.

Ten or twelve miles away at Carter's Grove there is a display of the period slave quarters. That's as close as it gets to Colonial Williamsburg. This appearance exists despite the 20 year long effort to correct these authenticity gaps. A few years ago there plans for a reenactment of the slave auctions that took place in the real 18th century Colonial Williamsburg. The debate and protests that split both the black and white communities attracted national attention. In the end the slave auctions were reenacted. But they are not a part of the ongoing display.

But southern trees aren't the only places that bear strange fruit. And, even if the fruit has changed over the years it is still there and shapes the way were remember ourselves. The film The Patriot, like the ballparks and theme parks that make a past time of our times past, avoids slavery the same way that Williamsburg has. Imagine the time and effort used to get details of the weapons and even the hair of the actors in that film.

Change comes to Williamsburg. This year for the first time visitors to Colonial Williamsburg will see a noticeable (though rare) presence of people representing 18th Century Williamsburg residents of African decent. This could represent a change in the areas of authenticity.

When one visits Carter's Grove and the Jamestown settlement you may happen on to more accurate histories. At these site one can get a glimpse of the ingenuity, wisdom and artistry of the slaves that provided a foundation for the colonies. Their descendants still do.