Mary Ball Washington Book Series

Northern Neck News

February 5, 2010

Mary Ball Washington Book Series

The Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library has announced two additional authors' programs, focusing on Virginia history.

Tell the Children I’ll Be Home When the Peaches Get Ripe: The Letters and Journals of
Robert Gaines Haile, Jr., 55th Virginia Regiment, CSA, February-June, 1862

Complied and edited by Robert M. Tombes, Ph.D.

This program is scheduled for Saturday, February 27, 10:00 AM at Lancaster Community Library. Dr. Robert M. Tombes, great-great-grandson of Haile and a professor at VCU, will give a slide lecture about his Confederate ancestor. Robert Gaines Haile was from Beavers Hill plantation in Essex County. He was stationed along the Rappahannock and around Fredericksburg and Richmond, and his actions included escorting Mrs. Robert E. Lee back from behind enemy lines. His letters and journals express insightful opinions about fighting for the Confederate Army, but above all are filled with affection and concern for his wife and three daughters back on the farm. Book $23, tax included.

These second event features The Birth of Virginia’s Aristocracy by James C. Thompson II, M.A.. to be held on Saturday, March 13, 11:00 AM at Trinity Episcopal Church (Lancaster Courthouse near MBWML)

Thompson, a historian and philosopher, tells the story of how Virginia's class system formed in the 1600s, what purposes it served, who its members were, and why it eventually dissolved. His presentation, accompanied by numerous period illustrations and portraits, will look at the conflict between the establishment of the great London lords and the society Sir William Berkeley was erecting in Virginia. He will discuss Thomas, Lord Culpeper (a rogue), Thomas, Lord Fairfax (a debt-ridden opportunity seeker), and the Northern Neck’s Col. Richard Lee II (a private scholar and philosopher) who ultimately transferred his allegiance from the local colonial society to the hereditary hierarchy of the monarchy. Book $20, tax
included.

PROGRAMS ARE FREE, but donations are appreciated. RESERVATIONS REQUESTED for each program to 804-462-7280 or history@mbwm.org.