Friends of Green Spring Newsletter

Dedicated to the Opening of a new National Park
Vol. 1, No. 3, Summer 2003

Sun Shines on Green Spring Open House

400 happy visitors see park potential

Lady Frances and Governor Berkeley greet loyal subjects in front of the Ludwell-Lee building

Green Spring set aside its ghostly past for a few hours Sunday afternoon, June 1, 2003 to welcome more than 400 visitors. Governor Sir William Berkeley and his wife, Lady Frances Berkeley, brilliantly portrayed by John Hamant and Abigail Schumman, presided grandly over the open house sponsored by the Friends of Green Spring and Riverside Health System.

After days of rain, sun shone on the meadow where history and the wonders of archaeology were described by interpreters. Chief Historian Karen Rehm and Archaeologist Andrew Veech of the Colonial National Historical Park, and members of the Friends' board, Carol Tyrer, Gayle Randol and Nick Lucceketti captivated hundreds who toured Green Spring. After sharpening their appetites by walking, visitors enjoyed a complete barbecue dinner and music by the Blue Ridge Night Crawlers directed by Bill and Ellen Kelso. Board members Winnie Bryant and Jane Yerkes co-chaired the Event Committee consisting of President Dan Lovelace, Archie Cannon, Shirley Williams, Cliff Williams, Rol Collins and Friends' Administrative Assistant Tiffany Cutts. Many other volunteers helped set up and worked as receptionists, bus monitors, Scout guides, table clearers and greeters.

Safety, a major concern on Centerville Road, was assured by James City Police Officers Brian Staton and Bill Lent, and CNHP Rangers Hirma Barber and Ken Doak. Water for the dinner came from the Fire Station on Alternate 5, courtesy of District Chief Mark Hill and Captain John Galganski. VDOT came through by mowing the roadside earlier than scheduled.

Taking advantage of a small window of clear weather on May 27, CNHP maintenance, headed by Skip Brooks and Henry Campbell, performed wonders on the soggy site of chest-high grass and standing water that threatened to mire equipment. Wind nearly carried away the large tent on Saturday and limited displays, but to CNHP Superintendent Alec Gould and all who worked on the open house, it was a happy day in the continuing saga of opening Green Spring to the public for education and enjoyment.

Hats off to Riverside!

Give credit where credit is due, is an old and true axiom. The Friends of Green Spring must tell you that the open house held on June 1 could not have occurred on the scale it was without the support of Riverside Health System.

Bud Ramey, vice president of Corporate Communications, and Ron Reid, public relations consultant to Riverside, turned a modest event into one-of-a-kind for Green Spring. Riverside not only supported the Friends financially, but provided expertise in planning and preparing the invitations and information booklets given to all who attended.

Riverside Health System is the owner and operator of Patriot's Colony, many of whose residents are National Park Service volunteers and donors to the Friends of Green Spring. Green Spring and Patriot's Colony are next-door neighbors.

Green Sprint Park Update

Volunteers make Open House successful

George and Fay Anderson, Shirley Williams and Tiffany Cutts check reservations of arrivals at Jamestown High School.

Bus Monitors Barbara and Woody Teele and coordinator Archie Cannoon look over maps given to visitors boarding buses for Green Spring.

Bus Monitors Trist McConnell and Rol Collins welcome visitors as they arrive by bus from Jamestown High School.

President Dan Lovelace delivers a commercial for Green Spring during dinner band break.

Visitors peer into the cold and deep water of Green Spring while listening to Dr. Andrew Veech.

CNHP Archeologists Andrew Veech explains discoveries at the springhouse: Was the building a laundry or a small brewery?

Thought once to have been a "gaol" (jail) for Bacon rebels, the Ludwell-Lee building is really from the 18th century, CNHP Chief Historian Karen Rehm explains.

James River Institute Archaeologist Nick Lucceketti explains exploratory archaeology underway to discover ruins of the Berkeley and later mansions.

A Moment in Time

Lady Frances: "Beautiful and Proud"

A Formidable Wife to Three Governors

"An important event in (Governor Berkeley's) personal life took place in 1670, when he married Frances Culpeper Stephens. She was thirty years his junior, the widow of Samuel Stephens, whose family had been prominent in Virginia since 1623. The exact date of the wedding is not known. Samuel Stephens had been a member of the Virginia Council and the second Governor of Albemarle (North and South Carolina), and his widow followed the example of her mother-in-law and married the current Governor of Virginia within a few months of her first husband's death.

Her contemporaries said that she was beautiful and proud. Her portrait, painted a decade after her second marriage, presents a graceful, stately woman with regular but heavy features, a lady more impressive and formidable than pleasant and attractive. It is significant of her pride that her tombstone bears the title "Lady" though she should have dropped the title when she married Philip Ludwell after Berkeley's death. Whatever her nature, she gave Governor Berkeley her whole-hearted support during the last difficult years of his life and defended him after his death. Whenever he mentioned her name, he expressed affectionate regard for her and complete confidence in her judgment."

From Ms. Jane Carson's 1951 Doctoral Dissertation (University of Virginia), entitled Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia: A Study in Colonial Policy.

Transcription of Lady Frances Berkeley's last known personal letter, dated May 31st, 1695.

To Sir Abstrupus Danby

Sir Ap,

I believe both our letters miscarried last year, for I wrote to you about a plantation of your father's called Buck Row which I am sure he never sold, but I am informed that Sir Thomas Danby empowered Mr. William Batt. Here is a friend of mine going home, Col. Hartwell, who is our Counsel (you have seen him in England). I desire when you are in town you will renew your acquaintance with him, and if this affair is worth preserving, you may know who is in present possession and everything that concerns Virginia. [?] named one Mr. Harrison for your attorney And lawyer, and if you proceed in it he will tell you Mr. Harrison's county, which I cannot. I was in hope to have come to you in his and his lady's company, but I could not bring it to pass, Yet it shall be [in the?] next shipping. I have lost my dear brother (Alexander Culpeper, who died in 1694), but as long as God preserves your life (which I hope will be to a great age), I shall believe I have a friend who is to be valued as brother, son, and everything that is worthy of the esteem and love of your humble servant and affectionate cousin,

F Berkeley

News Briefs

Jamestown High School perfect starting place

Principal Cypress and School Board Member Mary Minor made it possible for the Friends of Green Spring to use the campus for parking, information and bus transportation.

Barbecue Dinner pleases guests

George Pulley of North Carolina and his crew of ten earned many compliments from open house guests. Mr. Pulley competes in national barbecue cook offs, most recently in Memphis.

Green Spring Open House for the people

In planning the first-ever open house at Green Spring, the Friends' Board of Directors decided it would be a people's event, not a fund-raiser, and priced attendance accordingly. We hoped to break even. With Riverside's help, we did that and better!

Green Spring returned to its slumber

When everyone had gone, the tent and portables removed, the trash carried away by the Park Service, Green Spring returned to its mysterious, ghostly quiet. Wild turkeys came out to pick at the new mown grass. Deer popped out of woodlands to graze in the meadows. Green Spring everlasting.

Park Watch Patrol will pick and picnic October 11

By fall, Centerville Road through Green Spring will be trashed again by callous motorists. Park Watch members will correct that by having their fall pick up and picnic at 10 a.m. Saturday, October 11. Anyone wanting to be trained as a member should contact Cliff Williams at 253-7867.

Memberships available in Friends of Green Spring

For as little as $35, supporters can buy into opening Green Spring to the public. Details are in the newsletter insert.

Green Spring Plan approval by year's end

Opening Green spring to the American people several years from now will be a momentous event, in essence a new national park. Colonial National Historical Park, of which Green Spring is part, expects final approval for its plan later this year. The plan calls for opening the west side first.

Friends of the National Park Service for Green Spring, Inc.

Board of Directors:

OFFICERS
Daniel D. Lovelace
President
Randy Smith
Vice President
Donald S. Buckless
Treasurer
Robert W. Hershberger
Secretary
Clifford R. Williams
Advisory Council Chairman
BOARD MEMBERS
Professor Warren M. Billings
Winnie Bryant
M/G Archie S. Cannon, Jr. (Ret.)
Rol Collins
Loretta J. Hannum
Nicholas M. Luccketti
Trist B. McConnell
Samuel G. Poole
Gayle K. Randol
Marc B. Sharp
Randy Smith
Richard G. Smith
Bob Taylor
Carol D. Tyrer
Jane Yerkes
Friends of the National Park
Service for Green Spring, Inc.
P.O. Box 779
Williamsburg VA 23187
Phone: (757) 221-0800
Email: greenspring2@aol.com
Daniel Lovelace
Clifford R. Williams
Co-Editors