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July 10, 2007

Beat the heat with Summer Cooler programs at the Museums of Colonial Williamsburg

Escape Virginia’s summer heat with Colonial Williamsburg’s Summer Coolers. These programs focus on 18th-century People of the Past and entertainment and can be seen in the air-conditioned comfort of the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum’s Hennage Auditorium.

  • To Be Seen As An American, 2:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through Aug. 30. Meet three black women, portrayed by Colonial Williamsburg interpreter Valarie Holmes, who didn’t accept society’s limits on what they could accomplish. Lydia rose from slave to entrepreneur, Katie Marie was educated but not given the resources to teach others and Clara Byrd Baker fought for equal rights in the 20th century. These Williamsburg women’s work spanned three centuries, opening doors and providing new opportunities for the next generation. (45 minutes)
  • God is My Rock, 12:30 Tuesdays and 4 p.m. Thursdays through July 17 and Aug. 7-30. The program recounts 18th-century African American Baptist minister Gowan Pamphlet’s efforts to use Christianity as a tool to help his people find freedom, even while enslaved. The performance is a one-man show featuring Pamphlet, portrayed by Colonial Williamsburg interpreter James Ingram, as he tries to convert a first generation African slave to Christianity. (45 minutes)
  • Whoop and Holler, 1:30 p.m. Wednesdays, July 11, July 18, Aug. 1, Aug. 15, Aug. 22 and Aug. 29 and Monday, Aug. 6. In this multi-media concert and lecture, Carson Hudson shares the history of the Virginia banjo from the 18th century to what we are familiar with today. Hear music played on reproductions of early banjos. A free reservation is required and can be made at any Colonial Williamsburg ticket outlet. (1 hour)

    Programs are included in museum admission.

    The Museums of Colonial Williamsburg include the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum and the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum. Admission is included in any Colonial Williamsburg admission ticket, a Good Neighbor Pass or by separate museums ticket. For information and reservations call (757) 220-7724.

    Established in 1926, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is the not-for-profit educational institution that preserves and operates the restored 18th-century Revolutionary capital of Virginia as a town-sized living history museum, telling the inspirational stories of our nation’s founding men and women. Within the restored and reconstructed buildings, historic interpreters, attired as colonial men and women from slaves to shopkeepers to soldiers, relate stories of colonial Virginia society and culture — stories of our journey to become Americans – while historic tradespeople research, demonstrate and preserve the 18th-century world of work and industry. As Colonial Williamsburg interprets life in the time of the American Revolution for its guests, it also invites them to interact with history. Williamsburg is located 150 miles south of Washington, D.C., off Interstate 64. For more information or reservations, call toll-free 1-800-HISTORY or visit Colonial Williamsburg on the Internet at www.ColonialWilliamsburg.com.

    Media Contact:
    Penna Rogers
    (757) 220-7121



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