Gilead (Marilynne Robinson)

Reverend John Ames is an old man in 1956 living in Gilead, Iowa. Though a wife decades his junior and a son under ten brings great energy to the home, he knows his time is near. He decides to write a letter for his son, to be read after his death. His purpose "is to tell you things I would have told you if you had grown up with me, things I believe it becomes me as a father to teach you." He proceeds to muse on various topics, from reflections on his own life to his father's and grandfather's, observations he has made and wisdom he has picked up over the years, and thoughts on church, friendships (his lifelong friend Boughton and his son are frequent features), and more.

Ames doesn't shy away from difficulties in his account—not just past hardships and relational strains but current challenges that come with aging and impending death. He recognizes that "I meant to leave you a reasonably candid testament to my better self, and it seems to me now that what you must see here is just an old man struggling with the difficulty of understanding what it is he's struggling with." Perhaps he would summarize his struggles as this: "There are two occasions when the sacred beauty of Creation becomes dazzlingly apparent, and they occur together. One is when we feel our mortal insufficiency to the world, and the other is when we feel the world's mortal insufficiency to us." 

As he wrestles with how to encourage his son, he hopes that glimmers of grace and love will be effective, even years later: "What have I to leave you but the ruins of old courage, and the lore of old gallantry and hope? Well, as I have said, it is all an ember now, and the good Lord will surely someday breathe it into flame again."

He pictures his son as an old man and delights in it, even as he sees burden and struggle: "Be diligent in your prayers, old man. I hope you will have seen more of the world than I ever got around to seeing . . . and I hope you will have read some of my books. And God bless your eyes, and your hearing also, and of course your heart. I wish I could help you carry the weight of many years. But the Lord will have that fatherly satisfaction."

He concludes: "I'll pray that you grow up a brave man in a brave country. I will pray you find a way to be useful."

"I'll pray, and then I'll sleep."

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This book is remarkable. And beautiful. Wisdom, love, and maturity shine through. But so does frailty, struggle, and weakness—physical and spiritual. It's a poignant portrait of the painful realities of this age but also the bright hope of the next, and the reason to press on. Highly recommended.

Rating: A

Williamsburg

map of the Colonial Williamsburg area

Day one of our 'historic triangle' trip featured Jamestown and Yorktown, respectively. Day two was Colonial Williamsburg.

Colonial Williamsburg is well-known in America. Billed as the world's largest living history museum, it "includes several hundred restored or recreated buildings from the 18th century, when the city was the capital of the Colony of Virginia; 17th-century, 19th-century, and Colonial Revival structures; and more recent reconstructions." (from Wikipedia)

The Colonial area can be viewed as an inverted T, with the governer's mansion, capitol building, and William & Mary University at the three points (clockwise from the top). We started at the mansion, touring that building and grounds before heading south and then east to the capitol building, ducking in various houses with exhibits to see aspects of life from that era along the way. That took a few hours, so we broke for lunch and returned to the capitol building, heading west along the main road (and continuing to visit exhibits) before hitting William & Mary's campus, where we enjoyed some shopping and a quick look at the Wren building. Then it was heading back east on the main road, where we ducked in the church before heading back north past the governor's mansion and got ready for the drive home. Pictures below capture some scenes.

Colonial Williamsburg is a fun place to visit, but can easily be done in a day and should be part of a larger visit to the area. In addition to the historic parts, you might want to visit nearby Busch Gardens, Water Country USA, Norfolk, and other attractions.

Yorktown

We went from Jamestown (yesterday's post) directly to Yorktown, site of the last major land battle of the Revolutionary War. After poking our head in the Yorktown Battlefield Visitor Center, we decided it wasn't worth the price and focused on the battlefield itself. We ambled around for a bit, but (to be candid) there's not much left; a few redoubts and a nice victory monument (which came 100 years later). I got the impression that you had to be really into the battle to understand and enjoy the landscape.

We went west from here to the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. They had a nice outdoor exhibit (a farm and recreation of continental army camp). The indoor museum was nice, too, and very similar (in size and layout) to Jamestown's. Like Jamestown, this is billed as a living history museum, and its focus is on the country's founding in general (not just the battle).

We ended the day pretty tired (having driven from our home to Jamestown, seen that, and then to Yorktown). We left the museum as it was closing and headed off to find food and prepare for the next day's adventures.

Jamestown

We visited the Jamestown Settlement (top left), not the historic site

A few weeks ago, we took a short trip to see "America's historical triangle": Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg. We did the first two on our first day; this post recounts Jamestown.

On May 14th 1607, at a spot about a mile from where you are standing now, a group of 104 colonists disembarked from three small sailing ships to establish the first permanent English settlement in North America. This settlement, called Jamestown, is where the United States of America really began.

So reads a sign at the Jamestown Settlement museum, where we began our adventure. The museum is small but nice; the real attractions, though, are outdoors: the recreation of a Native American community, the James Fort replica, and two sailing ship replicas, one of which you can board.

Throughout the Fort, there are reenactors who describe various facets of daily life in the seventeenth century.

Note that the real settlement is about a mile away; we didn't visit, as we had heard there wasn't much there. (The capital of Virginia moved to Williamsburg, ten miles away, in 1699, and Jamestown declined rapidly thereafter, eventually reverting to agricultural fields.)

Jamestown is a nice hour or two; I can't see spending much more than that. Then, it was off to Yorktown (tomorrow's post).