The 7th Virginia Regiment was here on May 30th, 2009 at the Historic Gloucester Courthouse circle demonstrating what life was like back during the American Revolution. These guys really know their history. Some of the demonstrations included 18th century medicine, food, the making of cloth, marching and shooting demonstrations and encampment life.
The 7th Virginia Regiment performs this service once every year. We were fortunate enough to get to meet and photograph a good number of the days demonstrations and we have a few videos we still need to put together. We will be creating a special web site hosting these pictures and videos and will announce the site once it is complete.
Chuck Thompson and TTC Media are creating an Historic Church Driving Tour that will feature some of the nations most incredible early American Architecture and history. The driving tour is comprised of SE Virginia historical sites and monuments such as Historic Christ Church in Weems, Historic St Luke's of Smithfield, Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg and two of Gloucester's very own, Ware Episcopal Church established in 1652 and Abingdon Episcopal Church established in 1650. Though neither one of these sites are tourist destinations, they represent incredible architectural significance and historical value.
We have spent a great deal of time and travel going around and shooting all the historic churches we could locate. We are just about finished shooting all the churches we were able to locate. Some are not even mentioned anywhere. We found them the hard way by driving by and taking a closer look and finding well hidden gems mixed between the fantastic monuments. We have only 2 sites left. Jamestown and Hampton. We will be covering Hampton this weekend and Jamestown we are working on getting covered next week. Then each individual church will have it's own site. From there we will be building the main site which will be a driving tour of some of our nations most incredible treasures.
We expect the main site to be up and running in about 2 to 3 more weeks from this writing. Once the site is up, we will make the announcement and let everyone know.
AARRGH! Those scurvy dogs known as Blackbeard's Crew are getting ready to raid Hampton, Virginia this weekend. Their biggest event of the year held annually in the city of Hampton, this will be their 10th anniversary. With over 100 pirates coming in from around the nation to join in on the raid, we are all in for some series trouble from these scalawags. Expect some serious sea battles, pirate songs, fencing or sword fightin and an overall great time provided they don't loot ya. We'll be there taking a ton of photos and videos of this event.
Hope to see you there. Oh yes, before we forget, we have a web site up of pictures and where we will be hosting videos for these dogs, CLICK HERE to go and see it.
We met Uncle Sam over at the Yorktown Memorial Day Service on May 25th, 2009. His message is that he wants you in the US Military. A part of living history done right by the people of Historic Yorktown.
The Yorktown Memorial Day service was well planned out. Men and woman dressed in uniforms of past wars of our nation to honor fallen soldiers, the 21 gun salute by the various costumed men and the taps by a Civil War soldier were well done.
Congressman Rob Wittman was at the Memorial event held in Yorktown on May 25th, 2009. Pictured here with a few fans from the Yorktown fife and Drum Corp.
Colonial Williamsburg hosted their annual national fife and drums competition this past weekend. We were there on Saturday May 16th, 2009 and were able to capture some great footage of many of the events. This video starts out with the Colonial Williamsburg Fife and Drums Alumni, hence the street cloths on these folks, followed by the Connecticut Regimen. We have more videos to put up on our You Tube channel, we just have to get through processing them. If you want to see our channel on You Tube, please CLICK HERE.
Get ready for a spectacular day on May 30th, 2009. A great line up of events is heading our way. The day starts with the farmers market on route 17 at the Suzanna Wesley Church followed by Revolutionary War re enactor's that will be showing us what life was like at an encampment. This will take place at the Gloucester County courthouse historic circle. Then the day finishes off with a concert from the Virginia Symphony Orchestra playing at the grounds of the Walter Reed Hospital. That event starts at 7:30 PM. We have a video from last years performance while the Virginia Symphony Orchestra played in Yorktown. Gives you an idea of what to expect. (A great wine, cheese and classical music evening).
If you are ever wondering what events are coming up, we have a calendar at the bottom of this site that lists the county events and we try to squeeze in anything else we learn about in advance.
We requested the opportunity to record the Virginia Symphony Orchestra while they play here but they told us it would cost us $20,000.00 because of DRM. (Digital Rights Management). Since everything we do is a free service and no one pays us anything at any time, we are not permitted to record the event for you. So if you want to see the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, we recommend you be there the night of the event. (We were fortunate enough to get the footage we did last year, we can't do it again though). The show was so good last year though that we will not be missing this event and will at least try to get some photos as we can.
The Abingdon Episcopal Church is an incredible landmark site right here in Gloucester County. We are incredibly fortunate to not just have this one historic site, but two historic sites right here in our own back yard. We are in the process of creating a driving tour of historic churches and of course both Abingdon and Ware are on our list of sites to see. One of the most beautiful structures on the tour is Abingdon when one looks at both the inside and out. We have visited a number of churches from the Historic Christ church to Bruton Parish, Farnham to Tappahanock. Bruton Parish is incredible as is Christ Church, but for overall detail on both inside and out that is both modern and historic, Abingdon holds the crown jewel. From the triple decker pulpit to the high back pews. The cruciform design to the chandeliers. Historic Christ Church is the king in historic preservation and overall exterior design, but Abingdon holds the crown on overall ambiance and modern functionality.
Ware has the most incredible grounds and graveyard. On our up coming driving tour, each property has incredible merits, and we will point that out on our web sites. In the mean time, we have built a special review site for the Abingdon Episcopal Church. Please CLICK HERE to visit our review site. We have a number of great pictures of inside and out. We are going to be putting up similar sites for Ware and Bruton Parish very soon. We are processing the pictures for them both now.
For all the latest news,
please click on the Home button towards the top of this site.
Have a news story? Submit
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Some of Gloucester's most
incredible history is found on this site in detail.
You may have missed Blackbeard's Crew while they raided Yorktown a few weeks back, but they have their biggest event of the year coming up in June. The weekend of June 5th through the 7th in Hampton. Expect over 100 pirates from all over the East Coast to be at this event. We plan on being there and plan on raiding the pirates lair. We built a web site with pictures and a video from their event in Yorktown. CLICK HERE to view our review site. The site will expand with their events. These folks really do a great job and put on a wonderful show.
If you have never seen them, you really are missing a superb time. So clear your calendar and call your friends and get ready for a great time in Hampton with this scurvy bunch. By the way, this is their 10th anniversary, so expect a show like never seen before. Arrgh!
We had the pleasure of capturing the United States Old Guard Fife and Drum Corp while they were in Colonial Williamsburg this past Saturday, May 16th, 2009. If you missed them and would like to see more, we put up a special web site where we have 7 videos and some really good pictures on the site. CLICK HERE to visit the site.
This is going to be a very busy summer with no shortage of things to do and or discover. We will try to keep you up to date as much as possible. If you missed it and we captured it, we will let you know and bring you as much as we can. So stay tuned.
We just finished photographing the Historic Christ Church. A beautiful landmark worth a visit. Located over in nearby Lancaster county, just outside of Irvington in Weems. They have a museum that is very interactive and the church and grounds are unmatched anywhere. The drive is only about 35 minutes and not far off of route 3. Visit our review site and you can get directions. CLICK HERE to visit our review site.
On our new site we have over 100 pictures and we created a video of the church and grounds. The folks there are incredibly nice and ready to help and answer any questions you may have. If you want to make a really nice day of it, stop at the wine and cheese shop in White Stone and pick up lunch for a picnic and then stop at the Winery on the way back from the church. Don't worry, you can't miss the winery. It's the White Fences Winery and you can't miss the giant cork screws out in front. When I say giant, I mean giant. Bonn Appetite.
This past weekend, May 16th to be exact, Colonial Williamsburg hosted Fife and Drums from various parts of the nation. We were there to cover the event for a few of our sister sites. While we were there we had the unexpected pleasure of capturing a gentleman playing the bag pipes outside of Bruton Parish Church before a candle light concert at the church. Normally we cover mostly what is happening around Gloucester, however, Gloucester is on the outskirts of some of the greatest places in the nation so we are expanding the site to include areas of interest to us here in Gloucester. We have a lot to post as we have been up to a lot. So even though this site has been quite for a few weeks, we have been very busy with a lot of other projects. So get ready for a lot of new excitement. Enjoy.
Gloucester County has published it's planned budget for physical year 2010. According to the submitted and published budget posted on the Gloucester County Government site, the budget is being cut by over $18 million dollars. The new budget is listed at over $104 million dollars for the county. With a county population of somewhere around 30,000 people, that is over $3,600.00 for each person in the county. Click here to get a copy of the 168 page PDF file. Under 1mb in size. Click Here to go to the site.
Okay, great we have a budget. My question isn't the budget, but instead, how much money does the county have that is well above and beyond the budget. Companies have budgets. People have budgets. It does not answer how much money is actually in the coffers and available. If school funds are being cut in the budget, why? It's a budget. How much money does the county actually have? This is the Billion dollar question. The state has been cutting the school budgets and now the schools are all crying and cutting back. It's a budget. Someone took money from somewhere and said this is what we are allowing you. Please do not explain simple economics to me. I'm aware of them and it would only be a diversion of the real question.
If I make $100 thousand a year and decide to live on a $30 thousand dollar budget, that's all it is. A budget. I still have that $100 thousand dollars a year coming in. There is still $70 thousand left unaccounted for. Anyone ever ask this question? I'm not saying or even suggesting that the county would ever even consider doing anything wrong, there is nothing wrong with the above situation.
Here is a point. During an economic downturn, if a state or a county has plenty of excess capital on hand instead of cutting the budget and funds to meet the economic situation, it would seem more logical for the state and local governments to increase spending to help fuel the economic situation. The government cutting back when capital is available just works against the people who elect the officials. If companies are laying off, if the state or county has the cash, bring some of those people in. Refuel the economy, not add to it's demise. When the economic situation reverses? Help those people back into the private sector.
Today Abingdon Elementary School had it's awards ceremony at the Gym. The first set was for k through 2nd grade starting at 1:00 PM followed by 3rd through 5th Grade starting at 2:00 PM.
We just put up our new Battle of the Hook web site with 4 new videos and we just started adding our pictures to it. This site will take a while to complete as we have a lot of pictures to put on it and we are trying to keep the pictures a reasonable viewing size yet not to big or to small. Click Here to view the new site. We hope you enjoy the new site.
This is our teaser video for the Battle of the Hook that was held back in October of 2008. We took somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 to 400 pictures that day. A few of those pictures were posted here on this site and are still on the site, but you have to use the search bar at the top of the page to get to them.
This is the first of many video slide shows we are producing from this event. We are also going to put up a web site for these videos as well as many of the pictures we took during the event. We will link the new site into this one once we have it up. We are estimating about 3 days from now.
We have just finished adding the entire 10 video mini series of the Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum onto our expansion site and put them all on one page. We will soon be adding a number of pages of pictures that we just finished editing. Because of the lighting at the Abingdon Episcopal Church, the pictures had a heavy yellow hue to them that we had to clean up. There is also a few pictures that are a matter of interest. We will point them out once we have the pages up, so be sure to look for them. Click Here to go to the 10 video mini series page. From the site side bar, look for the picture pages for them.
In an effort to cut down on high end pictures and video, we are now using expansion sites to host the majority of our pictures, videos and slide shows. By using these expansion sites, we are also able to increase the amount of pictures, videos and slide shows as well as other content that we can offer. The best example of this starts here with 4 pages of pictures of the Rodrigo Guitar Trio who were recently at the Abingdon Episcopal Church on Friday night, April 17th, 2009. Click Here to view the pictures. We have put up 4 pages of pictures on this site.
We have also added links at the bottom of each page that will take you back here to the main site. Moving forward, we will be minimizing the amount of pictures, videos and slide shows on this site so that our friends on dial up will be able to access this site. Plus they should be able to access the pictures on the expansion sites as well as we are cutting down the size of the pictures yet they will be on the pages in larger size than they first appear on this site.
Arts at the Abingdon Episcopal Church has just finished up their concert events for the year. This ending was a very nice touch with the wonderful selection of Rodrigo Guitar Trio featuring Raymond Burley. This trio was outstanding. World class classical guitar. We had the chance to meet the members of the trio and they were all just incredibly gracious.
We asked for the chance to film them but they turned down the request for some very valid reasons. One, they felt it was to much pressure to play under knowing they were being recorded and two, one of the usual members of the trio could not make this trip so they had another person filling in who was just getting used to playing with the two usual players.
We got to spend some time with Raymond Burley who truly is a world class expert on guitar. Raymond started playing guitar when he was 10 years old. He has played with Rod Stewart and performed on tracks with Elton John and Sting. So it is interesting that he started out as a pop musician and still does a good bit of work in the Rock and Roll industry. We had him autograph one of the CD's we bought while at the event. I was surprised to find out he is left handed. He plays the guitar right handed. He had a valid point though, he was taught that way and never thought about it. If your left handed, you do not cross your hands to play the piano in a left handed manner. The point well taken.
The three performed like they had played together for years. I only detected two minor misses during the entire event and considering they just arrived in the US a few days ago, that's pretty amazing. The other two members of the trio are Arne Brattland who is from Norway and presently resides in England, and John Feeley who comes from Ireland. Both Arne Brattland and John Feeley are highly accomplished artists with world class recognition.
To learn more about Raymond Burley, Click Here to visit his web site. Truly one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. For more information on Arne Brattland, Click Hereto visit a site with information on him. For more information on John Feeley, Click Here.
Here is a video to give you an idea of what you missed.
If you missed the Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum choir at the Abingdon Episcopal church a few weeks ago, you missed out on a fantastic performance. Do not make the same mistake again though. The Rodrigo Guitar Trio featuring Raymond Burley will prove to be a must see. Click Here to view their web site. If you do not know who Raymond Burley is, please do yourself a favor and do a Google Search on him. He is a world class classical guitarist. This is a chance to see the best of the best.
We are going to try and see if they will allow us to video tape them while they are here. No promises as there is very little music found on line at this time. I have found a few videos of Raymond Burley with other guitartists, but not this trio. So I do not have a video to post. If they allow me to video them, I will host the videos on Youtube, here, and on one of our other sites, the New Million March for God web site. So if you are looking for some world class entertainment, this will truly be the place to be. Hope to see you there.
With the weather getting warmer, it's time to start hitting the Golf courses once again. Gloucester has it's very own well hidden course known as the Gloucester Country Club. Click Here to visit a web site that has information about the course. If you are an avid golfer or looking for a nice golfing destination, this isn't it. This is the type of place you take beginners to or where you go to work on your long or short game without being embarrassed.
I wouldn't plan a tournament here unless it is for first time players, but I am also not knocking the place as it serves a very valid and needed service for golfers who need a place to improve their game that is not at the expense of others around them and not by any means what one could call expensive. You can actually have a great day here while losing a lot of golf balls. So come on out and bring your slice with you.
The signs of spring are popping up all around us. It's nice to see the green again. The flowers on the Azalea bushes are now blooming. It's a bit chilly but nice to see everything growing once again.
Happy Easter Everyone. Just a quick note that we saw the Easter Bunny just before he started his deliveries and he was very excited about delivering goodies to all the children here. Plus all the Easter Egg hunts he has been busy planning for so many of us. And for us adults, it's a time of celebration of the gift that Christ has given us all.
Our tenth and final video in our mini series for the Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum. This one is a slide show of pictures taken before, during and after the event. It was a pleasure attending this event and then getting to meet some of the choir. We look forward to your next return to this area.
This is our 9th and final video of the actual Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum live performance series. The next video we are going to produce is a series of pictures that were taken during and after the event and we are going to add some background music to the slide show video. We hope you have enjoyed this mini series. We once again want to thank the choir for allowing us to host these videos for the world to see and enjoy.
We have added a link to this post for the Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum USA blog spot web site so that you can view their tour while here in the USA.
This is our 8th video in our mini series. Each video we put up takes us about 3 to 4 hours of processing time from start to finish on each one done. The end results though are well worth the time if just one person truly enjoys even only one of the videos. We hope you enjoy the mini series as much as we have creating them for you.
This is video number 6 of 10 videos we will be hosting on this site. We are going to be making an 11th video that will consist of a slide show of pictures taken during the event.
Here is the link to the store in Tewkesbury Abbey if you are interested in purchasing any of their musical CD's. I am hoping they will produce a DVD of their music. Click Hereto go to their store.
Now this video I want to point out the lead singer. Here is a guy with a very potential future. A great voice. Need to talk him into quitting smoking though. (I shouldn't speak, but I am older and my voice isn't going to get me anywhere in the musical field). I had the pleasure of speaking with him for a few moments and he is as gracious as he is talented. I'll let the video speak for itself from here though.
At the end of this video is father Steve. Another gracious man with a great sense of humor and a wonderful speaker. We had the pleasure of speaking with him on numerous occasions and may we say that the folks back in England are very blessed to have him as one of their own. If we could take him away from there and have him here, I'm sure that would be happily arranged.
This is the 4th video in our mini series. We have about two or three more to go. Then we are going to produce a picture slide show video with background music. Hope everyone is enjoying the videos.
We just found a site where some great photos and more information on this choir is being hosted. Click Here to view the site. And here is another video.
Per special request, we are going to post a mini series of this choir on our site. We received permission to post the videos we took of them on Youtube and some of our own web sites. This is a great group of people. God has truly blessed them and us as we have the privilege to see and hear them.
This choir was incredible. Very moving. They are here from the Gloucester Region of England and put on a wonderful event. We had a chance to meet with some of them and what a wonderful bunch they are and incredibly talented. This was their 5th year here and we can't wait til next year when they join us again. If you missed this event and would like one more chance to see them, they will be singing with the regular choir at the Abingdon Episcopal Church this coming Sunday morning, 10:00 AM service, April 5th, 2009.
We would also like to thank them for allowing us to both photograph and video them. Because this is not normally allowed, this video is exclusive to Gloucester Links & News and is not being hosted on YouTube or any other hosting sites that we would normally use. Plus this hosting on this site will be for a limited time as well.
We are going to put up a page soon with photos from the event for everyone to see. The choir is internationally known and recognized for their live performances and recordings. We will see if we can come up with a link to where their recordings are sold in the event anyone would like to order one of their CD's. We will also see if we can talk them into producing a DVD recording as it's the live event that makes it so moving when you see and hear them them.
We look forward to their return next year and wish them well on their journey home.
This Friday night is the Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum at the Abingdon Episcopal church on route 17 North, Gloucester, Virginia. Internationally acclaimed for their live performances and recordings, this is a very special event you may not want to miss. It is this Friday night only, starting at 7:30 PM. This event will not be repeated. Click Here to view the web site for the choir and their home town. This video will give you an idea of what to expect.
Salsa's Mexican Grill located on route 17 North, George Washington Memorial Hwy. We ate at this restaurant over the past weekend and the place has plenty of nice atmosphere. Service was top notch. Menu selection didn't appeal to well to me and the food was okay. Having been to Mexico myself and having eaten the real deal, this was not even close. This is more along the lines of the United States Version of what we think Mexican Food is.
Also having been to a few excellent Mexican restaurants in Williamsburg, I'm rather spoiled. The food was not bad, it was just not great especially when compared to the ambiance and top notch service. Friday and Saturday nights is Karaoke night which is s big hit there. The restaurant was full. The food holds us off from giving this place a 4 star rating. Well worth the time to visit and enjoy a nice night out.
For all the latest news,
please click on the Home button towards the top of this site.
Have a news story? Submit
it above.
Some of Gloucester's most
incredible history is found on this site in detail.
Come and meet author Norman Snowden at Carter's Cove Clubhouse this Friday and learn about his new book, "The Maine Connection". Time is from 6:30 PM til 8:30 PM Friday April 3rd, 2009. Also come and meet author Lizzette G Carter, and learn about her new book, "Across The Color Line".
From time to time we include book reviews about local authors or books that cover the local area. Lizzette G Carter's new book, "Across The Color Line", is the latest book in her career as a writer. Lizzette Lives in Mathews County and is a superb writer and a wonderful person. We met her at the Daffodil Festival this past weekend and she did a marvelous job explaining the book to anyone interested.
Okay so what is the book about? Well here is the story line off the back cover of her new book;
It's a happy New Year and great start for Lacie and Tony's interracial relationship. But turmoil ensues once Lacie meets Tony's parents - namely his mother, Abigail. Circumstances get even more complicated for the couple as they work on a lucrative business deal with a new associate, Trevor Weeks, who is quite vocal about their relationship. Surprisingly, Joe, Tony's best friend and Lacie's ex- fiance, returns to team up with them on the business deal. However, the friendly reunion sours once the identity of Joe's secret lover is exposed.
In the prequel, the question whether Lacie would have enough courage to cross the color line was answered. Now the follow-up social novel with compelling twists and emotionally charged dialogue, gives a raw and honest look inside the struggles of an interracial relationship and poses another question: Will Lacie and Tony be strong enough to survive being Across The Color Line?
Book from C.L. Press PO Box 1 Hallieford, VA 23068
Our 23rd Annual Daffodil Festival here in Gloucester County was one of the best yet. These pictures are from Saturday the 28th, and there is still one more day to go, so if you didn't get there yet, you still have Sunday the 29th, from 12:00 til 5:00 PM. It's a great time and great people there to meet. We took several hundred photos and we were trying to come up with the best way to share as many as possible with you, so we made a slide show video for you to enjoy.
We have a lot to cover here within the next few weeks and a lot more great surprises coming up soon. So be sure to stay tuned as we are working hard to bring you the best of Gloucester County.
The Gloucester Daffodil Festival is this weekend, March 28th and 29th. Saturday from 9:00AM until 6:00PM and Sunday from 12:00PM until 5:00PM. Here is the link to the page hosted on the Virginia State web site. Click Here. Now the only issues we are facing this year is lots of wet weather. We plan on being there provided the weather holds up and we will get some pictures for the site for everyone. Sure to be a good time.
The Digital Renaissance located in the York River Crossing Shopping Center is a small but full service and fully featured electronics gear head shop. If you are a techy like me, this is your kind of store. From laptops to LCD TV's, computer repairs to computer parts, these guys have you covered. If they do not have what you want, they are likely to get it for you in a short period of time. So if you need the latest equipment or just looking for a great deal, this is a stop worth making.
