Come On a My House

If a lecture counts, I've been to the Northern Neck twice this week.

Tuesday I drove down to visit my parents and have lunch.

Today's drive was far shorter, only to the Virginia Historical Society to hear David Brown  talk about "Unlocking Menokin's Secrets: Archaeological and Landscape research at a Northern Neck Plantation."

The VHS's president Paul Levingood got things rolling by cracking wise, "Glad you made it through the roadblocks and Secret service checkpoints to be with us today."

Sure, it would have been fantastic to go hear the President speak at the Carillon, but duty called.

Menokin, the plantation in question, is just outside Warsaw, a town I drive through to get to my parents' house, yet I'd never heard of it

Seems it was the home of Francis Lightfoot Lee and his wife Rebecca, who quickly became Frank and Becky for the sake of Brown's talk.

Emphasizing that because of their lack of children, scant records exist about the house and land, so archaeologists like him and his partner in crime, Thane Harpole (is that a great name or what?) are the ones searching for the keys to the history of the house and its owners.

Brown was introduced as the "Boy Wonder," a name he said he couldn't claim.

"The 'Boy Wonder' name worked a lot better when I was younger," he laughed. "Now I'm more of the 'Bald Wonder."

He warned us that he'd brought lots of great pictures to show, saying, "As an archaeologist, I'm used to using puns and humor to get through the boring parts of the lecture."

Truly, there weren't any boring parts, just a ton of information about what's left of the plantation house and its dependencies.

The house was known for its terraces as much as its architecture, he told us, and the slide of the extensive terracing all the way around the house showed why.

He even showed a slide of Indiana Jones, noting, "Without him, I probably wouldn't have a job."

And while he said that his job isn't always as interesting as Indiana's, he quickly acknowledged that a lot of the time it was.

I find it a pleasure to listen to people who are enthusiastic about what they do and he definitely qualified.

In fact, after 45 minutes of talking about how place and space match with archeology to tell a story, I was even more curious about the buildings and landscape of the plantation near the picaresque-sounding Cat Point Creek.

Closing, the self-deprecating Brown said, "This is a subject I could talk about ad nauseum."

Pshaw. I wasn't the least bit nauseated, but I did know something I hadn't.

I need to make a stop next time I drive through the Northern Neck and check out Frank and Becky's place.

Thanks to Brown, I can practically feel the environmental landscape calling to me.