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SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2010
“I want to get to know our Founding Fathers. . . . It’s like we’ve almost erased them from history.” — Ismael Nieves, a conservative activist visiting Williamsburg from New Jersey
RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST Robert Weathers, center, who plays a local tavern keeper, waves a revolutionary flag amid a crowd of “residents” and tourists as a fife and drum corps marches through Colonial Williamsburg.
‘TEA PARTY’ MESSAGE ECHOES AT WILLIAMSBURG
colonial from A1 The tourist, a self-described con-
servative activist named Ismael Nieves from Elmer, N.J., nodded thoughtfully. Afterward, he said this was his fifth visit to Colonial Wil- liamsburg. “We live in a very dangerous time,”
Nieves said. “People are looking for leadership, looking for what to do. They’re looking to Washington, Jef- ferson, Madison.” “I want to get to know our Found-
ing Fathers,” he added. “I think we’ve forgotten them. It’s like we’ve almost erased them from history.” It’s a common point of view among
tea party activists. They say their un- happiness with Washington reflects how far the federal government has strayed, through taxation and reg- ulation, from the Founders’ inten- tions. “They all should come here and
listen,” said Bob Rohrbacher, a re- tired plumber from Floral Park, N.Y., who opposes President Obama and was inspired to visit Williamsburg while watching Glenn Beck on Fox News. “They’ve forgotten about America.” Hundreds of visitors gather to lis- ten to the “Revolutionary City” reen- actments that take place throughout the day along the historic area’s Duke of Gloucester Street. One day last week, Patrick Henry stood on the south side of the co- lonial Capitol building and an- nounced that a congress of represen- tatives from all the colonies would begin meeting annually to protect the “united interests of America.” The cheers were so enthusiastic that the tourists themselves might have been mistaken for colonists, were it not for the fanny packs and trilling cell phones.
One man, wearing a red, white and
blue golf shirt emblazoned with the American flag and the text of the Declaration of Independence, joined the actors in exclaiming, “Well said!” every time a character uttered some- thing patriotic. The executives who oversee Wil- liamsburg said they have noticed the influx of tea partiers, and have also noted a rise in the number of guests who ply the costumed actors for ad- vice about how to rebel against 21st- century politicians. (The actors do their best to provide 18th-century answers.)
RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST Aman playing a member of a colonial-era militia teaches a group how to hold muskets. Such hands-on experiences are popular with visitors to Williamsburg. on
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Keeping tabs on Palin: Does her endorsement help or hurt?
candidates, a mixture of “tea party” favorites and more established Republicans. Use our interactive graphic to explore her endorsements and how their recipients fare.
6 “If people . . . can recognize that
subjects such as war and taxation, re- ligion and race, were really at the heart of the situation in the 18th cen- tury, and there is some connection between what was going on then and what’s going on now, that’s all to the good,” said Colin Campbell, presi- dent and chairman of Colonial Wil- liamsburg. “What happened in the 18th century here required engage-
ment, and what’s required to pre- serve democracy in the 21st century is engagement. That is really our message.” The foundation that runs the pro-
grams at Colonial Williamsburg is nonprofit and nonpartisan, so nei- ther Campbell nor other employees would venture an opinion on the sig- nificance of the tea party. But they welcome the business. Like most mu-
Sarah Palin has thrown her support behind more than two dozen
seums and historical sites, Williams- burg suffered during the recession; even before that, attendance had been dropping for more than a dec- ade. In the late 1990s, annual ticket sales topped 1million. Last year, that number had dropped to 660,000. Campbell’s hope is that such visi- tors come away having learned something about the nuance and messiness of history — a theme that runs through all of Colonial Wil- liamsburg’s programming. Sometimes, the activists appear surprised when the Founding Fa- thers don’t always provide the “give ’em hell” response they seem to be looking for.
When a tourist asked George
Washington a question about what should be done to those colonists who remain loyal to the tyrannical British king, Washington interject- ed: “I hope that we’re all loyal, sir” — a reminder that Washington, far from being an early agitator against the throne, was among those who sought to avoid revolution until the very end.
When another audience member on
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Oh, say, can you . . . answer me?
Colonial Williamsburg has become a draw for “tea party” activists; see photos and view video.
asked the general to reflect on the role of prayer and religion in politics, he said: “Prayers, sir, are a man’s pri- vate concern. They are not a matter of public interest. And nor should they be. There is nothing so personal as a man’s relationship with his cre- ator.”
And when another asked whether the Boston Tea Party had helped rally the patriots, Washington disagreed with force: The tea party “should never have occurred,” he said. “It’s hurt our cause, sir.” That may not have been the an- swer the man expected from the fa- ther of our country. But even in that spirited crowd, no one was going to tell George Washington he was wrong.
gardnera@washpost.com
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