Patrick Henry's Hideaway

Yellow Siding, damn you! We could see the wooden shingles it was hiding around the stone chimneys. If only we could rip it off we would have been able to figure a few more things out.

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An early morning and a three hour drive later, my classmates and I arrived in Brookneal, VA - out in the middle of nowhere. (This place is so small that this travelblog doesn't even recognize the the town as a place) None of us, including our professor knew what to expect, and we all got quite a puzzle. The house may have been owned by Patrick Henry and was certainly owned by his daughter who is buried on the site. While they can be horribly hot and uncomfortable, attics are the most truthful part of houses and this one was no exception. The newel post of a staircase that had been ripped out when the house was expanded was still present sticking out of the attic floor! Because we did not have a lot of time, our professor drew the plan of the house while we measured - all while trying to puzzle out the house's history. It was fun to finally be taking part in the type of fieldwork we'll be doing in Beaufort.

The next day we were back in Williamsburg for our first shot at working with AutoCAD. I was a bit apprehensive, but it wasn't too bad once I was told the few basic, important commands. My partner and I slowly worked through it and I feel pretty satisfied. We won't have too much more work to do with it when we return from Beaufort!