One Single Spot of History

If during the span of the last six centuries you stood on a boat’s deck that anchored at one spot in the harbor, just a short distance from the York River, not far from Sarah’s Creek in Gloucester, you would see American history unfold, including all the major wars fought on land and sea.
Events would include:
- The first Spanish to settle in the region and the massacre of the inhabitants by the Native Americans that followed
- The founding of the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown
- Pocahontas’s tribes interaction with the English
- Multiple Indian wars with the English
- The first major attack on an English colony in America by a European power
- America’s first revolution – called Bacon’s Rebellion
- Pirates, privateers, and their fleets - battles against and between these marauders in the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s
- The shelling and burning of Norfolk by the British
- The invasion of Virginia by Benedict Arnold after betraying George Washington and his country
- The fierce naval engagement by Admiral de Grasse’s French fleet against the invading English fleet that trapped Lord Cornwallis and his army
- The Battles at Yorktown and Gloucester
- Attacks by the English on America in the War of 1812
- The burning and rape of Hampton, construction of fortress after fortress including Fort Monroe
- The battle of the first ironclad ships in naval warfare
- The invasion by the North on the South during the War Between the States.
You would see clandestine events unfolding that helped lead to the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency and a secret base unknown to most Americans, and construction of the world’s only super carriers and the docking of the completed vessels at the wharfs of the largest naval base on Earth would be right in your sight, as well as the blasting off of NASA rockets with satellites climbing into Earth orbit.
The famous people you would see go sailing by are way too many to list, but would include at least twenty presidents such as Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, Wilson, and Lincoln.
You would not have to take a step – just turn your head around as the centuries pass. You would see all of this and much more, but for all you observe, much more is unseen.
And if you listen carefully, you will hear a “call” echoing across the waves, among the trees, between the houses, about the graveyards, and over the gentle hills, orchestrated ages ago near where you stand, during a time of great tribulation for the Nation– one you have heard many times before during your life, performed by a lone figure standing with a single musical instrument. It might have at some time elicited a chill down your spine or a tear in your eye, but certainly a feeling of sadness about something or someone gone forever. Some have called this haunting melody “Butterfield’s Lullaby”, others have called it “Extinguish Lights”, still others “Day is Done”, however, you would call it – “Taps”.
During these six centuries, and the struggles for survival among the people, untold riches have passed through these waters and lands. So much, the value cannot accurately be calculated. Some has never left.
Why have you not heard of these treasures?
Who is hiding them?
What lies ahead is a true odyssey of the founding of a nation through the eyes of many, including my own, and the riches that accompanied the participants.

