BACK THEN I have , for a long time, had a special, personal feeling about the restoration of the town of Williamsburg, Virginia to its Colonial splendor.
I feel I had a family connection, a somewhat closer tie to the changes which started when I was at a curious teen ager and while my Uncle Thomas Glen McCaskey was a student at the College of William and Mary. He was very much 'taken'' by the project from the very first campus rumors saying that Rockerfeller foundation funds were going to be available. Uncle Glen's enthusiasm impressed my older brother and I would bring back the gallant Colonial lifestyle we admired so much and we both became ardent supporters of the restoration work which was to bring about so many changes for so many people.
From the start new paths of potential value to specific lines of study were undertaken in addition to the actual physical restoration of more than one hundred old building in the area. One such early spin -off, I recall, was on which as of special concern for us,in particular.. The excavations being done around Burton Parish Church in Williamsburg were deemed to be the site where coded artifacts would be unearthed which prove behind all doubt that the literary works we attributed to one William Shakespeare were, in truth, all writing by one Francis Bacon . Maybe you remember that confusing time. Thus far the the supposed coded plates have not been found.
My Uncle joined the Rockefeller group and stayed with the Williamsburg Corporation the rest of his life. When he was Vice-President of Development, believe that was the name, he often had a traveling companion in some of his travels - my Aunt Leah - nee Miller, a Williamsburg native whoso folks lived on South England Street until that, too, became part of the restoration. That gave my bother Al, and me even closer ties to Colonial Williamsburg.
A.L.M. Febuary 20, 2006 [c340wds]
