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The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg: Ghosts and Interpreting the Recreated Past
On any given night, hundreds of guests walk the darkened streets of Colonial Williamsburg looking for ghosts. Since the early 2000s, both the museum and private companies have facilitated these hunts, offering year-round ghost tours. Critics have called these excursions a cash grab, but in truth, ghosts and hauntings have long been at the center of the Colonial Williamsburg project.

The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg examines how the long-dead past comes alive at this living-history museum. In the early twentieth century, local stories about the ghosts of former residents—among them Revolutionary War soldiers and nurses, tavern owners and prominent attorneys, and enslaved African Americans—helped to turn Williamsburg into a desirable site for historical restoration. But, for much of the twentieth century, the museum tried diligently to avoid any discussion of ghosts, considering them frivolous and lowbrow. Alena Pirok explores why historic sites have begun to embrace their spectral residents in recent decades, arguing that through them, patrons experience an emotional connection to place and a palpable understanding of the past through its people.

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The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg: Ghosts and Interpreting the Recreated Past
On any given night, hundreds of guests walk the darkened streets of Colonial Williamsburg looking for ghosts. Since the early 2000s, both the museum and private companies have facilitated these hunts, offering year-round ghost tours. Critics have called these excursions a cash grab, but in truth, ghosts and hauntings have long been at the center of the Colonial Williamsburg project.

The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg examines how the long-dead past comes alive at this living-history museum. In the early twentieth century, local stories about the ghosts of former residents—among them Revolutionary War soldiers and nurses, tavern owners and prominent attorneys, and enslaved African Americans—helped to turn Williamsburg into a desirable site for historical restoration. But, for much of the twentieth century, the museum tried diligently to avoid any discussion of ghosts, considering them frivolous and lowbrow. Alena Pirok explores why historic sites have begun to embrace their spectral residents in recent decades, arguing that through them, patrons experience an emotional connection to place and a palpable understanding of the past through its people.

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The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg: Ghosts and Interpreting the Recreated Past

The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg: Ghosts and Interpreting the Recreated Past

by Alena Pirok
The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg: Ghosts and Interpreting the Recreated Past

The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg: Ghosts and Interpreting the Recreated Past

by Alena Pirok

Overview

On any given night, hundreds of guests walk the darkened streets of Colonial Williamsburg looking for ghosts. Since the early 2000s, both the museum and private companies have facilitated these hunts, offering year-round ghost tours. Critics have called these excursions a cash grab, but in truth, ghosts and hauntings have long been at the center of the Colonial Williamsburg project.

The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg examines how the long-dead past comes alive at this living-history museum. In the early twentieth century, local stories about the ghosts of former residents—among them Revolutionary War soldiers and nurses, tavern owners and prominent attorneys, and enslaved African Americans—helped to turn Williamsburg into a desirable site for historical restoration. But, for much of the twentieth century, the museum tried diligently to avoid any discussion of ghosts, considering them frivolous and lowbrow. Alena Pirok explores why historic sites have begun to embrace their spectral residents in recent decades, arguing that through them, patrons experience an emotional connection to place and a palpable understanding of the past through its people.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781625346940
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Publication date: 09/30/2022
Series: Public History in Historical Perspective
Pages: 232
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Alena Pirok is assistant professor of history at Georgia Southern University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 The Age of Ghosts in Virginia 14

Chapter 2 Restoring the "Ghosts of the Past" 31

Chapter 3 The Question of Interpretation 55

Chapter 4 A Magnificent Stage Setting 80

Chapter 5 The Spirits of '76 Come Alive 108

Chapter 6 Conjectural Williamsburg 128

Chapter 7 The Rehaunting of Williamsburg 152

Notes 177

Index 215

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