Hello, Members and Friends of WHRO!

After three years at WHRO, I’m hardly a newcomer, but as July 4th approaches, I do enjoy learning more and more about the fascinating history of the piece of America I now call home. Hampton Roads became “America’s First Region” as a result of that momentous event on April 26, 1607: the landing of three ships – The Susan Constant, The Godspeed and The Discovery – at what is now Virginia Beach. Eighteen days later, after exploring the vast local rivers and bays, they arrived at Jamestown and established the first permanent English speaking settlement in the New World.

The House of Burgesses, the first representative assembly in the Americas, was established in Williamsburg in 1619; and later that year, the first Thanksgiving was observed when 38 English settlers celebrated their safe arrival at the Berkley Hundred. General Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown in 1781, in the last major engagement of the American Revolutionary War. The Civil War battle of the ironclads, the Confederate Merrimac and Union Monitor, occurred in the waters of Hampton Roads in 1862. Colonial Williamsburg has been described as the world’s largest living museum, and is perhaps the nation’s premier educational and historical resource on early American life.

You can’t walk in any city in Hampton Roads without seeing some of the icons of American history: the Governor’s Mansion in Williamsburg – the Adam Thoroughgood House in Virginia Beach – the Casemate Museum in Hampton – the Virginia War Museum in Newport News – Old St. Paul’s Church in Norfolk, with its Revolutionary War cannonball still stuck in its exterior wall – and a host of other sites where history was made.

This isn’t a history lesson (or a geography one), but rather a burst of pride in recognizing the profound role this area played in the birth of America, and the knowledge that many people who live in Hampton Roads are here temporarily and may not be aware of the richness of our community. The military has long been a mainstay in Hampton Roads, and today we boast the largest concentration of military personnel in the nation.

We have a long tradition of observing Independence Day here at WHRO – the best and most glorious patriotic music is heard on WHRO 90.3FM, the magnificent Capitol Fourth concert on WHRO TV15/15.1HD – and during Morning Edition on WHRV 89.5, there’s the reading of the Declaration of Independence by a host of NPR personalities.

And speaking of The Declaration of Independence: it may indeed have been signed in Philadelphia, but it was written by a Virginian!

Happy 4th!

Bert Schmidt

Bert can be contacted at bert.schmidt@whro.org or 757.889.9410