Spring Speaking Schedule for Dave, Kate, and Jim

[Dave Taylor]

Roger,

Thank you for shout out regarding the events Kate, Jim and I have coming up. Since I put that up I've received another speaking engagement as part of Charles County's Garden Tour. I'll be spending Saturday, May 28th at Thomas Jones' home of Huckleberry showing people around and telling them about the history. It should be a lot of fun.

Though I know only a few on the forum live in the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area, I also want to put out a blurb for Historic Port Royal's upcoming John Wilkes Booth escape route bus tour through Virginia. The event is happening on Saturday, April 30. The tour will last from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and will take participants around the different spots in Virginia that are connected to Booth's escape. I am a board member for Historic Port Royal (we are the local historical society) and we are using the Virginia Booth tour as a fundraiser for our group and our three museum buildings. We have our main museum, The Port Royal Museum of American History, which is open every Saturday from 10 - 4. We also recently completed a doctor's office museum, and a one room schoolhouse museum for school groups. Needless to say that for a small historical society, we have a lot to keep up and maintain.

Mike Kauffman was approached to give this Booth tour and told us he would love to help us out. We're hoping that he'll be our guide as planned, but Mike gets so busy that we will have to wait until the last minute before we'll know for sure if he can do it. I'm on deck to give the tour if Mike can't make it.

Though this tour will be similar in some regards to the Surratt Society tour (which I will be giving the week before on April 23), we will only be visiting Virginia sites. Included in this tour and not on the Surratt tour is a house tour of Belle Grove, the birthplace of James Madison located in Port Conway. It is currently being operated as a gorgeous bed and breakfast which Kate and I actually stayed at last year. We will also be taking a brief walking tour of Port Royal, Kate and I will be re-enacting a scene on the porch of the Peyton House, and we will be stopping and visiting the Port Royal Museum of American History to see our Garrett farm artifacts. This is in addition to the normal drive bys of Elizabeth Quesenberry's house and the Garrett farm site, and a tour of Dr. Stuart's home, Cleydael.

The cost for this tour is $65. This price includes a boxed lunch which will be eaten in St. Peter's, a historic church in Port Royal.

I hope those of you who live in the area will think about signing up. It's going to be a great day of history and you'll be helping Historic Port Royal maintain our wonderful museums and our growing collection.

Here's the link with the information on how to sign up: http://www.historicportroyal.net/booth-tour/