October 6 Meeting
Posted September 29, 2011 at 1:44 PM, Filed Under: All News, MeetingsThursday, October 6, 2011
THE BRANDERMILL REGION MEN'S CLUB will hold its next meeting on Thursday, October 6 in the Brandermill Church.
Join us for refreshments and fellowship at 9:15 a.m.
We will start te meeting at 10:00 a.m.. sharp
1. Our guest speaker will be Mark Greenough, Director of Living History Associates, Ltd., and historian and supervisor of visitor services at the Virginia State Capitol. As we continue the 2001 to 2015 observation of the American Civil War sesquicenntennial, he will discuss the events that led to Virginia's decision on secession.
The BRMC article published in the recent issue of the Village Mill is reproduced below.
As with all BRMC programs, our wives and guests are invited and encouraged to attend and participate.
2. Have you made your reservations for the October 13 (rain-date October 20) fully catered Fall Picnic?? A reminder email with the details will be sent following this meeting notice message.
3. Save the date, Friday, December 9th, for our trip to Washington for A Holiday Festival Concert with the U.S.Army Band. It is a great show. Details will announced in mid-October.
4. If you have not already done so, bring your checkbook to renew your membership through December 2012. This offer is also good for those of your friends who wish to join the club. Annual dues is still only $25 (for BCC golfing members, add $30).
5. A great way to keep up on club activities and events between meetings is to regularly check out the wonderful web site that Bill Pond keeps up to date. Simply go to: www.BRMConline.org
6. We should also note that:
The BCA is encouraging Brandermill residents to provide an email address to participate in its Email Alert program. This service provides important news, weather-related, and emergency notification to residents. Types of notifications include road closures, storm related information, school closures, community-wide meeting notices etc. Residents can call the BCA office at 804-744-1035 or send an email to the BCA at bca@brandermill.com with the information.
September ’11 issue -- The Village Mill
Mark Greenough brings American Civil War history to life.
Virginia, among many other states, continues during 2011-2015 the American Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration.
To paraphrase what I wrote in this space for the May 2010 issue, introducing Cheryl Jackson, Executive Director of Virginia’s Sesquicentennial Commemorative program, the American Civil War was the most profoundly formative event resulting in the nation we know today.
At the cost of more than 620,000 lives, in many cases pitting brother against brother, father against son, that number surpasses the combined total of all the American casualties suffered in all the foreign conflicts in which our nation has been involved, including the 36,940 American combat deaths suffered during the Korean conflict. To put it another way, it took our nation 180 years of participation in foreign conflicts to match the loss of American lives suffered in just 48 months of civil war.
To put that four year devastation in contemporary perspective, if this ratio of death to the 1860 total population of the country (31,443,321) were to be applied to our current population, the number of American lives lost would be more than six million.
The Civil War was profoundly formative for the nation in that it abolished slavery and set the stage to once and forever put to rest the divisive issue of secession. We became a nation indivisible, and sadly with a further painful nearly century-long evolutionary period, one that most can agree provided liberty and justice for all.
But why and how did such a young nation, one founded on the principles of freedom from colonial bondage and oppressions, come to turn on itself to such devastation and effect? To answer that, it may be helpful to examine the answers to further questions. For example --
Why was George Washington a hero to both the North and the South in 1861?
What state sponsored the Washington Peace Conference in February 1861?
Was Virginia a part of the Confederacy before the firing on Fort Sumter?
What was the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1861 and what did it do?
Why did Virginia originally vote against secession and later for secession in April 1861?
What military forces did Robert E. Lee accept command of on April 23, 1861?
Where did the Confederate Congress meet in the summer and winter of 1861?
Why did Virginia become a state smaller in 1863 than it had been in 1861?
We will have an opportunity to learn the answers to these questions, and pose questions of our own, by attending the meeting of the Brandermill Region Men’s Club at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 6, in the Brandermill Church.
Mark Greenough, the special guest speaker for this meeting, is an ardent advocate for bringing history to life in the modern world.
Mark is a co-founder and director of Living History Associates, Ltd., established 1986 in Richmond. Since 2002 Mark has worked for the Commonwealth of Virginia as Historian and Supervisor of visitor services at the State Capitol, a national historic landmark and meeting place for America’s oldest legislative assembly. For over thirty years Mark has worked in the field of public history as an author, exhibit curator, character interpreter, and dynamic speaker. He was a first-person living history interpreter for the National Park Service from 1980 to 1985 and on the library staff of the Virginia Historical Society from 1986 to 1987. Mark has worked as an historical and technical advisor for numerous television productions involving historical subject matter, including “Founding Fathers” and “Founding Brothers.”
Earning a Baccalaureate in History (1984) from the University of Santa Clara, Mark has done additional graduate coursework in historical archeology, American material culture, and historiography at the College of William and Mary. As a serious scholar on John Marshall, Mark has professionally portrayed the Great Chief Justice for more than ten years to a wide audience, including two sitting members of the U. S. Supreme Court.
BRMC MEETINGS
The Brandermill Region Men’s Club meetings are held at 10:00 a.m. at the Brandermill Church on the first Thursday of each month, September through June. The meetings are preceded by refreshments at 9:15 a.m.
There is a special advantage to joining - or renewing membership - during the period September through December.
Although the club year runs on a January through December basis, joining or renewing during those fall months will carry membership through December of the following year, 2012, thus providing up to 16 months of membership for new members at the normal annual dues of just $25.
As the name indicates, membership in the club is open to men age 50 or “better,” who are residents of the region. Retired status is not required. The club provides a wide range of activities and social events for members, their spouses, and guests. Those interested in learning more about the club and its many offerings are encouraged to visit the website at BRMConline.org, or simply attend a meeting as a guest of the club. All are welcome.