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It is certainly a
privilege to have an opportunity to speak
to you tonight. I have been very fortunate
in my career as I get the opportunity to
lecture to various history and heritage
groups all over the great state of
Virginia, but it is always an extra
special occasion when I get to talk at my
own church. I see a lot of familiar faces
out there as well as many new ones.
Welcome all.
Tonight, I will be
discussing the storied histories of
Fredericksburg's landmark houses of
worship. Before I get into the churches
themselves, I did want to give you a
little background on this project and the
book that instigated this lecture...
Those who are familiar
with my work know that I publish material
in both the Christian and secular genres.
And as my first 3 books were all religious
in nature, this upcoming title 'Houses of
the Holy' will be my first secular title,
or straight history as some call it. This
book was a wonderfully challenging piece
for me that stretched my abilities as an
author - a researcher - and as a
historian.
Back in the spring of
2007, I was contacted by one of the
commissioning agents from The History
Press, which is a wonderful publisher that
is based out of Charleston S.C.. THP
specializes in regional titles and they
offered me a contract with an option of
selecting my own subject matter. As my
work is often faith-based, or focused on
the roles of religion during the war,
churches seemed like a good choice.
Well, it turned out to be
a great choice, but also one of the most
challenging of my career. I was very
fortunate, that my friends at the National
Park Service opened their archives to me
and after spending a few days up at
Chatham Manor digging through dusty bound
volumes and folders, I was able to
assemble a large pile of primary source
materials.
Adding to this blessing
was the congregational historians and
committees from the churches themselves.
Each had representatives who were kind
enough to meet with me. Through their
generosity, I was also able to get some
nice secondary sources to accent the
piece. Frankly, I have enough material to
write 3 books and a handful of articles on
this subject. I also acquired materials
for the Spotsylvania churches too.
What struck me as I worked
on this manuscript was how much I didn't
know about Fredericksburg during the War
Between the States from a civilian
perspective. I had studied the battles and
the soldiers. I was familiar with the
political and military aspects of the town
and its place in the Civil War. However, I
didn't know the points of view from the
people. This project actually pushed me to
look in places that I had never been.
Some of them were dark
places. I even had to go back and rework
much of the piece at the suggestion of the
real experts from the National Park
Service, who felt I was too optimistic and
soft on race-relations and the complex
issue of slavery. The result was a much
stronger narrative that I and my publisher
are very proud of.
Unfortunately, this book
will not be released for at least another
10 weeks. The timing just didn't work out
right, so tonight I will be signing copies
of my last release 'The Southern Cross,'
which is a Civil War devotional with 50
inspirational stories from the Civil War.
I also have handouts available with info
on the church book.
Tonight I will be reading
from passages in the book, which will be
approx. 200 pages with over 70 period
photographs. Please remember too that I
will be doing signings in the area along
with some radio and TV, so please keep an
eye out for that one. I will also give out
my website address at the end of my talk
tonight. There I post updates and links on
everything I do. I am also hoping to take
this project to the next level and develop
a walking tour of these churches titled
"Footsteps in Faith Under Fire."
So without further ado,
let's begin. I present to you, the
historic churches of
Fredericksburg.
CONTINUE
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