Virginia Historical Society     Click to return to the Virginia Historical Society homepage Online Exhibitions Search  
Old Virginia: The Pursuit of a Pastoral Ideal
Old Virginia: The Pursuit of a Pastoral Ideal
Old Virginia: The Pursuit of a Pastoral Ideal
Navigation
Introduction Origins of the Pastoral The Pursuit of Gentility Decline and Resistance Resurgence of the Old Order Triumph of the Colonial Past Exhibit Catalog Acknowledgements Comments 		The Victory Ball, 1781  

Under My Own Vine and Fig Tree, 1798
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
c. 1910
Oil on canvas
Virginia Historical Society
Lora Robins Collection of Virginia Art
Full view
space

 
Old Virginia: The Pursuit of a Pastoral Ideal

Introduction

To some the term "Old Virginia" conjures up images of the region's proud past and traditions, of its great men, and of its contributions to the cause of freedom. To others it evokes an apparently civilized way of life built upon a foundation of racial oppression and cruelty. This exhibition examines the origins of these conflicting conceptions of the heritage of the Old Dominion, and in the process attempts to uncover new ways to understand Virginia's past.

Although there have been a number of studies that have taken for granted the existence of an entity known as Old Virginia, until now there has not been an examination of the emergence and evolution of the term itself. This exhibition delves beneath the competing mythologies of Old Virginia as either a bucolic world of benevolent planters and contented slaves or an infernal region of bondage and suffering to examine the attempts by the Virginia gentry to create and then defend the concept of a pastoral sphere in which the pursuit of virtue and honor was ones greatest ambition. This theme of rural bliss originated in the colonial era, then endured as "Old Virginia" became a weapon for those who wished to maintain the social status quo before and immediately after the Civil War, was reimagined by the creators of Colonial Williamsburg, and survives today through the efforts of a modern gentry that is resident in the Virginia countryside.

This web site features only a fraction of the objects on display in the physical exhibition (February 8, 2003–June 8, 2003) and pictured in the catalog.

Ould Virginia
Larger view

Ould Virginia
Robert Vaughan
Map published in John Smith's Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles (London, 1624)
Virginia Historical Society

Virginia was the first, and for a time the only, English colony in the continental New World. Its boundaries spread as far to the north and west as could be imagined by its early explorers. Sir Walter Ralegh's failed Roanoke plantation of the late 16th century had established an early creation date for Virginia. Thus in 1624, Captain John Smith could invoke the relative antiquity and the importance of the region. At the same time, he differentiated "Ould Virginia" from "New England," which had been carved from the original territory of the first colony. From 1624 forward, the privileged status for the region would be linked to the long history of the colony.

Introduction
I. Origins of the Pastoral
II. Pursuit of Gentility
III. Decline and Resistance
IV. Resurgence of the Old Order
V. Triumph of the Colonial Past
Exhibit Catalog
Acknowledgements
Comments

Image rights owned by the Virginia Historical Society. Do not use without permission. Rights and reproductions