Originally from Roanoke, Virginia, I have always had a passion for history. My love of history began with my parents when I was a child. We took vacations multiple times a year to Williamsburg, Virginia for more than 25 years. I still make trips there every year whether it is for a vacation or just a day trip. When I was about 17 years old, my dad and I were going through old family documents and we came across my grandfather, Wilfred Spotswood Long’s birth certificate. I asked my dad about the odd middle name and he went on to tell me we were somehow connected to some colonial governor of Virginia. I thought how neat it would be to find out how we were connected. It was around this time that my love of history really began to blossom. In 2007 I went off to Longwood University where I graduated in 2009 with a B.A. in History with a concentration in Public History. In 2013, I self published a book on my family genealogy. My goal with this blog is to make known lesser known aspects and events of Virginia history through my genealogy and placing my ancestors in a context of the history of this most historic state. But not all of my posts will always be about my family genealogy, sometimes I may divulge to some other topic in history that has always been of interest to me; sometimes I may post a topic on some other aspect of history that someone asks me about. Whatever it is I may post, it is my earnest wish that you find the content informational and interesting.

Williamsburg, Capitol Building, November 2016