Here and Then

Hampton Roads is packed with history.  Local audiences love it.  WHRO tells it with Here and Then.

Here and Then is an award winning series of fast paced, information packed features hosted by local historian John Quarstein.  Through this series of one-minute vignettes, viewers gain a perspective about the rich history of Hampton Roads through visits to Isle of Wight County and St. Luke's Church, Jamestown and the first settlers, Lincoln's visit to Ft. Monroe and the first landing at Cape Henry…and more.

It's Hampton Roads' history brought to life.  Underwrite Here and Then and not only help support WHRO, but get your message in front of our audiences via hundreds of impressions.  Your announcement would run 20 times a week for a period of 2 years. 

Here and Then is quick, to the point, highly visual and greatly entertaining.  Its won broadcast awards for excellence.  Be part of the success!


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Here & Then:  Norfolk Botanical Garden
We are here at the WPA Memorial Garden at Norfolk Botanical Garden. This monument honors the African American workers, like Mary Ferguson and Edna Joyce, who worked to establish this garden.

The azalea garden concept was conceived by then Norfolk City manager Thomas P. Thompson and City Superintendent of Parks, Frederic Heutte. They believed that the Hampton Roads region had the perfect climate and soil for growing azaleas. The City of Norfolk provided 75 acres of high ground and 75 acres around the Little Creek Reservoir to establish a city garden.

The Azalea Garden project became a reality when Congressman Norman R. Hamilton announced on June 30, 1938 a Works Progress Administration grant of $76, 278 to underwrite this endeavor.

Since 1939 the Norfolk Botanical Garden has evolved into a 155 acre horticultural and educational experience featuring over 30 themed gardens. The original garden, now on the National Register of Historic Places still remains and is the only surviving garden created by African-American WPA workers. And like the entire Garden, it is a living testimony to the African American workers who created the Garden and were honored during the Garden's 70th anniversary when this WPA Memorial was unveiled in 2009.
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Here & Then:  US Army Transportation Museum
We are at the US Army Transportation Museum in front a locomotive used to operate the Ft. Eustis Military Railroad. The FEMRR was established during WW I when Camp Eustis was created as a Coast Artillery and Observation Balloon training facility. When the 714 th was deactivated in 1972 that ended the active military role in railroad training. FEMRR is now managed by civilian contractors. Ft. Eustis Military Railroad, with its top speed of 25 mph, was often called 'to the Main Gate & Back line.' Its service, nevertheless, has provided the US Army personnel with key training for transporting men, material and supplies during peace and war since 1918.
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Here & Then:  Yellow Fever
We're standing here at the monument documenting the yellow fever epidemic that struck Norfolk in 1855. Dr. Walter Reed, a Spanish American born at Belroi, Gloucester county in 1851.  He studied medicine and was searching for a cure when the Spanish American war erupted.  He organized the U.S. Army Yellow fever Commission to understand the fever's effects.  Dr. Reed's bold experiments in Cuba proved that the disease was spread by the bite of the mosquito aedes aegypti. 
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Here & Then:  Fields House 
We are here at the James A Fields House.  Fields was born a slave, became a contraband in 1861 and was in the first class to graduate from Hampton Institute in 1871. After graduating with a law degree from Howard University in 1881, he became Commonwealth Attorney for Warwick County in 1887 and served one term as a member of the General Assembly.  He built this elegant Queen Anne style house in the 1890's.  By the time of his death in 1903, Field's was a shining example of a man who would overcome slavery's legacy. 
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Here & Then:  Women in WWI    

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The first Elizabeth River ferry services began in 1636 when Captain Adam Thoroughgood offered passage across the river in a hand-rowed skiff.  Regular service started in 1821 when a teamboat was available, however, the first steam ferry was the Gosport which initiated operation in 1832.
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Here & Then:  Tuileres        

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Here & Then:  Yoder Barn

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Here & Then:  Yoder Church
When Warwick Counties' Mennonite colony was established in 1897, the colonists immediately sought to establish a church. Religion was of great importance to the Mennonites, as church was the spiritual and social center of their lives.

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Here & Then:  Yoder Colony 
Along the banks of the Warwick River on Lucas Creek in 1897, a new settlement was established in the sparsely populated section of Newport News, known as Denbigh. Attracted by ads of cheap farm lands, D.Z. Yoder and Isaac D. Hertzler came to the Virginia peninsula in search of a place to establish a religious community for Mennonites.
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Here & Then:  Blackbeard 
One of the most notorious pirates to haunt Virginia waters was William Teach, better known as Blackbeard.  Teach, like many other pirates, was attracted to the lower Chesapeake Bay by the lucrative Virginia-England tobacco trade.  We're here at the sight in Hampton, Virginia, where Blackbeard's head had its final resting place. 
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Here & Then:  Bar Oysters   
Even though seafood has always been one of this region's natural resources, it would not be until after the Civil War that it became a commercial enterprise in Hampton.  Northerners came South and brought Yankee ingenuity, enterprise, and capital to invest in the seafood industry. 
Oysters were always plentiful in the waters surrounding Hampton.  This industry really began in 1881 when J.S. Darling founded his oystering farm that eventually became the largest in the world and made the Hampton Bar oyster famous.
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Here & Then:  Log Canoe
We are at Smith's Railway where the Hampton History Museum's log canoe is being restored prior to display in the Hampton Roads Convention Center.  Smith's Railway, which has operated as a boat yard since 1842, is the perfect place to restore this historic vessel. 
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Here & Then:  Fort Monroe
Lincoln visits Fort Monroe and is disappointed the CSS Virginia is still dogging his fleet.  When she is sunk – Lincoln exclaims "She had been a thorn in our side for along time and now she is gone."
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Here & Then:  Jamestown
The Virginia Company instructs Christopher Newport to find a safe harbor where they may erect a fort while keeping an eye out for the Spanish fleet. Unfortunately , the site chosen is plagued with problems that almost caused the collapse of the settlement.
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Here & Then:  Fort Boykins
A visit to the Fort Boykins fortification reveals much about the life of the fort with its combination of Civil War and American Revolutionary history.  In one brief battle during the Civil War, the fort's 240 years protecting the harbor was suddenly put to an end.
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Here & Then:  St. Luke's Church
Also known as the "Old Brick Church" it is one of the finest examples of gothic architecture in North America.  
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Here & Then:  St. John's Church
The only surviving building in the burning of Hampton during the Civil War. Confederate soldiers opted to set Hampton on fire rather that let it fall into enemy hands. 
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Here & Then:  CSS Florida 
The scourge of the seas - It sank 47 Union ships but finally met her match as a Union ship rammed and boarded her flouting international law. 
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Here & Then:  CSS Shenandoah
"You lying Yankee scoundrels!"  The cry from the captain of the CSS Shenandoah as he learned the Civil War was over. 
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Here & Then:  CSS Tennessee
Franklin Buchanan takes control of the CSS Tennessee as she guards Mobile Bay.  The Tennessee is attached by 5 Union ships.  The ship is brought to the James River and is part of the James River squadron that blocks the Hampton Roads harbor. 
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Here & Then: CSS Atlanta 
The CSS Atlanta is one of the most powerful of the Confederate's Ironclads.  She runs aground on a shoal and is helpless as two Union Ironclads pound the CSS Atlanta. 
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Here & Then:  The Williamsburg Powder Magazine
In the early dawn of  1775 where the first sparks of the American Revolution struck.  Lord Dunmore was already on alert after Patrick Henry's speech of "Give me liberty or give me death."  Lord Dunmore 's men slipped into the Powder Magazine in Williamsburg and made off with 10 barrels of gunpowder.
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Here & Then:  Williamsburg Wheelwrite Shop
Wheels were a very important part of early Colonial life.  When your wheel broke, you had to come to the Wheelwrite shop. 
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Here & Then:  Tuskegee Airmen
Located in the Virginia War Museum's African American exhibit.  Davis was the first black man to graduate from West Point.  He led his men of the 99th Pursuit Squadron. 
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Here & Then:  African Americans in WWII. 
Camp Alexander formed part of Hampton Roads port of deportation.  Camp Alexander was made up of only African American soldiers. 
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Here & Then: Fort Monroe
Looking out upon the Chesapeake Bay, Fort Monroe is re-designed as the largest moat encircled stone fortification in North America.  It will be knows as the Gibraltar of the Chesapeake.
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Here & Then:  The Casemate
The very cell where former confederate General Davis will be incarcerated.  Although he is never brought to trial, he is not released until the War is over.
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Here & Then:  Old Quarters # 1
Lincoln slept here!  Benjamin Franklin Butler declares that escaped slaves are declared contraband of war.  This decision will begin the evolution of the Civil War.
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Here & Then:  Chamberlain
The Chamberlain Hotel is the last of the grand hotels that stood here at Old Point Comfort.  It burned in 1921 and was rebuilt in 1929.
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