The big day was finally upon us. Because of the late night and all the activities on tap for the afternoon, we chose to miss church services this morning, turning instead to reviewing all the DVD’s that Barbara had burned late last night after returning from the pizza dinner. We had planned to use only the pictures through Friday night, but we had so many good ones last night that we just had to make one more revision. The final product was a little over 22 minutes, reflecting many hours of collecting, reviewing, scanning, editing, and transferring to the slide-show story board before burning it to disc. (Barbara: Making it match the music was probably the most time consuming!)
We finished reviewing all the discs just in time to get cleaned up and dressed in our wedding finery. Then, making sure we had everything we needed for the afternoon, we got into the Vibe and started yet another drive across Powhatan County to the site of the wedding, The Mill at Fine Creek.
Following is a little historical background on the mill:
The Fine Creek Mills Historic District was developed as early as the 1730’s when a gristmill was established along a creek leading to the James River. The community flourished as a commercial center for the area well into the 20th century. With a road along Fine Creek leading to the ferry across the James River at Lee’s Landing, Fine Creek Mills served as an important link to the James River and the railroad to Richmond.
The earliest evidence of permanent settlement at Fine Creek is seen in the Fine Creek Manor Site. This site is part of a tract granted to Thomas Jefferson and others in 1718. Although Thomas Jefferson did not live here himself, it does appear that the house was constructed by the 1730’s when his son Peter inherited the property and lived at Fine Creek with his wife, Jane Randolph, and their first two children.
The house was destroyed by fire in 1928, and what remains today is an extensive complex of archaeological features that have been minimally disturbed since the site was abandoned. The house is represented by collapsed brick chimneys and a pit likely to have been the cellar. To the rear of the house the slope has been terraced in places and con
tains vestiges of outbuildings represented by fragments of sheet roofing metal and large door hinges. A hand dug and stone lined well is present as is an immense, deep pit of unknown function. Overgrown plantings of wisteria and other residential plants that correspond to the descriptions of the house site and early photographs are still present at the site. All of these remains and the presumed activity and disposal areas between them are likely to contain archaeological information relevant to domestic life from 1730 onward.
The land surrounding the mill was the site of Robert E. Lee’s final encampment before he and his troops moved to Appomattox, the surrender of the Confederate Army, and the end of the American Civil War.
For our purposes today, the mill represented a beautiful setting for the wedding of Mike Little and Kelly Jividen. Because they both love the outdoors, this autumn setting was nothing short of perfect.
There are thousands of words that could be used to describe the setting, the friends, and the family members as we all gathered to witness the ceremony and celebrate afterwards, but we choose in this edition of the journal to share the day in pictures, because all the words in the world could never describe the beauty of the day, the place, and the young couple who today set out on their own new path in life.
tains vestiges of outbuildings represented by fragments of sheet roofing metal and large door hinges. A hand dug and stone lined well is present as is an immense, deep pit of unknown function. Overgrown plantings of wisteria and other residential plants that correspond to the descriptions of the house site and early photographs are still present at the site. All of these remains and the presumed activity and disposal areas between them are likely to contain archaeological information relevant to domestic life from 1730 onward.The land surrounding the mill was the site of Robert E. Lee’s final encampment before he and his troops moved to Appomattox, the surrender of the Confederate Army, and the end of the American Civil War.
For our purposes today, the mill represented a beautiful setting for the wedding of Mike Little and Kelly Jividen. Because they both love the outdoors, this autumn setting was nothing short of perfect.
There are thousands of words that could be used to describe the setting, the friends, and the family members as we all gathered to witness the ceremony and celebrate afterwards, but we choose in this edition of the journal to share the day in pictures, because all the words in the world could never describe the beauty of the day, the place, and the young couple who today set out on their own new path in life.
"To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven." Karen SundeProud, happy, and exhausted... Jim and Barbara
