Free Money!

Ok, so you're thinking to yourself, "I'd really like to make a contribution to Riddick's Folly, but I'm strapped for cash." We understand, and we've got a solution for you.

Go to GoodSearch.com and search the internet as you normally would. If you select Riddick's Folly as your charity, GoodSearch.com will donate about $0.01 to us every time you search for anything. You can add it to your web browser, make it your home page, anything you like. It costs us nothing, it costs you nothing, but we make money and you find what you were looking for -- everybody wins!

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "How does a penny help Riddick's Folly? Can't you just find that under a couch cushion?"

Well, for starters, our couch cushions date to the 1840s, so if we found a penny, it would probably need to be on display as an exhibit (also, due to inflation, that penny would be worth roughly $0.25, beyond its collector's value). Besides, pennies add up. If we get just 100 people searching just twice a day, we could make more than $700 a year, and it's free.

File this under Better Late Than Never, but if you do your shopping through GoodSearch.com's sister site, GoodShop.com, we'll also receive a portion of that.

See? You can make that contribution after all.

Educating All The Way

"Christmas at Riddick's Folly" was our event. On Friday, December 5th, more than 150 visitors waited outside in the cold, some for more than an hour and a half, to witness our new program. Live holiday music from the Brass Choir of Old Dominion University entertained them, but the real treat waited within.

Each tour saw vignettes of the Riddicks, their friends, their slaves, and their house from 1860 through 1865. The talk of impending war, the optimistic belief that the war would last only a few months, the realization that war had changed everything, and the recognition of a new kind of freedom... these were the topics that filled the halls and walls of Riddick's Folly.

What struck us, as we read through our evaluation forms, is that no one was prepared for this kind of experience. Many said they expected a house tour, and a few were even disappointed that this wasn't just a house tour. But the real encouragement came when we began looking at the responses, and fully 100% found the event to be "very educational" or "somewhat educational." That's a home run in anyone's book.

It's easy to get wrapped up in details. Are these ornaments period appropriate? Would candles or oil lamps have been used here? What kinds of desserts would have been on this table? And though we tried to get as many details right as possible, we know we missed some. We know we cut some corners here and there to let our core issues shine through. Judging by the responses we got, I think we made the right decisions.

As easy as it is to get absorbed in minutia, it's also easy to forget that our primary function is education. There are 22 public schools in the City of Suffolk. There are private schools and home schooled groups as well, not to mention community colleges and vocational schools. Local churches, the Suffolk-Nansemond Historical Society, the Suffolk Art League, and the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts also host educational programs of various stripes. All of these organizations and institutions are educating, and that's just in Suffolk.

All that education, but only 16% of 8th graders nationwide ranked "proficient" or above in U.S. History*. Clearly we still have work to do, but programs like this one mean we're heading in the right direction. Look for more to come.



*Data from the National Center for Education Statistics

A Big Tree

It was the Germans that came up with the idea of bringing a tree into the home at Christmas time, but its exact origins are unclear. Decorated trees could be found in cathedrals as far back as the 16th century, but in the United States, its emergence as a holiday standard did not come until the 19th century.

At first, table-top trees were in vogue. These could be just a few feet tall, but brilliantly decorated with fruits and berries, flowers, and candles. By the time of the Civil War, the Christmas tree was in the midst of an evolution into its current form -- the full tree standing in a room.

In the front parlor of Riddick's Folly, you will find such a tree now. A 12-foot monster, one of downtown Suffolk's largest indoor trees. True to the period, it has been decorated with ribbons, candles, and origami -- a new fashion from the Far East. What's off is the timing.

Ordinarily, trees were not brought into the house until Christmas Eve, December 24th. They would stay until Twelfth Night, the last night of Advent. We're a bit early in order to have the tree on display during our upcoming holiday program.

Here are some photos of our new tree.