Annual Membership Meeting

The 2022 Annual Membership Meeting is Sunday, September 18, 3-4:30 p.m. The meeting will include a review of current activities, finances, and the election of new board members. The meeting is free and open to all, though only active members may vote on official business. The featured speaker is Dr. Matthew Greer who will speak about "Social Histories of Tea, Coffee, and Drinking Chocolate in the Shenandoah Valley." 

Between 1790 and 1860, Shenandoahans of all walks of life—men and women, Black and white, elite and enslaved—bought tea, coffee, and drinking chocolate as well as ceramic vessels for preparing and serving these beverages. But what did hot beverages mean to them? Did the Hites and the people they enslaved buy tea for the same purposes or use teacups in the same ways? This talk approaches these questions using data from ongoing archaeology at Belle Grove Plantation and merchants’ ledgers from stores in Frederick, Jefferson, and Shenandoah Counties. Samples of historic teas will be provided!

The meeting will be held in the upper level of the Beverley B. Shoemaker Welcome Center at Belle Grove, 336 Belle Grove Road, Middletown, Virginia.