Sailing with History

Art Burdick and his fiancé Robin Miller enjoyed a dynamic sail off Yorktown on a blustery and cloudy day that eventually calmed down into sunny and smooth. They’re getting married next week at Wren Chapel on the campus of the College of William and Mary, where he got his history degree. He teaches history to sixth graders across the James River in Surry County.

Do kids get history? “Yes, they do, some of them. And when they get it, you can see it in their eyes. They light up. I tell them, ‘Keep going, go for more.’”

Art lamented the decline of history as a subject. “The so-called Common Core consists of reading and math. It’s all about reading and math. In Florida, they’ve done away with history. You can grow up now in an entire state without learning about the state history or U.S. history for that matter.”

As an undergrad at W&M, he went on a field trip to Monticello. “The class got a behind-the-scenes look at the house. I held the Jefferson Bible in my hand. This is his famous Bible that he patched together with only those portions that he believed. He threw the rest away.” It sounded like something Donald Trump would do today.

Back to the wedding: Robin said, “His son is in the ceremony and my two sons are walking me down the aisle. We’re doing a beach theme at the reception, and we’re honeymooning in Manteo, North Carolina, where we’ll take a sunset cruise.”