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Author Pirok, Alena, 1988- author.

Title The spirit of Colonial Williamsburg : ghosts and interpreting the recreated past / Alena Pirok
Published Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, [2022]

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Description 1 online resource
Series Public history in historical perspective
Contents The age of ghosts in Virginia -- Restoring the "ghosts of the past" -- The question of interpretation -- A magnificent stage setting -- The spirits of '76 come alive -- Conjectural Williamsburg -- The rehaunting of Williamsburg
Summary "On any given night, hundreds of guests walk the darkened streets of Colonial Williamsburg looking for ghosts. Since the early 2000s, both the museum and private companies have facilitated these hunts, offering year-round ghost tours. Critics have called these excursions a cash grab, but in truth, ghosts and hauntings have long been at the center of the Colonial Williamsburg project. The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg examines how the long-dead past comes alive at this living-history museum. In the early twentieth century, local stories about the ghosts of former residents-among them Revolutionary War soldiers and nurses, tavern owners and prominent attorneys, and enslaved African Americans-helped to turn Williamsburg into a desirable site for historical restoration. But, for much of the twentieth century, the museum tried diligently to avoid any discussion of ghosts, considering them frivolous and lowbrow. Alena Pirok explores why historic sites have begun to embrace their spectral residents in recent decades, arguing that through them, patrons experience an emotional connection to place and a palpable understanding of the past through its people"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on November 09, 2022)
Subject Historic sites -- Interpretive programs -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Ghost tours -- Social aspects -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Ghost stories, American -- Social aspects -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Folklore and history -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Public history -- Methodology
Heritage tourism -- Social aspects -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
HISTORY / General
Folklore and history
Heritage tourism -- Social aspects
Historic sites -- Interpretive programs
Historiography
SUBJECT Colonial Williamsburg (Williamsburg, Va.) -- History
Williamsburg (Va.) -- Historiography
Subject Virginia -- Williamsburg
Virginia -- Williamsburg -- Colonial Williamsburg
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2022022444
ISBN 9781613769768
1613769768
161376975X
9781613769751