Stratford Mail
Finally, a history podcast for folks on the go! Who can spare an hour these days? Give us about 20 minutes, and we'll inform and entertain you!
From Stratford Hall Historic Preserve in Westmoreland County, Virginia, join Vice President of Research and Collections Dr. Gordon Blaine Steffey as he reads over the shoulder of letter-writers of yesteryear.
What to expect? Once a month we feature an historical letter from a onetime resident, associate, ally, or friend of Stratford Hall. Whether the topic is wine, crossing the Delaware, ghosts, or fanciful hats, you'll learn what life on the ground looked like from those who lived the moments that make up our difficult and beloved past. And maybe you'll discover something about your present in our past! If you don't have more than 20 minutes, and you love history, discover Stratford Mail. And share it with your friends!
Episodes
24 episodes
Choice Spirits
260 years ago, a merchant on the banks of the Rappahannock River threatened to undermine strategic non-compliance with the Stamp Act. He needed stamped paper to offload a cargo of perishable grain. He intended only to obey the law. Man...
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Take Nobody's Word
In 1662, the Royal Society of London adopted a motto that promised a revolution: Nullius in verba—or,
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From Compulsion, Nothing
In October 1774, a congressional committee with Richard Henry Lee at the helm drafted a Petition to the King. The petition invited “royal attention” to colonial grievances in pursuit of a peaceful resolution to the mounting crisis. That petitio...
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Wounds Too Deep
17 June 1775. The redoubt fortifying Breed’s Hill–not terribly far from the taller Bunker’s Hill–proved permeable to the advancing waves of better trained, better equipped British regulars. The British took Breed’s Hill, but paid a high price i...
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"A Very Warm Engagement"
British General Charles Cornwallis said it best: “The Rivers of Virginia are advantageous to an invading army.” In the spring of 1781, the Royal Navy and loyalist privateers raided along the major and minor waterways of the Chesapeake. The Apri...
Another Woman's Mail
A 1781 letter written by Stratford-reared Alice Lee Shippen is mistakenly delivered to Braintree rather than to Boston. Politically literate, if shaped by family partiality, Alice's letter offers its unintended recipient clari...
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In the Bleak Midwinter
Of the two epically scaled paintings of George Washington’s Delaware crossing, by far the most recognizable is Washington Crossing the Delaware by German-born, Philadelphia-raised Emanuel Leutze. This theatrical
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Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble
Time once again for a seasonal special edition of Stratford Mail. Visitors to Stratford are often struck by the wards against witches and evil spirits incised into its exterior brick and interior...
School Days
Back to school with Stratford Mail! This month we think about educational opportunity in the Virginia colony. The rural Northern Neck was slow to develop the kind of city and district schools found in the more densely populated New England colo...
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Every Heart Throbs
Before Beatlemania, there was Marquismania! 200 years ago this August, the Marquis de Lafayette returned to these shores after an absence of 40 years. In his 13-month 'farewell tour' of the 24 United States, the nation he helped to found, the M...
Resting in Peace
Sociologist Émile Durkheim taught us that the study of human mourning raises a window on human values and lifeways. Returning after a brief hiatus, Stratford Mail ponders elite deathways in the Northern Neck, with close attention to the opinion...
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Hannah Corbin, Widow
Hannah Lee Corbin was undeniably a force to be reckoned with. She attracts interest from scholars and history-lovers alike, whether for her unusual private life, her defection from the established Anglican faith of her family, or her general in...
Resistance & Resilience
In commemoration of Black History month, Stratford Mail considers a trio of portraits of Black women and men, two of whom were enslaved at Stratford Hall under Colonel Philip Ludwell Lee. The stories of Sawney, Henrietta Steptoe, and Lou...
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The High Rollers
1778, British-occupied Philadelphia. The American alliance with France and defeat at Saratoga have depressed the British outlook on the war. General William Howe pays the cost, resigning his command of British land forces. Only days from the or...
Unfinished Business
Join Dr. Steffey for a special edition of Stratford Mail. In this final episode of Season 1, Hallowtide is upon us, and as the veil between the worlds grows thin, our minds turn to the 'hereafter,' and perhaps to the departed who haunt our here...
Spy Games
As conflict with England escalated, delegates to the 2nd Continental Congress foresaw the need for diplomatic and intelligence services. On 29 November 1775 the Committee for Correspondence was born, soon becoming the Committee for Secret <...
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Burning Peggy Stewart
On October 19, 1774 a tyrant minority in Annapolis compelled traders James Dick & Anthony Stewart to burn the merchant brigantine Peggy Stewart. The so-called Annapolis Tea Party differed from its Boston precedent in that there wer...
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All the Rage
In 1787 Thomas Lee Shippen, an American student at Inner Temple, London, shipped a hat to his sister Anne Home Livingston in Philadelphia. Nancy, as she was called by kith and kin, was living at Shippen House with her parents after her marriage...
Painting Mr. Pitt
If you’ve visited Stratford Hall since 2016, you likely noticed the looming full-length portrait of British statesman WIlliam Pitt the elder in our parlor. Standing at 8 feet by 5 feet, it’s difficult to miss! That painting reproduces the or...
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Wine & Rattlesnakes
Virginia wine has made a comeback from its bleak beginnings. Cultivation failed to make native grapes competitive with European vintages, and European vines struggled to adapt to the challenges of foreign climates, soils, and pests. Interest...
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In/human Traffic
1773. A letter and gift from prominent British abolitionist Granville Sharp prompts a thank you from Arthur Lee, whose antislavery writings circulated among abolitionists at home and abroad. Sharp may have met Lee in London, or been acquainted ...
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Dear Cousin
A letter full of life and light from 12-year-old Alice Lee (1749-1789) of Blenheim plantation in Charles County, Maryland, to her second cousin William Lee of Stratford, a commercial agent for Virginia tobacco living in Tower Hill, London. Alic...
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