Supervisors seek more ‘balanced’ historical items

The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors, to provide a more diverse and historical balance to the image of Middlesex County history at the old courthouse, has converted its downstairs lobby into a historical display area.

Supervisors in partnership with the Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society and Middlesex County Historic Courthouse Committee have created a display “On The Road to Freedom” reflecting life during the Revolutionary War period. The display was physically created and researched by museum director Holly Horton and museum staff with input from the committee.

The display focuses on the role Middlesex County played in the Revolutionary War period. There are maps of the times; lists of names of Middlesex County white and Black soldiers who fought in the war; and a list of those who contributed to the war by supplying food and other supplies to George Washington’s army at Yorktown.

The outlying counties (Middlesex included) from Yorktown were “feeder” counties for the American army. Commissioners were appointed from each county to go out and collect 10% from residents of whatever the army needed. If they needed chickens and a family had 100 chickens, 10 were taken for the use of the army. It was recorded and the family was supposed to be re-paid at the end of the war.

There are also physical items on display that speak to what  Middlesex County Revolutionary war soldiers had when they went off to war and items that show what life was like for all members of the county’s population during that period.

The display is an effort by the county to balance what some consider a negative historical image of the 1910 Confederate monument on the courthouse grounds and Confederate memorabilia hanging on the walls of the historic courthouse building.