Virginia
Virginia Colonial-Era Garden Yields Clues to Enslaved Workers
Archaeologists in Virginia are uncovering one of colonial America’s most lavish displays of opulence: An ornamental garden where a wealthy politician and enslaved gardeners grew exotic plants from around the world. Such plots of land were the 18th-century equivalent of buying a Lamborghini. The garden in Williamsburg belonged to John Custis IV, a tobacco plantation owner who is perhaps best known as the first father-in-law of Martha Washington. She married George Washington after Custis’ son Daniel died. Historians also have been intrigued by the elder Custis’ botanical adventures, reports the AP. And yet this excavation is as much about the people who cultivated the land as it is about Custis.
“The garden may have been Custis’ vision, but he wasn’t the one doing the work,” says Jack Gary, executive director of archaeology at Colonial Williamsburg, which now owns the property. “Everything we see in the ground that’s related to the garden is the work of enslaved gardeners, many of whom must have been very skilled.” Some finds:
- A pierced coin that was typically worn as a good-luck charm by young African Americans. Another is the shards of an earthenware chamber pot that likely was used by enslaved people.
- Animals appear to have been intentionally buried under some fence posts. They included two chickens with their heads removed, as well as a single cow’s foot. A snake without a skull was found in a shallow hole that had likely contained a plant. “We have to wonder … are they West African traditions?” Gary says. “It’s features like those that make us continue to try and understand the enslaved people who were in this space.”
- The garden disappeared after Custis’ death in 1749. But the dig has determined it was about two-thirds the size of a football field, while descriptions from the time reference lead statues of Greek gods and topiaries trimmed into balls and pyramids. In letters, Custis referenced one of the earliest known references in America to growing “apples of love”—ie, tomatoes.
In recent years, the museum has boosted efforts to tell a more complete story about the Black Americans who lived in Williamsburg. It plans to reconstruct one of the nation’s oldest Black churches and is restoring what is believed to be the country’s oldest surviving schoolhouse for Black children.
(More Williamsburg stories.)
A large fire consumed multiple buildings Friday morning on the former Virginia Intermont College campus in what one city official called “a tragedy for our city.”
Videos shared on social media and captured by local news outlets show the massive blaze engulfing structures at the historic college campus. Located in Bristol in western Virginia along the Tennessee border, Virginia Intermont College closed in 2014.
Neal Osborne, a city councilman in Bristol, shared video of the blaze on Facebook, which he said had become “a full inferno” of the college’s main hall by 1:15 a.m.
“There’s no way around it – this is very bad and this is a tragedy for our city, this is a tragedy for our neighborhood, this is a tragedy for everyone who attended Virginia Intermont College,” Osborne said in the post. “This is heartbreaking to see this.”
USA TODAY left a phone message Friday morning with the Bristol Fire Department seeking an update on the fire.
City councilman: Property owners ‘will have to answer’ for why fire erupted
The fire could be seen in videos burning the main building on campus, as well as adjacent structures. News crews with WJHL-TV reported observing the building collapse after 2 a.m.
Bristol police and firefighters were at the scene, and Osborne said in his video that firefighters from surrounding localities and departments also responded to provide additional aid.
Osborne said he and other city officials had for years pushed the owners of the private property to care for the aging infrastructure, but that those concerns “fell on deaf ears every single time.”
“They will have to answer for this in my mind,” Osborne said. “They will have to answer for why this property was not secured, why they did not take proactive steps to prevent this from happening.”
What is the Virginia Intermont College?
Constructed within view of the Blue Ridge Mountain range, Virginia Intermont College was founded in the late 1800s as an institute for women to get a higher education. It later become coeducational before it was finally shuttered in May 20, 2014 due to financial failure and the loss of its accreditation, the Roanoke Times reported.
Friday morning’s blaze is not the first time a fire has broken out on the closed campus.
Following a previous fire in November, Bristol Fire Chief Mike Armstrong told WJHL that the site was “dangerous” and said his crews prioritized fighting fires without stepping foot inside the aging buildings.
“The floors are rotten, the windows are broken out, the roofs are rotten. And it’s just not safe to be in there with all the debris, the broken glass,” Armstrong said. “I can tell you within the last 12 months, we’ve had multiple fires up here.”
Bristol Vice-Mayor Jake Holmes told WJHL that the site had fallen into disrepair and had become “a hazard.”
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
An Egyptian man living in Virginia who was slated to be deported has been charged with planning an attack on the Israeli consulate in New York City.
Abdullah Azz al-Din Taha Muhammad Hassan allegedly provided bomb-making instructions and plans on how to attack the Manhattan consulate to an undercover FBI source, according to court documents. He was arrested Tuesday, the FBI told Fox News Digital.
Hassan is charged with distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction in furtherance of the commission of a federal crime.
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On the opposite side of a pro-Palestinian protest area, a group of pro-Israel demonstrators gathered, holding Israeli flags in front of the Consulate General of Israel in New York City. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“The FBI’s New York Office wants to reassure our Jewish community here in New York that our office — along with our law enforcement partners — remains vigilant in our efforts to identify, investigate and disrupt potential threats to our community, using every tool at our disposal to do so. As always, we urge all community members to report suspicious activity to law enforcement and call 911 in cases of imminent violence or threats to life,” the FBI said in a statement.
“We will continue working to ensure our communities remain safe places for all, and we thank the public for their continued trust and partnership.”
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Hassan caught the FBI’s attention after the Fairfax County Police Department informed federal authorities that a tipster alerted police about his social media posts on X. The tipster said the account engaged in “radical and terrorist-leaning behavior.”
In several posts, Hassan praised the Islamic State terror group and other radical figures, federal prosecutors said. In August, he began messaging with an FBI confidential source whom he believed he recruited to conduct a “mass casualty attack,” authorities said.
Demonstrators attend an “emergency rally for Gaza” outside the Israeli Consulate in New York City, Oct. 9, 2023. (Jennifer Mitchell for Fox News Digital)
Over several weeks, Hassan directed the informant on how to make a bomb, acquire weapons and how to make a “martyrdom video,” authorities said. In November, he allegedly selected the Consulate General of Israel as the target of the attack, saying it would be easier to commit an attack using small arms and be “martyred” by the police.
He believed New York would be “a gold mine of targets” for an attack, prosecutors said. As the pair planned the attack, Hassan also allegedly told him to book flights to countries without extradition agreements with the United States. During the attack, Hassan said the source could either murder people at the consulate with an assault rifle or detonate an explosive vest while standing in a group of targets, court documents state.
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Hassan also asked for the source to livestream the attack so he could watch it in real time, authorities said.
In a statement, Jonathan Harounoff, the international spokesperson for Israel’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, said the Jewish state “will not cower to terror.”
“We will not be silent in the face of hate and violence,” he said. “We will not stop in our pursuit of justice and peace. We will continue in our fight to return all 100 of our hostages still being held in Hamas terror tunnels in Gaza.”
Sara Netanyahu and Ofir Akunis, consul general of Israel, attend Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the 79th session of the General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul general in New York, expressed gratitude to authorities for thwarting the alleged attack.
“This attempted attack by terror organizations is an attack on the sovereign soil of the State of Israel in its entirety,” he wrote on X. “It’s proof that terror knows no boundaries and that we must fight it everywhere and every time. The threat it poses to the western world and its values must be fought together by all western democracies alike. Together we will prevail.”
Two top 10 teams will be in historic Gallagher-Iba Arena as the #6 Hokies try to slow down the red hot #3 Cowboys in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Both teams are undefeated as Oklahoma State is currently 5-0 while Virginia Tech is 3-0. The two programs also wrestled at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational earlier this month. The Cowboys ran away with the team trophy in Vegas, placing first by a margin of 77 points, while Virginia Tech placed fourth.
Tonight’s matchup is shaping up to be one of the most competitive duals of the first semester. We’ll keep you informed with live updates of the contest as they happen in real time!
Projected Lineups
125: #2 Troy Spratley, OSU vs #4 Eddie Ventresca, VT
133: #18 Reece Witcraft, OSU vs #12 Connor McGonagle, VT
141: #4 Tagen Jamison, OSU vs #12 Sam Latona, VT
149: #15 Carter Young, OSU vs #1 Caleb Henson, VT
157: #14 Caleb Fish, OSU vs #13 Rafael Hipolito, VT
165: #6 Cameron Amine, OSU vs #21 Mac Church, VT
174: #3 Dean Hamiti, OSU vs #4 Lennox Wolak, VT
184: #3 Dustin Plott, OSU vs #20 TJ Stewart, VT
197: #12 Luke Surber, OSU vs #10 Andy Smith, VT
285: #3 Wyatt Hendrickson, OSU vs #15 Jim Mullen, VT
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