Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BENTLEY BOYD DAILY PRESS
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG (AP) LENGTH: Medium
It will be the first time a Colonial Williamsburg Foundation actress has portrayed Washington, and it follows the foundation's success in the past three years with programs focusing on her husband, George Washington, and on Thomas Jefferson.
``We're trying to talk about these great men not as statues but as real people, and it seemed time to look at our great women as well,'' said Mary Wiseman, manager of women's history at Colonial Williamsburg.
Susan Berquist, 22, of York County, will depict a young Martha during George Washington's birthday celebration Feb. 20. Martha and George will take a carriage to several Williamsburg shops to settle debts, Wiseman said.
The character will return in March for Women's History Month. Visitors may take a tour of Williamsburg sites Martha frequented, talk to the Martha character at a designated site each day and see her in five dramatic scenes March 14-18.
The 15-minute scenes will show Martha talking about courting George, taking care of one of her children, managing her household and slaves, ordering clothes and household goods and discussing her estate with lawyer Benjamin Waller.
``Between the time her first husband died and her marriage to George, she was busy handling her estate,'' Berquist said. ``She was worth a lot of money - someone has estimated it would be about $6 million in today's money, and that's not including her land. She was a very eligible widow.''
After she inherited the estate of her first husband, Daniel Parke Custis, she had many suitors. She married the dashing military hero, George Washington, on Jan. 6, 1759.
by CNB