THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 9, 1994 TAG: 9410070319
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARLENE FORD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
``On this site in 1897 nothing happened.''
That's what the gold plaque on the front door of Bob and Vicki Harvey's Virginia Beach home reads. And it's ironic, because all day, everyday, that's exactly the kind of fact - though with a more serious punch line - the Harveys bestow on school children, tourists and local history buffs.
It just so happens that both Harveys are historical interpreters. Vicki Harvey is museum education specialist for the Francis Land House. Bob Harvey, a specialist in historic tools, freelances his coopering (cask making) skills.
``Each morning we get up, have breakfast together and leave for our separate centuries,'' Vicki Harvey said with a laugh.
``Sometimes we go together, but more often I'm off to the 18th century and Bob is anywhere from the 17th to 19th centuries.''
Monday, their mutual day off, found them in the current century.
``No, we don't argue about historical matters at home, and we don't wear historical clothes around the house,'' Vicki Harvey insisted. ``Once inside the door I love my microwave and blue jeans.
``We're just normal people, who actually didn't even begin in the field of history. We met in college in Missouri and were both teachers.''
Her husband interrupted, ``Until 1966 when Uncle Sam gave me a whole new career.''
The 23 years spent in the Army, changed both of their careers. Bob Harvey neither taught nor did anything vaguely historical in the Army, but they did find themselves stationed in Hampton Roads.
``When we came to Fort Monroe that was it for me,'' Vicki Harvey said. ``They needed volunteers to give tours, and I volunteered. We were surrounded by the history - real buildings and artifacts - and I wanted to share it.''
Their house is full of mementos from travels and family. A pipe of Vicki Harvey's great-grandmother sits on a shelf along with her grandmother's clay marbles. The shaving box great-grandfather Harvey brought over on the boat from Sweden sits in a glass case in the kitchen.
``I wasn't surprised she volunteered or was so interested,'' Bob Harvey said. ``I was surprised when the interest held on. When you're a military dependent, you get entrenched in a place, then are dragged away kicking and screaming.
``But she kept the interest in sharing history, and when we were transferred to Concord, Mass., she went to work at the house of Louisa May Alcott. I'm sure that was the cinch that locked her in.''
Vicki Harvey worked for four years as director of interpretation at Orchard House, sometimes giving tours straight from ``Little Women,'' other times giving musical voice to the 19th century by playing the family melodeon.
Her interest in the past caught Bob Harvey's attention, too. At about this same time he became interested in the ancient craft of coopering. He is one of only 50 coopers who hand-fashions everything from butter churns to water buckets to little-handled buckets called piggens.
``Oh yes, every new bride needs a piggen,'' Vicki Harvey said. ``In fact, last September Bob and I worked together at the Museum of American Frontier Culture in Staunton. He was the 18th-century cooper and I was the wife who kept the books and talked with the customers. I told listeners that the cooper was typically a first stop for every young bride - no plastic containers in those days, just piggens.
``That's what we both love about historical interpreting,'' she said. ``Explaining how everyday people lived in this country.''
Since Bob Harvey's retirement in 1989 he has worked for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, taught and coordinated interpretive programs at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News and has toured the region displaying his skills and offering historical facts. Since returning to this area Vicki Harvey has told the histories of the Moses Myers and Willoughby Baylor Houses in Norfolk and managed the Adam Thoroughgood House in Virginia Beach.
``It's nice, what we do,'' Vicki Harvey said. ``I like getting kids to see a Virginia Beach without Virginia Beach Boulevard running right down the middle of it. But in another 15 years or so, we look forward to working together even more, to touring museums as a couple.''
She added, ``Then we can get up every morning and leave for the same century together.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARLENE FORD
Bob and Vicki Harvey, historical interpreters, enjoy a little time
together in the same century in Bob's coopering workshop. Vicki is
museum education specialist for the Francis Land House. Bob, a
specialist in historic tools, freelances his coopering (cask making)
skills.
by CNB