Hello all!
My friend, Dr. Cathy Waegner, who lives in Germany recently sent me an email in regards to my post on Utopia. Dr. Waegner conducted research on Utopia a few years ago. Dr. Waegner is a professor of English at Siegen University in Germany.
Her comments are as follows:
“Dear Matthew and Sal, Thanks to you, Sis, for forwarding Matthew’s email. I looked into the blog and the DAACS database – hot stuff! First of all, I loved Matthew’s description of his relationship to Utopia (and Sal’s excellent photos brought back memories for me too…) Secondly, the database was mind-boggling – and to think that Utopias 1, 2, 3, and 4 are just a stone’s throw away from 160 John Browning! I noticed that Garrett Fessler and his James River Institute for Archeology will be excavating a new site (First Settlers’ Campground) in Williamsburg in 2007. Do you know where that venue is? Maybe Matthew can be in on that from the beginning. There are also two other slave cemeteries which have been researched by Colonial Williamsburg – I’d like to locate them the next time I’m in W-burg. That database didn’t exist when I did my modest work on Utopia, but Garrett Fessler gave me photocopies of his findings and reports which obviously were fed into the database. (By the way, I noticed that his name is listed as “Dr. Garrett Fessler” – he was too busy to complete his doctorate back when I was interviewing him, but I’m glad to see he finally did it!) I have to quit now, but we can keep in touch on all of this. Good luck with your investigations, Matthew–
Lots of love, Cathy
P.S. I was also fascinated by your sleuthing with regard to your English grandmother!”
I would like to personally thank Dr. Waegner for her kind words.