Historical interpreter Bill Rose portrayed Col. Archibald Cary, magistrate of Chesterfield County, reenacting a pivotal moment in American history, the 1773 trial of Baptist preacher John Weatherford for preaching and assembling the people without a license. About 40-50 people attended the program in Gloucester’s colonial courthouse, which was hosted by the Gloucester Museum of History, the Friends of the Museum and the Gloucester County Historical Society. Mike Steen (not pictured), director of education at the Watermen’s Museum in Yorktown, also participated, as well as several others. Three years after this trial, Col. Cary would chair the committee that drafted the Virginia Declaration of Rights; the last of those rights guaranteed Virginians the free exercise of religion. The historical reenactment will also be held on June 4 (the 250th anniversary of the trial) in Chesterfield courthouse, and June 9 at the Watermen’s Museum.
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