It was sunny but cool at Lake Anne this morning when I went to the Women's Club meeting. The lake is mostly frozen - which it wasn't, fortunately, a couple of weeks ago when the annual 'Polar Dip' swim in the lake took place.
The speaker at today's meeting was Don McAndrews who is a historian and actor who specializes in portraying the eighteenth century Virginian plantation owner and politician George Mason of Gunston Hall.
His presentation described the situation in 1787 when he attended, as the delegate from Virginia - one of only 13 states in the Confederation at that time - the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
George Mason had been a principal author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and drafted a Bill of Rights section for the Constitution. This was not agreed at the Convention and so he did not sign the Constitution, which ended his long friendship with George Washington.
It was an interesting talk and he afterwards answered questions in character. His home, Gunston Hall near Occoquan was one of the first plantation houses that we visited and we were surprised at the time at its modest - especially as he and his wife had 12 children as well as frequently entertaining George Washington and other politicians.
Polar dip sounds a little chilling. Freshwater winter swimming is not for the faint hearted and I believe much more dangerous than saltwater swimming unless you do it regularly. He certainly looks a character!
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