Once again, teachers from Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., gathered at George Washington's Mount Vernon. It was time for the fifth annual George Washington Teachers Institute, and teachers came from up and down the East Coast.
Nancy Hayward, assistant director of education, said that approximately 350 teachers attended the seminars. These teachers represented 69 schools in the Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and Maryland areas, plus residential teachers from Mississippi, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Florida and New Jersey.
It was at these seminars that they learned from the most knowledgeable sources about Washington's military career, about his political career, and about the songs and stories of slavery. They heard from speakers like John E. Ferling, Ph.D, a professor at the State University of West Georgia, who has written and lectured on early American history; Ira Berlin, Ph.D, a professor of history at the University of Maryland, and author of several books on slavery; and John Caramia, vice president of education and interpretation at Old Salem.
Caramia addressed the subject of the business culture during Washington's time. He gave the background of tobacco growing, saying how it exploited land and labor. He dispelled the myth that Virginia was self-sufficient, saying that it did need to trade goods. He also said how detrimental [to commerce] it was when the colonists declared independence from Great Britain. Not only did they cut themselves off from a source of capital but they also had to fund an expensive war.
Caramia said that there was little urbanization during Washington's time, as most planters lived in rural areas. There was also little manufacturing, because most people chose to invest in land and labor. Even when skilled laborers came over from England, they tended not to use their skills, because they all wanted to purchase land.