Contributed report

The annual spring meeting of the Powhatan Historical Society will be held Sunday, March 16, at 3:00 at St. James Chapel on Old River Trail. County Supervisor and former Historical Society Vice President Carson Tucker will present a program on the French Huguenots. Mr. Tucker, who was a driving force behind the restoration of the chapel, has entitled his talk “The Huguenots’ Search for Religious Freedom: America’s Gain.”

In 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, effectively ending religious tolerance in France. This caused approximately half a million French Protestants to flee to sympathetic countries such as England, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and eventually to the British colonies in North America. In 1700, the first of nearly five hundred French Protestants set foot on Virginia soil. They were directed westward on the James River to a deserted Monacan Indian village in what is now Powhatan County.

Mr. Tucker will outline who the Huguenots’ were, what forced them to flee, why they came to Powhatan, what became of them, and how they contributed to Virginia’s (and America’s) phenomenal success. He will follow one Huguenot family from Sedan, France, to Powhatan, and show specifically what this family contributed to America. Along the way, he’ll share a marvelous serendipity, demonstrating how our lives are surprisingly intertwined and why history (and its preservation) is so important. He will also reveal some surprising anecdotes; including some about people we ourselves, in this century, have known.

The program is opened to the public. Refreshments will be served following the meeting and presentation.