POETS of old, and not only poets, looked back with longing to a supposed Golden Age, a remote past in which peace and prosperity reigned supreme. Yet, in the life and times of William A. Whitehead, it was hard for some to imagine things could have ever been better. In one corner of New Jersey’s … More 102–The house of Parker
AMERICANS watched with apprehension, through the winter and spring of 1831-32, as an epidemic of Asiatic cholera swept westward across Europe, conscious that the proliferation of swift oceangoing vessels made it unlikely the plague’s process would stop at the far shores of the Atlantic. Fear combined with a morbid fascination to accelerate the sale of … More 101–This wholesome place
WHEN retained at age 18 to produce a survey of Key West, whose existing streets he could count on the fingers of one hand, William A. Whitehead drew a town “more pretentious on the map than in reality.”1 He would have been unfazed, then, to discover that most streets and squares on a “Plan of … More 100–Last dance
BEHIND the Speaker’s chair and around the perimeter of the Hall rose smooth columns of pudding stone, looking to some observers almost good enough to eat. Festoons of crimson tapestry between them lent an air of luxury to the space.1 An intent observer of the House’s deliberations might pay little heed to such embellishments, but … More 099–So fair a house
“OUR National Flag,” toasted William A. Whitehead, lifting a glass. “May the stars that compose its union forever remain united and as brilliant as they are now.” If, while standing to deliver this invocation, Whitehead seemed a little unsteady, there would have been neither scandal nor surprise, for in a sequence of thirty-five his toast … More 098–Florida man
ON his first Washington visit, William A. Whitehead likely made his way to Capitol Hill as a pilgrim would, on foot. His approach from the west began at “two flights of steps laid in the slope of the eminence.” Above and before him, crowned by Charles Bulfinch’s copper-clad wooden dome–not the massive cupola familiar to … More 097–Pantheon
DELEGATES, invigorated by a recent electoral victory, gathered in Columbia in November 1832 and decreed that federal tariffs would be null and void within the borders of their state. In so doing, they brought South Carolina to the threshold of armed conflict with Washington. On the heels of another election, twenty-eight years later, a similar … More 096–The fall line
“OLD Neptune,” for most of the five-day sail, kept William A. Whitehead firmly “under his thumb.” The collector, no doubt relieved to plant his feet on terra firma once more, savored this moment even in his weakened state. He had endured the first leg of a long-anticipated homeward journey (to his parents’ home, at least, … More 095–Charleston 1832
SUBLIME as her mysterious nickname, the Lady of the Green Mantle swept into Charleston harbor late in November 1830, there to replenish her supplies of fresh water, salt pork, cheese, hardtack, whiskey and other staples before departing on the next coastwise cruise.1 The crew on board Marion, as the swift vessel was officially called–a tribute to … More 094–Marion
EFFORTS to comprehend their plight, at the moment when long-looming dread turned to unimaginable terror, leave one at a loss for words. Five hundred people, shackled for weeks in the lightless, airless hold of a ship, are startled by the boom of cannons above deck. They hear and feel the creak of straining timbers as … More 093–Out of the depths