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Burnaby's Travels Through North America
By Ursula B.G. Kilner, Salisbury
In this time of anxiety with international conflict and points of view contending in the United States of America, a book of Travels Through The Middle Settlements in North America in the Years 1759 and 1760: With Observations Upon the State of the Colonies, otherwise known as Burnaby's Travels Through North America by Rev. Andrew Burnaby, gives us a respite from the fray of today. We can also realize that our present situation is very similar to events of years past. Different people were involved, of course, but unfortunately we find the same violent human emotions and actions.
In this book, republished now from the 3rd edition in 1798 (1st edition in 1775), Rev. Burnaby reveals his observations of not only the settlers from Europe but also the native Indians. He wrote at the time of the Seven Years War, which spelled the downfall of French power in America. Already there were intimations of the major conflict just ahead, which broke out at Concord and Bunker Hill. Despite the unrest and conflicts involving the French, Indians, England and Spain, Rev. Burnaby made note of plants, animals, commerce, Indian "anecdotes" and weather.
One of his interesting experiences came when he visited George Washington on the 19th of December, 1759. Washington's home overlooked (and still, does) the Potomac. The river at this point is two miles wide, and in one night the weather went from quite mild to freezing, and the next morning the river was frozen bank to bank. This part of Virginia is subject to violent storms, and many persons at this time attached "electrical rods" to their houses to prevent destruction of their homes by lightning. And we think we are "advanced"!
Burnaby was particularly interested in tobacco and Indian corn, the original produce of Virginia. He also listed many other plants: pigeon-berry and rattlesnake-root, which were both natural medicinal plants, and also grapes, strawberries, hickory nuts, mulberries, chestnuts … all grew wild without cultivation.
Burnaby's travels through what is now eastern America proceeds from Virginia to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He reports on violence, beauty and compatibility, and on arguments ending in death. In a slightly different way he shows us the way we are today: different, but the same.
To order this book, send payment of $24 plus $5 postage and handling to: Heritage Books, Inc., 1540-E Pointer Ridge Place, Bowie, MD 20716. Visa, Mastercard, Discover, checks and money orders are accepted.
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