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The House has approved a bill aimed at preserving Barrett's Farm, a Revolutionary War landmark in Concord, Mass. snip... The farm belonged to Col. James Barrett, a leader of the Middlesex Militia. It was used to store colonial militia weapons and was searched by the British during the fighting at Concord's Old North Bridge on April 19, 1775. The Senate is considering a similar measure.

Bob Jannoni and Lou Cook at the Burial Hill monument to the General Arnold casualties. (Emily Wilcox/Globe Correspondent) The brigantine General Arnold was heading south out of Boston, carrying supplies and reinforcements to struggling Revolutionary War troops in the Carolinas, when, on Dec. 25, 1778, a northeaster hit the New England coast. Hurricane-force winds and blinding snow forced Captain James Magee to seek shelter in Plymouth Harbor. It was a mistake. The ship ran aground on White Flat, a treacherous sandbar half a mile from shore and safety. There, as the storm raged on over the long Christmas weekend,...

Last month, workmen jacked up a 206-year-old yellow clapboard house, levered it onto a set of remote-controlled dollies, and trundled it two blocks to a new site in St. Nicholas Park, overlooking East Harlem in New York City. The Grange, as it is called, was the home of Alexander Hamilton, best known as co-author of the Federalist papers and America's first secretary of the Treasury. But this founding father also had an extraordinary role in the infant nation's attempt to come to grips with the curse of slavery. Born in the West Indies, Hamilton was one of the most ardent...

A rendering of a statue honoring Revolutionary War veterans. Photo Credit: Courtesy Of Loudoun Revolutionary War Memorial Committee Photo What expression would an 18th-century woman have donned as her husband left for war? It depends on which government official you ask. snip... ... In an artist's rendering, the man gazes toward the horizon with a determined stare. The boy's head is upturned, as he looks with pride at his father. The wife? "She's looking pretty beat; she's looking like she's sad," Supervisor Kelly Burk (D-Leesburg) said. "If we could get the representation of her to be more looking forward...

Thomas Schaller for Robert A.M. Stern Architects Renderings of the proposed American Revolution Center, on private land within the Valley Forge National Historical Park EAGLEVILLE, Pa. — A local planning board has approved a proposal to build a $250 million visitor center and conference facilities on privately owned land in Valley Forge National Historical Park. Opponents say the decision increases the risk of commercial development in other scenic and historic national parks. The Planning Commission of Lower Providence Township, about 15 miles northwest of Philadelphia, voted unanimously late Wednesday in favor of the project, the American Revolution Center. The...

Death, disease and injury were the fate of thousands held at sea More Americans died in British prison ships in New York Harbor than in all the battles of the Revolutionary War. There were at least 16 of these floating prisons anchored in Wallabout Bay on the East River for most of the war, and they were sinkholes of filth, vermin, infectious disease and despair. The ships were uniformly wretched, but the most notorious was the Jersey. Following the Battle of Long Island in August, 1776, and the fall of New York City soon after, the British found thousands of...

SANFORD (May 21, 2008): A Sanford native who fought in the Revolutionary War is in need of more than just a flag and marker this Memorial Day. Nathan Powers lived on the Grammar Road and was laid to rest there in the Powers Cemetery, about a half-mile from the junction of Route 4. He died 181 years ago and the wear and tear of his headstone shows it. That's where Sumner Thompson of Scarborough comes in. He believes that a veterans organization should step up and purchase a new gravestone. A retired Scarborough resident and World War II veteran, Thompson,...

Carl Arndt, a volunteer with the Coastal Heritage Society, sifts through the dirt excavated from a small section of Emmett Park. (John Carrington/Savannah Morning News) The digging for Revolutionary War artifacts in Madison Square began months before Rita Elliott and several other Coastal Heritage Society archaeologists discovered musket balls in Sgt. William Jasper's shadow last week. The work actually started in late 2007 when Rita and her husband, and fellow archaeologist, Dan Elliott embarked on a three-week research campaign that took them to six repositories rich in Revolutionary War documentation. They visited the William L. Clements Library at the...

During the Revolutionary War, particularly in the rural areas of the American South, much of the violence could be attributed not to members of the military but to civilians. Even neighbors became mortal enemies depending upon whether or not they aligned themselves against or with the British Crown, and partisan bands of patriots and loyalists often roamed the countryside, causing a great deal of mayhem. On a 400-acre farmstead on the Georgia frontier in Elbert County, near the banks of the Broad River, lived the Hart family whose matriarch Nancy became a legendary figure in our national war for independence....

More than a year after gaining federal recognition, the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area has been awarded $150,000 in aid from Washington. The heritage area ties together New Jersey's Revolutionary War sites and landscapes as well as the state and national parks that highlight the pivotal role New Jersey played in the Revolution. big snip... Reps. Rush Holt (D-12th Dist.) and Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) have been instrumental is pushing for the funding. "Despite featuring over 290 military engagements and serving as a buffer between the rebel stronghold of Philadelphia and the British stronghold of New York,...

Steven Senne/Associated PressThe Cincinnati medal. A gold medal that was created for George Washington and presented to the Marquis de Lafayette was auctioned at Sotheby’s in Manhattan on Tuesday for a record $5.3 million, and will remain in France after residing there for 183 years. The enameled patriotic badge was bought by the Fondation Josée et René de Chambrun at the Château La Grange, Lafayette’s historic home 60 miles east of Paris. snip... The medal will be available to the public by appointment at Chateau La Grange “as soon as Sotheby’s gets it there,” he said, adding that “the...

Paulsboro is home to a key military installation from the Revolutionary War. Somewhere in the ground overlooking the Delaware River, amid the trees and brush at a Paulsboro oil-storage terminal, is a long-forgotten piece of American history. Identified on a British map 230 years ago as a "rebel fort," the site was the nation's first federal land purchase, made the day after the Declaration of Independence. It's the "birthplace of homeland security," says a group of local historians, preservationists and municipal officials who hope to restore the fort as a national historic site. They hope to uncover its earthen walls...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In a small survey boat, maritime archaeologist J. Lee Cox Jr. was checking the bottom of the Delaware River at the Sunoco Logistics pier in South Philadelphia when he got a hit on the side-scan sonar. A pipe? A log? A hazard to the oil tankers docking nearby? No one was sure until a diver was sent down weeks later and found a strange pointed object buried in the muck about 40 feet down. Earlier this month, Cox identified it as the business end of a cheval-de-frise, an iron-tipped log once embedded in the river, along with...

General Pulaski Memorial Day, 2007 [Oct 11th] A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America More than two hundred years after the death of General Casimir Pulaski, we honor the life and legacy of a Polish patriot and American Revolutionary War soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. Casimir Pulaski first demonstrated his devotion to the cause of liberty while defending his native Poland and earned a reputation for courage and resolve. He later met Benjamin Franklin in Paris and learned of America's struggle for independence. Inspired by freedom's call, Pulaski joined General George Washington in...

MOVE OVER LAFAYETTE -- Last week, Meridian International House -- a Washington center for advancing global relations -- held a two-day symposium to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Lafayette, one of the major figures in the American Revolution. Also last week, Spain's ambassador to the United States, Carlos Westendorp, laid a wreath at the foot of a statue to one of the lesser figures of the revolution. This was Barnardo de Galvez, a Spanish general who fought the British in Florida, often alongside American revolutionaries. The fact that Spanish forces fought in the Revolutionary War is a...

Adam Leonberger | Senior Photographer People in period dress are present during the announcement of events in Lafayette that will commemorate Marquis de Lafayette's birthday. The Greater Lafayette community is coming together this fall to celebrate the 250th birthday of the Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette was a French statesman who inspired the names of Lafayette and West Lafayette. The community is arranging 24 events throughout the fall to commemorate his birthday. The Marquis de Lafayette Celebration Committee Chair Ramona Lawson said the birthday is an important milestone in the Lafayette community. "It's another opportunity for our community to come...

On March 15, 1781, American forces inflicted heavy losses on the British Army at Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina. The redcoats had seemed invincible only a few months before. Winter clouds scudded over New Windsor, New York, some 50 miles up the Hudson River from Manhattan, where Gen. George Washington was headquartered. With trees barren and snow on the ground that January 1781, it was a "dreary station," as Washington put it. The commander in chief's mood was as bleak as the landscape. Six long years into the War of Independence, his army, he admitted to Lt. Col. John Laurens,...

Ten months to the day after Lord Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown to effectively validate the American Revolution, a force of British Loyalists and Indian allies mauled a contingent of Kentucky militia pursuing them. The Battle of Blue Licks was the last of the Revolutionary War in what was to become Kentucky. The bloody confrontation wiped out 70 to 80 of the militia - about 7 percent of the white male population in the territory - in 15 minutes.Although the battle was a bitter defeat for the Americans, it set the stage for the expedition less than a...

Two Middleburgh men are on a mission to commemorate a local hero and re-create a historic landmark. Former Middleburgh Mayor Gary Hayes and Jay Lawyer are seeking legislative funding to restore the Middle Fort and build a monument to Revolutionary War hero Timothy Murphy. Hayes and Lawyer have collected letters of support from all the towns and villages in Schoharie County and the Mohawk Valley Heritage Corridor Commission and have contacted Assemblyman Peter Lopez, state Sen. James Seward, U.S. Rep. Michael McNulty and Sen. Hillary Clinton. Hayes said Murphy is credited with firing the single shot that ended the Battle...

IN MY OPINION One of the first lessons you learn when studying history is that history books are usually written by the side that wins the war. After the Civil War, the South's role in the American Revolution was relegated to practically a footnote. My 10th-grade U.S. history book basically had two paragraphs about the South's role -- the British took Charleston, there were lots of backwoods skirmishes in the Carolinas at places such as Kings Mountain and Cowpens, and the British surrendered at Yorktown. The implication was that the only battles of consequence took place within 200 miles of...

In the popular mind, the American Revolution was mostly about liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- and the war that followed the Declaration of Independence wasn't much of a war. We imagine toy soldiers in red coats chasing picturesque rebels. Actually, the War of Independence was horrific, according to John Ferling, a leading historian of early America. It was a grinding conflict that rivaled, and in some ways exceeded, the Civil War in its toll on American fighters when looked at on a per-capita basis. Ferling chronicles the suffering in his new book, "Almost a Miracle: The American Victory...

The following is my take—in order of importance—on our Founders. For my purpose here I looked at a combination of several things, but most important, the following two: intellectual and fighting contributions, e.g., how much support did an individual Founder supply at various pre-war conventions, as a pamphleteer or at the Constitutional Convention, and, how much did he risk his life on the battlefield? I do this to learn (from fellow Freepers) as much as to hear myself talk. I am an amateur on the RevWar and George Washington, and would welcome corrections, additions, whom you think should be deleted,...

TRENTON, July 3 (AP) — When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to honor the grave sites of Declaration of Independence signers, don’t count New Jersey in. It can’t afford it. Five Declaration signers are buried in the Garden State: four New Jerseyans and a Pennsylvanian. But an effort to preserve their graves, promote their lives and honor them with graveside plaques has stalled in the state, which was home to several key Revolutionary War battles and calls itself the Crossroads of the American Revolution. A plan to spend $200,000 to preserve and newly mark the graves...

CHARLESTON, S.C. --Hundreds gathered at the end of Charleston Peninsula to watch the unveiling of a statue to honor Revolutionary War hero and former South Carolina governor, Maj. Gen. William Moultrie. Moultrie's most famous battle was fighting off a British attempt to capture what was then called Charles Town Harbor. Moultrie and his group of about 400 men battled from a fort made of sand and palmetto logs on Sullivans Island. Moultrie's unit held firm against an estimated 2,000-strong British group trying to cross from what's now Isle of Palms. "This statue represents freedom and liberty, from now to eternity,...

Christophe Calais for The New York Times Michel de Rochambeau at home in Vendôme with a portrait of his forebear Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, who fought with George Washington at Yorktown and had a chateau at Thoré-la-Rochette. THORÉ-LA-ROCHETTE, France — Michel de Rochambeau likes to think that the life span of a tree separates him from his most illustrious ancestor. He recently had dozens of young lime trees planted in a row along the two-mile road that winds along the Loir River leading to his modest chateau in northern France. They replaced trees that had been planted by...

BROOKLYN — Fort Greene Park is both a popular neighborhood park and a historically significant site. The 30-acre park is home to tennis courts and playgrounds, a visitors’ center and a monument to Revolutionary War heroes, and is host to events such as concerts, poetry readings, and civic gatherings. The park, which is bounded by Myrtle Avenue, DeKalb Avenue, Washington Park and St. Edwards Street, has been named May’s Park of the Month. “History comes alive at Fort Greene Park,” said Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “What was once a Revolutionary War fortress, known as Fort Putnam, is now a majestic park...

Aaron Houston for The New York Times The 1787 letter from George Washington, beneath his image in a scrapbook begun in 1826. Aaron Houston for The New York TimesBill Schroh, director of operations at the Liberty Hall Museum, looking at the Washington letter. UNION, N.J., April 26 — The letter from George Washington is pasted between poetry and party invitations, stuffed into a dusty scrapbook amid jokes and cutouts of handsome men, and all the highlights of a lucky little girl’s life. It was written in May 1787 and addressed to Jacob Morris, grandfather of Julia Kean, the precocious...

BOSTON -- Paul Revere gets all the glory for his midnight ride. After all, it was a stirring tale of patriotism told by a great storyteller. But one young messenger who called the colonists to arms during a remarkable five-day dash across five states is a mere footnote -- a man mentioned in historical documents that didn't even get his first name right. They called him Trail. His name was Israel Bissell, and he is one of the Revolutionary War's most unheralded heroes. Bissell, a 23-year-old postal rider when the war broke out on April 19, 1775, rode day and...

Institute for Advanced Study and preservationists dispute land parcel Photo by Dent Yang The Princeton Battlefield State Park is the site of a critical turning point in the Revolutionary War. The future of 25-acre corner of the site owned by the Institute for Advanced Study is now in question, as the Institute lobbies to build faculty housing there. The Princeton Battlefield has been a place of quiet contemplation for more than two centuries, where scholars and aspiring history buffs can walk on the hallowed ground of one of the nation's most pivotal battles. Yet a new struggle has emerged on...

The American Revolution Center RESTORING HISTORY The tent in 1909. Lisa Godfrey for the American Revolution CenterAlthough conservators worried that the edge, or selvage, of a torn bit of linen wouldn’t fit the hole in the tent, it matched perfectly. For nearly a century, a large oval-shape linen tent where George Washington is believed to have slept during the Revolutionary War sat on display in Valley Forge, Pa., with a gaping hole in its roof. But now a combination of luck and forensic detective work has led to the discovery of the missing section of fabric — snipped out,...

VALLEY FORGE, Pennsylvania A long-planned Revolutionary War museum will be built on private land after years of arguing with the U.S. government over the previous site, museum organizers said Wednesday. The American Revolution Center would be the United States' first comprehensive look at the Revolutionary War. The new site is within the boundaries of Valley Forge National Historical Park, the place where George Washington's troops waited out the winter in 1777. The museum is buying about 130 acres (52 hectares) of land for $7.1 million (€5.4 million) and hopes to begin construction on the $150 million (€114.6 million) museum in...

Stratford Hall Robert E. Lee was born here Jan. 19, 1807, at the impressive H-shaped brick home built in 1730-38 by ancestor Thomas Lee. It's in Westmoreland County, about 40 miles east of Fredericksburg. A leading figure under English rule, Thomas Lee produced sons who were leaders of the Revolutionary War. Two sons -- Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee -- were the only brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence. Thomas' granddaughter, Matilda Lee, inherited the house and married another notable Lee, her second cousin Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee. "Lighthorse Harry" was a Revolutionary War hero, a governor...

Richard Ryerson thanks those in attendance at the David Library of the American Revolution for helping him celebrate the publishing of the five-volume encyclopedia on the American Revolutionary War, which he co-edited. (Photo by Matthew Fleishman) The David Library of the American Revolution can add a new book to its shelves. Well, five books to be exact, as the Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War edited by Richard Ryerson, the academic director at the library, and Gregory Fremont-Barnes was published. The David Library celebrated the release with a cocktail party in Ryerson's honor on Friday, October 13. A five-volume...

Mount Vernon officials want to reinvigorate the public perception of the Founding Father, which they fear is that of the stodgy, stern face on the dollar bill. They commissioned life-size sculptures--at a cost of more than $1 million--to serve as a centerpiece for a new $95 million visitors' center to open on the estate grounds in October. (AP) A decade ago, the people who run Mount Vernon noticed many of their visitors knew little more about George Washington than that he was the country's first president. Beginning Friday, visitors there will be able to learn much more about him...

WASHINGTON French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie visited a U.S. Revolutionary War battlefield Thursday in an effort to highlight historical ties between France and the United States, then met with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld about modern wars with more strained U.S.-French relations. snip...Through an interpreter, she said the special forces "have been extremely involved in those missions, and they have paid ... a rather heavy burden." She said the expansion of NATO's role in Afghanistan is an appropriate time to reassess France's presences there. At Yorktown, Virginia, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) south of Washington, Alliot-Marie helped commemorate the 225th...

Three eighth-graders were given three days of in-school suspension starting last Friday after they brought toy weapons to school in order to participate in a class project on the Revolutionary War era. But one parent feels this punishment is too strict in the context of the incident. Page 19 of the Parents Handbook states, "Knives or other sharp objects, hand guns, toy guns, weapon replicas, slingshots, matches, fireworks, or any other explosive materials are forbidden at school, or at any school sponsored activity or trip." "It doesn't say anything about intention and context," said Elena Driscoll, the parent of one...

Historians have long referred to New Jersey as the "Crossroads of the American Revolution." During America's struggle for independence, New Jersey was the scene of 238 battles and skirmishes. George Washington's troops were victorious in key battles, including Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth. More than 900 New Jersey soldiers lost their lives in the war. Now New Jersey's role in the Revolution is on the brink of gaining official recognition from the federal government. The U.S. Senate has given final legislative approval to a bill designating a large swath of New Jersey as the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage...

This year's 231st Marine Corps Birthday Ball will be held on Saturday Nov 11 from 1800 - 0300 at the Inter-Continental Hotel (across the street from the U.S. Embassy). The ball is THE event of the year for the Embassy; it's not only a great time, but also a very special event for the Marines. (Ed. Note: The U.S. Marine Corps celebrates its birthday on November 10 because on November 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress voted to raise two battalions of Continental Marines. The history buffs among us will be pleased to learn that the November date was chosen...

Gates learned of the Revolutionary War veteran in his lineage while filming his PBS documentary, 'African American Lives.' (Staff file photo Justin Ide/Harvard News Office) Henry Louis Gates Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, was inducted into the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) on July 10 at the society’s 116th annual convention, held in Addison, Texas. Gates learned of the Revolutionary War veteran in his lineage while filming his PBS documentary, “African American Lives,” a program that used innovations in...

The history of the Purple Heart is as old as the United States. The members of the Major John R. Tabia PhD., Chapter No. 608 Military Order of the Purple Heart will celebrate 224 years of the Purple Heart today. A Purple Heart Family Dinner will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. at the China Buffet in Prescott. Chapter Commander Alfonso Santillan said all Purple Heart recipients are welcome to the no-host event. He encouraged non-members to join the celebration, bring a copy of their DD214 and sign up. Santillan said the Military Order of the Purple Heart is...

Vladimir Filonov / MT Rochambeau standing by the U.S. Embassy last week. He considers himself an aristocrat and says it impresses girls. Chances to reenact U.S. Revolutionary War battles like Saratoga and Bunker Hill and lift a glass to Generals Washington and Greene don't come often in Moscow. But star-spangled revolutionary standards might soon be fluttering here. Frenchman Donatien de Rochambeau is seeking members for a Moscow chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, a U.S.-based club for men with an ancestor who fought in or supported the Revolutionary War. De Rochambeau's aristocratic forebear defeated the British in...

BOSTON --Thousands of black men fought for American independence during the Revolutionary War, yet their contributions to the nation's freedom are for the most part unrecognized and rarely appear in modern history books. Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the Sons of the American Revolution are hoping to change that by undertaking an ambitious project to identify those soldiers, and then find their descendants. "My first goal with this project is to enhance the awareness of the American public of the role of African-Americans in the struggle for freedom in this country," said Gates, director of the W.E.B....

ROCK HILL, S.C. - A research facility is planned for York County that will focus on the role of Southern states in the Revolutionary War. Historian Michael Scoggins said the Southern Revolutionary War Institute will be used to educate people about the South's contributions to the war. It's a field he says has been neglected in the past. "There's been various fields that downplay the role of the South," Scoggins said. "When you look at most history textbooks, we are generally given the short treatment." The institute will be based at the McCelvey Center in York and local officials hope...

NEW YORKERS are a famously restless, impatient sort of people, focused more on where they're going than where they've been. That's a real pity where the American Revolution is concerned, because the city played a key role in the resistance to King George III that led up to the Declaration of Independence. It's also the place where thousands of men died during the Revolutionary War that followed — not in combat, but in British prisons. From 1775 to 1783, some 200,000 colonials took up arms against the crown. While the statistics are rough, it has been estimated that more than...

The Bonhomme Richard sank in about 180ft of water Experts have expressed confidence that they can find the sunken wreck of the ship made famous by legendary Solway born sailor John Paul Jones next month. The Bonhomme Richard went down in 1779 off Flamborough Head in East Yorkshire as Jones famously said: "Surrender - I have not yet begun to fight." Several bids have been made to recover the ship captained by a man credited as the founding father of the US Navy. Now underwater archaeology experts will use hi-tech methods to try to find it. Dr Robert Neyland,...

Mary Ellen LeBien, former president of the Greenwich Library Board of Trustees, speaks in front of “The Life and Times of Israel Putnam of Connecticut” in the library’s reading room. (Bob Luckey Jr./Staff file photo) School officials are balking at a plan to return a historic Revolutionary War mural to Hamilton Avenue Magnet School after a restoration, saying its battle scenes are too violent for young children. The mural, "The Life and Times of General Israel Putnam of Connecticut," depicts Greenwich's Revolutionary War hero stripped half-naked, about to be burned at the stake. He sits astride a wild-looking horse...

I saw this last week and wanted to recommend it for those who did not see, tape, Tivo or DVD it. Although the first hour (French and Indian War) was a bit more negative in terms of Washington's strategy and sophistication (yeah, he shouldn't have built Fort Necessity on low ground), he was a mere kid at the time in charge of the Virginia Militia, and the only one in the colony to step up. Also, the depiction of events in Jumonville Glen is antithetical to what I have read in several different sources, that is, Washington never gave the...

After a hard fought war for American independence, war clouds once again loomed on the horizon for the infant nation of the United States. The U.S. felt the British had forced their hand by violating three areas of sovereignty. First, England refused to surrender western forts promised to the United States in the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War. Second, the U.S. accused Great Britain of stopping American ships, under the premise to search for deserters, but instead was pressing U.S. sailors into British service. Third, British sanctions during the Napoleonic Wars resulted in the seizure of...

BIG POOL -- Eric Roethlisberger sat in the green outside Captain Wort's Sutler Shop. The sky above him was blue, the air was cool -- quite pleasant for a man whose feet were locked in the wooden stocks used to punish men and women who have broken the law. The former high school government teacher hadn't committed a crime. The "punishment" was all in the name of history and fun as Mr. Roethlisberger and his 4-year-old son, Ben, became part of the living history Market Fair at Fort Frederick State Park, a stone fort built in the 18th century during...

Produced by Greystone Films, an 18-minute feature, is being shot and produced at Mount Vernon. Waiting in the wings for the command of 'action,' crew members aim fans at the actors in order to introduce fake snow onto the set to replicate the weather when the troops crossed the Delaware River. In the role of Continental Army soldiers about to cross the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War, actors wait on the set between takes as grips and crew members adjust lighting. The film will be shown to visitors in the new Ford Orientation Center. In the role of George...