A Fresh Look Back

Washington currently is captivated with the Treasure Houses of Britain, the exhibit of opulent English life that runs through March 16 at the National Gallery of Art.

Those fortunate enough to see the British houses, including those of the 1700s, then can walk to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and compare the experience with life in America in the late 18th Century. The museum has just opened its permanent exhibit “After the Revolution: Everyday Life in America, 1780-1800.”

The exhibit covers the full scope of turbulent times in the infant nation: the life styles of a Delaware farm family, of native Americans, a wealthy Massachusetts trade family, African-Americans in the Chesapeake Bay area, a Chesapeake planter family, and slices of life in Philadelphia.

These were amazing times in the new United States. The period included the Shays and Whiskey rebellions, intrigue and tension over France, the Alien and Sedition acts, economic depression, the Constitution, the opening of Appalachia and Washington’s farewell to public life.

The exhibit allows viewers to transport themselves back 200 years into the parlor of a Delaware farm house and ponder such events while coping with the trials of everyday life.

Even in a time of Rambo and Dynasty, nothing can match the excitement and relevance of our own history. Once again, with style and imagination, the Smithsonian takes us down this magic path to the past of our ancestors. The footsteps seem so fresh.