King & Queen Courthouse Tavern Museum

DATE AND TIME: Sunday, April 26, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. (Board meeting at 2:00 p.m.)

LOCATION: The New Court House Building, King and Queen Court House, Virginia, 23085
SPEAKER: Julia A. King, Professor , St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Jeff Wright, Past President, Friends of Dragon Run.

SUBJECT: “Reconsidering Bacon’s Rebellion at 350 Years”. 350 years ago this year, rebel planter Nathaniel Bacon led an insurrection against Virginia’s colonial government that threw the colony into chaos. Bacon’s Rebellion, as the conflict is known today, was also a war of annihilation on Virginia’s neighboring Indian nations. Part of Bacon’s war on the Native people took place in Dragon Swamp but, until now, what exactly happened has remained shrouded in mystery. In 2022, archaeologists from St. Mary’s College of Maryland teamed up with members of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, the Rappahannock Tribe, and the Friends of Dragon Run to write a history of Bacon’s Rebellion from an Indigenous perspective. Join members of the team who learned what happened in the Dragon and how those findings are reframing the rebellion in a new light. Spoiler alert: Virginia’s Native leaders put the brakes on Bacon’s efforts and impacted the rebellion’s outcome.

Refreshments will be served in the Tavern Museum following the program.