Balloons Over Market Square

Jefferson's letters inspired trial flights in Williamsburg by Harold B. Gill, Jr.

For paid subscribers, an article by my late father unavailable online until this publication on “Harrowings” - more will be released as I have just collected hard-copies from the study of Harold B. Gill, Jr.

Very grateful for all of you who are reading!

EUROPEAN SCIENTIFIC advances were sometimes slow in reaching 18th-century America, but scientific fads speedily moved across the Atlantic. The Reverend James Madison, president of the College of William and Mary, was never far behind in investigating new ideas. Within months of successful balloon flights by the Montgolfier brothers in France, Madison was experimenting with balloons in Williamsburg

An early balloon experiment takes flight over Market Square in Williamsburg, Virginia in the spring of 1801. Illustration by Vernon Wooten.