YORKTOWN, Va. — It’s called Historic Yorktown for a reason. It was the last major battle fought in the Revolutionary War. It was here that British Gen. Charles Cornwallis surrendered to American Gen. George Washington.
That’s why close to 3 million people visit every year — and why some stay.
“The minute you walk into town, you can feel what has happened in the past,” Owen said. Sharon Owen moved here with her husband, Jack — a Virginia native — in 1985. In awe of the historic town, she soon began volunteering at the Watermen’s Museum.
“It’s just wonderful meeting people from all over the world and telling them about Yorktown and how special it is,” she said. In 2001, she was asked to open The Gallery at York Hall on Main Street.
“They gave me $3,000 and an empty room. This room was totally empty. You could hear echoes in this room — it was that empty compared to now,” Owen recalled.“Three hundred artists, all local, and all the money goes back into the community,” she said.“We’ve got jewelry, we’ve got a lot of quilts, we have fiber art,” she added.And her late husband’s favorite:
“Definitely the bird carvings — they mean a lot to me,” Owen said.“Either the mallards or the songbirds. Anything you see outside,” she said.With nearly 40 years serving the historic community she now calls home, Owen has received numerous awards, including County Volunteer of the Year last year.
“I shudder to think if she decided one day she wasn’t going to come in — I don’t know what we would do,” said Bill Cole, President of the Celebrate Yorktown Committee. The money raised from the gallery helps local artists, provides funding for the fife and drum corps, and supports the annual Virginia Symphony concert held in the historic district — all run by Owen and the 25 volunteers she manages.
“She gets in here at 7 a.m. before the volunteers arrive at 10, so she has several hours to do her decorating and the paperwork, and there’s a huge amount of paperwork involved in this,” said Cole. The gallery is open six days a week. I asked the 81-year-old why she does what she does.
“Once you get into Yorktown, you want to be part of it. And part of it is giving up your time,” Owen said. And that’s why she is an invaluable part of this historic waterfront community — and why she is positively Hampton Roads.
