IMPORTANT: Since our space is limited, we must limit registrations to 100. We'll take them in the order received. So please register early. Click here for registration.
The next Ghotes Conference ( GHOTES 2005 ) is being planned for the week of September 12, 2005, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia! We hope to meet all of you on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in September, 2005. Magic happens at our conference. The sense of community and the strong bonds that develop are quite remarkable. And, the conferences sessions are informative, useful, professional presentations. You'll connect with the genealogy and history of Eastern Shore families and places in unique, memorable ways.
This will be our fourth conference. (We don't have them every
year, so don't miss this one.)
You will not believe the speakers assembled to share their expertise at this conference! The experts on Eastern Shore history and families. Not just one or two, but a dozen.
The conference will begin with registration and orientation on Monday, September 12. Registration (with coffee and treats) will begin at 8:30 AM, followed by orientation and the days events. Monday wraps up with a reception at historic Kerr Place, beginning at 4:30 PM. (We'll link a complete conference schedule to this page in the next week or so.)
Ghotes 2005 Reception at historic Kerr Place in Onancock. (Monday, September 12, 4:00 P.M.)
Workshops, seminars, presentations on Eastern Shore history and genealogy from renowned researchers and historians, including but not limited to ...
We are working on organizing another fantastic Historic Homes Tour.
Exhibits:
Publishers,
Authors, Book Dealers
Exhibits will be set up in our main conference room. These will be
available throughout the conference except during speaker presentations.
The reference tools so needed by Eastern Shore family researchers,
especially
by those who do not live in close proximity to the Shore's courthouses
and library, will be exhibited and available for purchase.
Exhibitors
include: Hickory House Publishing, Petersrow Publishing, authors' works
of Anne Nock, Miles Barnes, M. K. Miles, Barry Miles,
Dean Hickman, Mary Frances Carey, and others.
Special
Historic
Photo Presentation from Photographer Elton Bennett
See and hear some of the delights of discovering family history on the
Eastern Shore through the lens of ghote Elton Bennett. A treat you must
not
miss!
Orientations
to
the Courthouses and Library
Conference events will include orientations to the
Accomack
County Courthouse records, the Northampton County Courthouse records,
and
the Eastern Shore Room of the Eastern Shore Public Library. See
conference schedule for day/times.
Meet the
Authors
Breakfast & Booksigning
Among our Author Guests will be Miles Barnes,
Frances Latimer, Jean Mihalyka, Anne Nock, Barry Miles, Moody Miles,
Gail
M. Walczyk, Art Fisher, Dean Hickman, and others to be
confirmed.
(Buy your own breakfast at the booksigning.)
Family Group
Discovery
Sessions
Meet the researchers, family historians, and GHOTES family and friends
who share your family ties and interests. Share information, resources,
questions, frustrations, and discoveries. Bring your photos, stories,
other
memorabilia and be ready for lots of connecting!
Photocopier, scanner, & computer will be set up with genealogy programs installed for sharing of data.
Plenty of opportunities to eat good Eastern Shore FOOD.
PLENTY OF TIME TO VISIT WITH OTHER GHOTES, meet newly found family, and walk the pathways of our ancestors.
The GHOTES
Roast and
Clam Bake:
An Eastern Shore Feast with our GHOTES family and friends. Plenty of fabulous FOOD, good COMPANY, and maybe
even a little live music.
As you can see from our activities list, this conference moves!
Courthouses, the ESVA Library, Kerr Place, and historic homes. Our
exhibits,
computer, photocopier, Booksigning Breakfast, and some presentations
will
be held in the large, new conference/community hall of the
Craddockville Methodist Church in Craddockville (near Belle Haven). The GHOTES Roast and Clam Bake will be held at Meant to Be (directions later).
Obtain your banquet reservations
early.
If you have never been to the Eastern Shore of Virginia, be assured
that
finding your way around is easy. Do not stress over finding the
conference,
hotel, or any of our other venues. The Eastern Shore is a peninsula
with one
main highway, Highway 13, running north and south from one end to the
other. Most places are just one turn off the highway. We'll post a page
with directions for
all the places before conference time.
Accommodations
The Best Western in Exmore, the nearest modern accommodation, is located at 2543 Lankford Highway, Exmore, VA
23350. The
phone numbers are (757) 442-7378, or toll free 888-768-8313. We have reserved a large block of rooms
just for GHOTES conference participants, Make your reservations
direct with the hotel and ask for the GHOTES conference rates.
You might want to know that they have two rooms that are wheelchair accessible. They also have non-smoking rooms, many downstairs rooms, and 8 suites with microwaves and refrigerators.
Conference
Fees
The conference fee for the entire week is $119 per person, which includes the following:
Who Can Come?
Conference registration is open to all GHOTES and Lovers of the Eastern
Shore, subject to space availability. Fees for GHOTES and non-GHOTES
are
the same.
Events that are "open to the public," that is, to persons who do not
register for the conference itself, include the following:
GHOTES Reception at Kerr Place, September 12. $15.00.
Authors' Breakfast and Booksigning. September 14. No fee to attend. Buy
your own
breakfast. Location to be announced.
GHOTES Roast and Clam Bake Feast. Meant to Be. September 15. $19.50.
Would you like to reserve exhibit space at the conference? Contact ghotes@ix.netcom.com.
SEE YOU THERE!
Barbara