thirdly, and maybe most importantly to moses meyers, when he moved here in 1787, virginia had just passed the statute of religious freedom, five years before the bill of rights. this would be important to moses in his new because they were jewish. moses moses meyers moved to norfolk, virginia in 1787 become norfolk's first permanent jewish residence. by 1791 they were doing well enough to purchase this lot of land and begin construction on this beautiful land. we moved in, we know, by 1795. and five generations of moses meyers family have lived in this house. they're the only family to ever live in this house until it became a museum in 1931. when the great things about that is they left the house with the content intact, so the majority of the frenchs that we're going to see as we move through the house, are not period antiques but actually gates of first generation of the meyer's family. if we look up above us, we can see one of the finest examples of classical plaster work to be found anywhere in this time period. the ceiling is in the robert adams style. we also have, over here, a bea

the moses meyers house was owned by the first jewish family in norfolk, virginia in the 19th century.y maintained a large shipping operation and the home was passed down through several generations. we toured the house to see many of the original furnishings and hear what life was like for the prominent merchant family. >> hello, welcome to the moses meyers house, moses meyers was born in new york city in 175 the and he made his fortune and maritime merchant. he did serve as american revolutionary war veteran. direct as a result of his efforts to supply the american cause during the revolution, he, unfortunately, suffered his first bankruptcy. it's that bankruptcy that caused him to move away from new york city and resettled here in norfolk, virginia. we think he chose norfolk for three really important reasons. one was running the most prominent colonial sea ports and that was the very important to him in his business life. secondly, norfolk had been burned to the ground during the american revolution and we were rebuilding and he was rebuilding his life, so it was a good match. thir

also visits to the battleship "wisconsin" the moses meyers house, pierce mill and the hart senate office building on capitol hill. american history tv prime time tonight starting at 8:00 eastern. >>> this weekend on american history tv on c-span 3. saturday morning from 9:00 eastern to just afternoon. >> the british empire and its commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say this was their finest hour. >> we're live for the 33rd international churchill conference in washington, d.c. focusing on the former british prime minister's friends and contemporaries. speakers include british historian andrew roberts, author of "masters and commanders, how four titans won the war in the west, 1941 to 1945. and later on saturday at 7:00, texas general land office commissioner george p. bush, state senator jose menendez and musician phil collins talk about the spanish mission the alamo at the 2016 texas tribune festival in austin. >> the memories i have of my impressions at that time were that this group of people were going and they knew they were going to die but they went or there we

moses myers' son samuel and meyer myers married two of mr. marx's daughters. over the fireplace, you can see an original looking glass and two original oil lamps. firstmay be one of the sets of oil lamps in norfolk, virginia, as moses would have had access to whale oil as a shipping merchant at a time when not many people have access to the oil. i will escort you to the dining room. we are standing in the grand dining room. this is a later at addition to the house. this was loud -- added around 1810. many of the furnishings in the room are original. this is their original table. we have 12 beautiful chairs. we have two original sideboards custom-built for this room. they are so exact to measure that they are not interchangeable because one of these is one inch shorter than the other. the back legs are tucked into the baseboards. these two sideboards have been in this exact location for over 200 years. moses myers' family were known as great entertainers. was known as a very gracious hostess. a lot of people ask us, did they have a kosher diet? the answer to th

meyer myers married sisters louisa and judith. you can see the original glass and to original oil lamps. these may be one of the first set of lamps and virginia as moses would have had access to whale oil during a time when not many people had that sort of oil. escortth me and i will you to the dining room. ground --nding in the grand dining room. this was added around 1810. many of the furnishings are originals. this is the original table. we have 12 beautiful have a white chairs. we have to original sideboards custom-built for this room. there is still an exact measure that are not interchangeable. one of these nooks is shorter than the other. the back legs are tucked into baseboards. these sideboards have been in this exact location for over 200 years. the moses myers family were known as a great entertainers. , did theyeople ask us have a kosher diet, and the answer to that is, no. to keep anot able kosher diet. even though they celebrated passover and yom kippur, they also had occasion to eat oysters on christmas day and we do know that from one of their journals. they also had other types of in this room like balls, weddings, and funerals. thati

also, visits to the battleship wisconsin, moses meyers house and pierce mill and hart senate office building here on capitol hill. american history tonight and prime time starting at 8:00 eastern on c-span3. >>> i'm sorry, we have been a little delayed because of the traffic. i could give you a 30 year or 30 second introduction. i have known secretary carter for 30 years. i have marved at his abilities. there is no one that is better to lead the department ex specially today. he just came back from a very grueling trip. he is not going to take questions from the floor but i do have questions on your behalf. if i don't cover them, yell at me later. with your warm applause, would you please welcome the secretary of defense, ash carter? [ applause ] >> thanks, john, for that introduction. more importantly, where did john go, for your many years of service, many years of friendship to me. wonderful service to our country over so many years and leadership of this great institution. i also want to thank csis for hosting this moimportant conference and i want to commend my secretary of defense, bob