Williamsburg

We spent most of the day at Colonial Williamsburg today. Apart from it being expensive and the fact that the signage for tourists is poor it was a very nice day. The admission price does not get you into the 3 main buildings on the grounds. To see them you must pay more – the Governors palace for $9, Basset hall and the Dewitt Wallace Museum $6. We just skipped those.

We had another gorgeous day – no clouds and close to 80 degrees, but with a nice breeze. We began the day with their orientation tour. A period-costumed young lady explained what Colonial Williamsburg was and how it came to be. The financier was John D. Rockefeller. “ Colonial Williamsburg’s Revolutionary City immerses guests in the 18th century. Located in an area surrounding the Capitol building, the Revolutionary City creates a slice of life experience illustrating the daily life in the community of the colonial capitol at the most dynamic period in its history”.


After the orientation we walked up and down Duke of Gloucester Street stopping at all the shops and artisans houses. We chatted with the shoemaker, visited the church, jail, post office, grocer, milliner, silversmith, apothecary, Capitol, cabinetmaker, and blacksmith. We toured a tavern and found that sleeping accommodations were not like in the movies. 3 smelly guys to a bed, others sleeping on the floor and empty the chamber pot out the window when it is full. Yuk! At lunchtime we ate at the King’s Arms Tavern. Penny had Chicken Pottage Pye (pot pie) and I had the Made Beef Dish (beef pot roast cooked with wine served on mashed potatoes with pearl onions, carrots and mushrooms. Of course, in between shops and artisans we walked around and took more pictures.


We had an interesting encounter when we walked back behind a house to look at the garden. Penny was concerned that I was walking into someone’s private garden and she voiced that fear. That’s when a landscaper (not an 18th century character) poked his head up from behind a picket fence and said, “Don’t worry, all the gardens are open to our guests.” This guy looked and sounded like Tim the tool man’s neighbor Wilson. He went on to explain about the garden and the crepe myrtle tree that was there and how the colonials might have gotten some of the plants and grown them. Both Penny and I came away feeling as if we just had a conversation with Wilson.

Penny has been sinking a little earlier each day and around 3 o’clock today we had to call it quits. We had done a good job of seeing Williamsburg and our vacation policy is not to push ourselves (except for the 10-hour drive tomorrow). That’s also why we didn’t go to either of the gardens I tentatively planned into this trip. We found that it was plenty to just do 1 city a day.

So now we relax for the rest of today and tomorrow it is off early to Wilmington.