First I need to say that despite all my ranting in my TT that we did have a terrific time in Williamsburg, Va. And I hope to return there someday to see all the stuff we missed.
On day two of our vacation we went to
Colonial Williamsburg. We started off spending way too long in the Visitor's center getting our tickets...the guy there really talked our ear off selling us what we already told him that we wanted. LOL!
We then went to take a walking tour of the town. Well because they were about to begin a play at the
Play Booth Theater our tour was cut short by our guide who didn't want for us to miss the play. Darly wasn't all that impressed by the play and we probably should have left earlier, but it was fun for DH & me.
We then headed over to the
Govenor's Palace for a tour.
That's DH & Darly in front of the Palace. For more pictures of the palace go to this link
Williamsburg tour then click on the palace (you'll know it because when your cursor passes over a building the name pops up.) Then click on the Learn More that pops up in the white box. More info and pictures will come in the next box. You can do this for most all of the town. Their pictures were much nicer than mine. :D We had to make sure to visit the
Palace Kitchens before leaving though.
After the Governor's Palace we walked along the Palace Green until we got to the
Duke of Gloucester street. From there we began to think about what to do for lunch, but the Fife & Drums were coming. So we stopped in front of one of the many taverns and waited until they passed us. This is where I got upset about people walking into my perfect shot!
We had lunch at Chowning's Tavern in the garden. The Barbeque sandwich was very good, but it hurt a lot to pay $5.50 for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a bag of chips. ouch!
After lunch we went to the
Courthouse. Where we learned a little bit about law in the colony. Our guide told us how the sherif had to put a 500 pound bond in order to hold his office and that if anyone felt that he had not preformed his job properly he would have to pay that person a settlement based on the judge's decision (but since the judges took turns being sherif, that didn't happen often.) We also learned about being on a jury. That a jury once sequestered were not permitted any food, drink or sleep until an unanimous verdict was reached. In once case it was found that three jurors had snuck in food. One some jerky, one some bread and the third an orange. After the verdict the judge promptly had the three men arrested for contempt of court. But the man with the orange got a lesser fine because it was found that he only smelled the orange and didn't eat it.
I visited the
Milliner & Taylor shop where the ladies were working on stays and discussing how the fashion of wearing wigs is ending and soon men will go back to wearing their real hair...but don't tell the wigmaker! Whom we visited next. (Darly & Dh didn't want to see the Milliner.
The Wigmaker was very interesting telling us all about her trade while working on a wig. She told us that many things were used to make and keep wigs in order...including urine to bleach the hair for a wig. She said the the custom of powdering a wig was so that it would sparkle in the candle light and that a wearer would have to brush the powder off their shoulders many times during an evening and to have more powder applied as well. And the term "Powder Room" actually comes from the room where men would retreat to have their servant re-apply powder to their wigs...not for ladies to powder their noses.
The Revolutionary City was beginning at 2:30 with the reading of the Declaration of Independence at the
Capitol. So we went down there to hear that.
Darly was getting tried at that point so we begged her for one more building. And we went to see the
Public Gaol. We learned that it's pronounced Jail and that this was not someplace that you were went for punishment. The Gaol was where you were put while you awaited your trial for a serious crime like murder/manslaughter or theft. Your time in Gaol could be anywhere from a few days to 4 months depending on when the last session of court was held, every four months. If you were found guilty (these trials were held at the Capitol...lesser offenses & civil trials were at the Courthouse) you were most likely sentenced to death. However for some lesser crimes like manslaughter & theft you could plead for mercy and get you hand branded instead of death.
After the Goal we headed back to the hotel for a dip in the very cold pool and very hot tub. Oops on the way back we stopped at the Visitor's Center and snapped this picture of Darly & Me next to a map of the town.
On Sunday we headed for
Jamestown. I figured that the
Historic Jamestown part might be boring for Darly. So we headed there first because I wanted to see it. We tried to hear a volunteer's speach about the digs that have been done on the island but the wind was so loud that we had a hard time and ended up just walking around on our own. We learned that the Jamestown Fort is still curently being explored and they've found the location of many of the original buildings only very recently in 2004. The two buildings on the island, the Church and the museum are build on top of original buildings and they've put in glass so you can see the original foundations. There are also many graves under the Church and I got a picture of this one
We then headed over to the Jamestown
Glassblower and got to watch the guy making some glass bottles. That was my second time seeing glass blown...the first time was at Disney World as a kid and he was making little swans. At Jamestown the blower was making vials that you could buy in the gift shop.
After Lunch we went to the
Jamestown Settlement. Darly had a lot more fun here as she was able to do a lot of hands on stuff. In the indian village she was allowed to help tan a hide
and to talk to the intreperters. Since the Settlement is intirely recreated the kids are allowed to touch everything.
We got to go onboard of two of the ships
(could have done the 3rd but we were running out of time as it closed at 5pm.) and visited the recreation of the Jamestown fort.
In the fort we spent a lot of time talking to the blacksmith who gave us a nail that he had made earlier that day...it wasn't a good nail as they sell those in the gift shop, but he really like us. :D
Monday was our last day so we hurried over to Yorktown (got lost) and visited the
Yorktown Victory Center. Here we got to talk to the soldiers in the
Continental Army Encampment and the surgeon offered to pull Darly's 4 loose teeth. She wasn't too happy about that! We also learned about Army kitchens and visited many of the tents there. The enlisted guys were 6 to 8 men in a tent while the officers had nicer quarters. The general had his own tent that was 4 times the size of an enlisted tent.
Also at the Victory Center was the
1780's farm, where Darly got to do some chores (sweeping and making beds) and we got to visit the kitchen to see what was cooking for lunch. We almost had a chance to bring in the eggs but the hen was still sitting so it was advised that we leave her until later.
Unfortunately we had to hurry off to the airport to catch our plane home. I could have easily have spent another two days there to do everything that I wanted to see... but I may have had to leave Darly & Dh at the hotel pool.
I hope that we get to go back there someday.
And for Dawn... Fall Colors ;o)
