People make much of history, so it is no surprise that I have found interacting with people in Williamsburg to be the most satisfying part of the day. Whether it be tradesmen, guides, historical interpreters, archeologists, or impersonators playing famous people, I have found the people of Colonial Williamsburg to be friendly, interesting, and engaging.

We got to the museum today just as they opened, and we went right to the governor’s palace to get a chance to see inside. Even though we got there right at 9:00, there were already over ten people in line, so we had a fifteen-minute wait or so, which was fine since we had an in-costume interpreter there giving us some background on not only the palace, but some of the neighboring houses as well. For instance, the next house down the street was owned by a man with many slaves; after the war was over, he could not justify fighting for liberty while still owning other human beings, so he freed all of his slaves. This didn’t go over well with the rest of the community, and he finally moved to Maryland.

Once we got into the palace, we got to go through the three main ground floor rooms, as well as look into the side rooms. Sadly, because of Covid restrictions, we were not allowed to go upstairs. The entrance hall and the next room were covered in muskets and swords so as to leave no doubt about who was in charge. Until he wasn’t. In January of 1775, the governor was a hero, having fought off Native Americans in the Ohio valley. But by June of 1775, public opinion had turned so much against him that he sneaked out of the palace back door at 2:00 am, never to return.

I was happy to see the inside of the palace, which was elegant, but I was equally happy that I had not waited an hour for the ten-minute tour. I applaud Colonial Williamsburg for their being open during a pandemic, and taking precautions seriously, but it does cause a long (and well-spaced) line at the most popular attractions.

We did much the same with the nearby Wythe House. Wythe was a prominent lawyer and leader of the community who tutored a young Thomas Jefferson in the law. His home is open, but only the downstairs rooms, so our twenty-minute wait led to an eight-minute tour. But it dumped us into the garden, where in one building were three coopers working. We chatted with them for five or six minutes, which was an unexpected encounter.

Since the Wythe House was our last house we could tour, we went back to the palace gardens to kill some time. The gardens are in full bloom with tulips, which only last a few weeks, so our timing was good. We sat on a bench on top of the old ice house mound, which overlooks the shrubbery maze, and we amused ourselves watching people wandering back and forth.

Next was a rare (in these times) treat – we got to see some theater. There is a small stage near the palace, and we got to see a twenty-minute condensed version of Bach’s “Coffee Cantata,” in which a young woman who is addicted to coffee rejects three suitors who try to convert her to (in order) beer, tea, and water. It was light-hearted and fun, and was only the second play we have seen of any kind in over a year (the other being CVCA’s fall play).

The short length of the play gave us time to walk to the other stage in town, over by the capitol building. We got to see an impersonator be George Wythe himself, and the actor was amazing. His voice was rich, his pacing was deliberate, his command of the material was impressive, and his ability to stay in character for the questions at the end was mesmerizing. He spoke for about thirty minutes, and I felt I could have happily listened to him for an hour. He spoke on the four points of law (municipal, national, scriptural, and natural law, in that order), and tied that in to the need to teach and model virtue for the sake of the republic. He interacted with the audience frequently, always in character. It was a masterly performance, and I was thrilled to get to see it.

After a brief stop in the Williamsburg garden (to talk to the gardeners), lunch was next, which for the third day in a row was at the Williamsburg art museums (they combine a folk art museum with a design museum). That put us next to the last sight we needed to see – an active archeological excavation of the grounds of a wealthy man who was reported as having the best gardens in all of Virginia. We spoke with three of the archeologists on site, and while they are interested in anything they might find, the long-term goal is to discover the old garden beds and what was planted in them, so as to be able to recreate the garden. We got to hear how they looked for discolored dirt in the digs, which indicated that area had been dug up at some point, and they followed those trails. They are in year three of a five-year dig, so they have plenty of additional ground to cover. That is good, since one of the scientists was on day four of digging along a soil trail about three feet long, and had found nothing as yet.

We also chatted on our way out with a friendly young man who was in costume. We talked about the dig, about eighteenth-century sanitation, about the owner of the land and his publicly cantankerous marriage, and about the Facebook group on eighteenth-century clothing. As one does. We like nerds. They are always interesting.

By then, it was about 2:30, and the long-anticipated rain finally started falling, so we made our way into the museum. I overheard there was a musician playing, so we found him and listened to him play the viola da gamba for about twenty minutes, and we got to ask him questions. The viola da gamba is a cousin to the cello, except it has seven strings (instead of four) and is supported by the musician’s legs (instead of a post on the bottom of the cello). So we got to experience theater and live music on the same day.

The museums looked quite fine, especially for a regional museum, but as I was tired, we kind of hurried through them. I did like the exhibit on grandfather clocks, which included the gear mechanisms. We also both liked an exhibit on American portrait painters, which helped even our untrained eyes see the difference between good painters and great painters. Mer also pointed out a sign saying that hooked rugs are arguably the only original American folk art, and they came from Maine. I remember seeing hooked rugs around in my youth in Maine, although I feel braided rugs were more common.

Day three of Williamsburg was a fine day, with lots of interaction with people. If it were a normal year with all the buildings fully open, I expect we would need to be going back for a fourth day, but maybe we can save that for later in this year. For now, for us, Colonial Williamsburg is history.

Meredith and I often laugh about “History Happened Here” signs, since they often seem to talk about something minor happening in the area back in 1910. It usually doesn’t conjure images of long history. Colonial Williamsburg is a different matter – many of the buildings date back to the mid-1700s, and the actors wandering the streets portray Washington, Lafayette, Patrick Henry, and other famous folks, as well as more humble tradespeople.

Sunday night, I was agonizing over if we should spend one day or two touring the historical town. I looked online, and everyone seemed to say two days, so I planned on that. Of course, I got it wrong; we need three. And that is in the many-buildings-closed Covid era. Meredith and I are a bit…thorough.

Williamsburg is mainly along two streets. We didn’t plan it this way, but it worked out so that we did the longer street on Monday, and the shorter street (almost) today. I have to say almost, because there are still two buildings we didn’t get into because the lines were long. We’ll beeline to those tomorrow before the crowds hit, and cross those off the list.

Happily, we went into the ticket office in the not-yet-seen art museum, and my plan was to buy a three-day pass (there are no two-day passes). The cashier asked if we were teachers, and since we are, we ended up with two year-long passes for just twelve dollars (total) more than two three-day passes. So, if we need to spill into a fourth day, we are covered. And we can still come back in the summer or next fall or have Christmas in Williamsburg. Options abound.

We chatted with several actors/docents who were in period costume. Good effort is made to make things appear as authentic as we know how. Costumes are made by hand, using textiles and techniques used in the eighteenth century. All the carts and harnesses are made by the craftsmen in the town, and when they have the opportunity to reconstruct or repair a building, the on-site carpenters and brick makers are involved in that. Some things are updated, since people live in the area – most of the updates aren’t overly visible (outside of cash registers), but the buildings have electricity and plumbing, and the main road is paved. Since the original road was reported to have been covered in mud as deep as six feet at times, I’m okay with the updates that help us enjoy the museum.

There are eighty-eight original buildings in the town (ones dating back to 1776 or so), and many others that have been recreated from original town records and archeological efforts. The long street is about one mile long. There is much to see. Rather than recount everything we saw, I’ll mention a few things that stood out.

The two most impressive buildings are on opposite ends of the town – the capitol building, where all three branches of government met, and the governor’s palace. Both are made of a pretty red brick. The county court (for non-felony cases) was also elegant, and the magazine (armory) was impressively stout in brick. Most buildings were made of wood, and many were small by today’s standards. For the craftsmen, they typically had a shop on the first floor and lived above it on the second floor.

Some fun facts we learned over two days, in no particular order:
– After independence was declared, many raw goods were hard to procure. There are records of skilled workers idle for want of material.
– Orphaned girls could be taken in and apprenticed to silversmiths and blacksmiths.
– 52% of the population of the town were slaves.
– The town had dealings with multiple native tribes, which were treated as independent nations from each other.
– Tribal membership was not strictly based on bloodlines, but captured people could be adopted into the tribe and became full members of the adopting family.
– The waterways around the area are tidal, and so did not work well for water-wheel-run mills. Sawing logs was done with two-man saws, with one man standing in a pit and the other standing on top of the log.
– The town had fourteen taverns (in a town of eighteen hundred people). This was because the government and courts met in town several times per year. When the government moved to Richmond later, twelve of the taverns followed it.
– Enslaved people typically slept in the same room where they worked. Only a couple of the biggest and richest places in town had quarters for the slaves.
– Tailors measured men’s bodies to make clothes, but for dresses, the cloth was pinned up on the women and then sewn.
– County judges (thirteen of them) worked for no pay – it was a status symbol.
– Lafayette paid his own way over here to help in the revolution, and paid for his own upkeep. He was made a major general at the age of nineteen.
– A hogshead barrel of tobacco weighed a thousand pounds, and brought in enough money to buy six and a half more acres. When tobacco prices plummeted, the farmers tried growing indigo instead, which was in fashion.
– The governor of the free state of Virginia (Patrick Henry was the first) had to supply all costs of his entertaining guests out of his own salary.

We had a good time talking with people, and we saw three one-man shows – two by Native Americans and one by “Lafayette” – that were well done, and the closest thing to theater we have seen in awhile.

After the second day in Williamsburg, we made a quick trip out to Freedom Park, home of the small but free Williamsburg Botanical Garden. The park looked huge, but we had run out of touring time for the day. Next time.

We have really enjoyed Colonial Williamsburg, and history really did happen here. Good thing we have another day (and maybe more) to see more of it!

This is a rare domestic trip entry on the blog, but after eight months of our not leaving Ohio at all because of the pandemic, Virginia feels exotic! It’s our spring break, and I decided to take Meredith on a mystery trip. I plugged in “Eight-hour drive from Akron,” and Google gave me a map radius and a few destinations. One of those was Williamsburg. To my knowledge (which turned out to be correct), Meredith had never been, and neither had I. There seemed to be a ton of stuff to do in the area, so Williamsburg it was.

Funny how you forget how to do some things, like packing. Mer wisely uses a list, but even she forgot her toothpaste (I remembered mine, so all was well). Me, not so good. I forgot my pillow and my neck massager (to help with my regular neck issues), and, more seriously, I managed to forget my computer. I actually remembered to bring my printer (to print off tickets and maps and such), but no computer. Genius. I was reduced to using my car-only smart phone on wi-fi, and it drove me into such a rage at using it, I ordered a computer from Amazon. How anyone uses a phone for any non-emergency is beyond me. It definitely firmed up my position on not ever carrying a phone. Sheesh.

Anyway, the trip to Virginia was uneventful, although the eight-hour trip took us nine-and-a-half hours for some reason. We didn’t hit traffic until the last three miles, and we only stopped for a fast-food lunch, so we’re not sure where the time went. We are staying on a small farm that has rooms in the main house, as well as two very nice cabins on the property, and I booked us into a cabin as splurge, since we had not been traveling much in the last fifteen months. The cabin has a porch and rocking chairs, so evenings have been spent eating chocolates and watching cows.

Sunday was supposed to have rain in the morning and afternoon, but had a window from ten to two of no rain. I took the forecast at its word, and drove us, in the rain, to Richmond, to go to the Richmond Botanical Gardens. It stopped raining as we approached Richmond. Go, weather service! As an added bonus, we are members of Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens in Akron, and they have reciprocal admission with about three hundred gardens around the country, so we got into the gardens for free.

The gardens are a great size, especially with rain threatening in the afternoon – about fifty acres, and it took us a little over three hours to walk them all. The conservatory mirrors the welcome center, framing an arbor and a dancing fountain. At the bottom of the hill is a large pond used as a retention basin for another nearby lake, and the shore was awash in colors from daffodils and flowering trees. There is a woods section with more flowering trees, and a Japanese garden with a large tea house next to a waterfall, where we had a pleasant outdoor lunch.

Just as we finished the gardens, it began to rain slightly, so we hurried back to the car and drove off to our next destination, the rain-proof Poe Museum in downtown Richmond. Richmond is the city where Poe spent the most time, and it has the largest collection of Poe memorabilia, which is not overwhelming – it fits into three buildings, built around a courtyard garden. It is an excellent museum, especially if your wife teaches Poe, which mine happens to do. Mer was excited. Plus, the museum has two black cats, like those Poe describes in one story, and they were born on or around Halloween. Poe AND kitties – I scored a big win.

The museum used the artifacts to tell of Poe’s early life, his writing, and the mystery surrounding his death (he died four days after being found in a Baltimore gutter, wearing someone else’s clothes, and he was unable to recover sufficiently to tell anyone what had happened). It brought out in stark relief how many people, especially women, died around Poe – his mother, his first love, his wife, and others. The writing section showed how Poe largely invented the detective story, and wrote science fiction as well as updating the horror genre from Gothic tales to psychological ones.

And, as an added bonus, the rain had stopped when we came out. We used the unexpectedly dry weather to take a walk down by the James River, and up to a monument on a hill (the Confederate statue at the top had been taken down, but the monolith was still there), and then through a residential neighborhood to get back to the car. Nothing spectacular, but a nice walk.

We drove back to Williamsburg, and used the fine evening to wander around the campus of William and Mary, which is much bigger than I had guessed. We spent almost two hours walking around the bulk of the campus. It is very pretty, with all the buildings made of brick, and we found out the college was founded over three hundred years ago, which is saying something in North America.

We went back to our cabin, where we watched the cows join us at home, and went to bed after a happy day of touring.