We had breakfast this morning at the hotel. Some of the reviews of this place on Booking had praised the morning provisions, while others had disparaged them. I think I was with the latter group. I did not expect much but I was still disappointed. Usually places like this in the south can at least supply biscuits and gravy. Instead here we had rainbow-colored bagels. I have no idea who thought that was a clever idea….
It seemed to take us a while to actually make it from the hotel to Colonial Williamsburg even though they are adjacent to one another, but we finally parked and and began to stroll around our badges. Williamsburg itself is a town and it costs nothing to walk around it. The only charge is for entering the historic buildings themselves, and, of course, that is the reason that most people would come here. The first thing you notice when you arrive is Bruton Parish Church.
Named after a prominent Virginia landowner who donated the funds to build it, Bruton Parish has remained an active Anglican (and subsequently Episcopal) congregation ever since 1677. The church is particularly important to Williamsburg because of its rectors, a Rev'd Dr. W. A. R. Goodwin, led the movement to restore not only the parish church building but all the historical structures in Williamsburg. He initially approached fellow Episcopalian Henry Ford, but after telling the automobile magnate that his cars were destroying America Ford declined to fund the project. Goodwin had more luck — and presumably a bit more tact — with the Baptist John D. Rockefeller. Abby Rockefeller took a keen interest in the project, and worked with Goodwin and the Rockefeller Foundation to do much of the initial acquisition and restoration of historical structures.
The interior of the church is rather plain as is typical of colonial Anglican structures. It still retains the seventeenth century tablets with the Decalogue, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer. However, the communion table dominates the front of the church instead of the enormous three-level pulpit that was probably there in the eighteenth century.
With Mike leading us, one of our first stops was the joiner’s shop.
Dictionaries often give “carpenter” as a synonym for joiner, but in the colonial era the two were distinct. Carpenters framed buildings. Joiners were the skilled wood workers who made doors and lintels, framed windows and made fireplace mantels. The people demonstrating the skills here, like the gentleman shown in the picture above, were quite knowledgable about the period. However, unlike a place Sturbridge Village, they do not stay in character and pretend to be actually living in the eighteenth century.
Much of the pleasure of being there on a relatively warm winter day was just walking around the fairly empty streets.
We saw many carriages though we never figured out how purchase a ride in one.
We also saw ox carts. I have to admit that I did not know until I was talking to a woman driving one of these that oxen were just castrated bulls. Of course, I never had bothered to look, either.
The houses in Williamsburg range from somewhat modest to extremely grand. This was the capital of the colony and the people who lived here were generally affluent. We went through several smaller homes. We were allowed to take pictures freely in some of them and in others were prohibited from doing so. I could not figure out much basis for the difference in policy.
The grandest house of all was the governor’s mansion. This is the iconic image of Colonial Williamsburg that I always saw in My Weekly Reader.
What they did not show us there was that the place was an armory as well as a residence.
While you might think that fighting native peoples, understandably unhappy about being displaced from their ancestral lands, would be the purpose of all this firepower, it was actually asserting the power of the Crown over the settlers that was the real reason for all these muskets, swords, and pistols. The royal governors were not popular, with a particular local disdain for the last one, John Murray, Earl of Dunmore.
The house probably does not have any of its original furnishings. In fact, the entire residence is a reconstruction done by the Rockefeller Foundation as the original house burned in 1781. But the reconstruction and furnishing has been done with the benefit of good historical records so rooms such as this dining room are probably pretty close to what was there in 1775.
The ball room in the back of the palace was one of the most interesting. It naturally featured a portrait of the sovereign, King George III.
It also had two rather large stoves for keeping the room acceptably warm in the winter.
John and I also explored some of the public buildings such as the courthouse.
The docent here seemed to be doing his best to counter to “isn’t this so cute and wonderful” atmosphere of Williamsburg by stressing how capricious and cruel the legal system was, particularly to women and anybody else who was not a propertied white male. I suppose that the guides here are given a certain amount of discretion in how they present their information.
Ellen was stuck with the dog for most of this time and could not go into the buildings with us.
However, she handed Abby off to Michael at one point, and she and I explored the old statehouse together. We had a great guide here.
He seemed to almost be consciously countering the courthouse narrative by pointing out to us how the residents of Virginia, even women and poor whites, had more rights here than they did in England or just about anywhere else in the world in the eighteenth century. We saw the chamber where the House of Burgesses met. This was the place where people like Jefferson and Madison discussed the possibility — and desirability — of independence.
We also saw the room where the Royal Council, a sort of colonial House of Lords, met. This was the check on the Burgesses’ power.
One thing that everyone admits is NOT historically accurate about Colonial Williamsburg are the Christmas decorations, particularly the wreaths that are found on just about every building during December.
But these have become a modern tradition that is popular with both locals and visitors and there is a fierce competition to see who can make the nicest wreaths.
We stayed in Williamsburg until late afternoon and then went in the car to head back to Charlottesville. I am glad we had our two day excursion to this part of the state.
