Colonial Williamsburg

To continue the story of Joe's parents visiting.......

Joe and I drove to Williamsburg, Virginia on March 18th to meet up with his parents. It wasn't a horrible drive, even though it was about 7 and a half hours. It must be something about driving through forests vs. deserts like in Utah.

Joe hanging out on the green in front of the Governor's Palace

The next morning (Thursday, March 19th), Joe's parents dropped us off in Colonial Williamsburg to tour around while they dropped the rental car off at the airport in Newport News. Joe and I wanted to see an actor play George Washington. It was done outside of the Governor's Palace and it was the pre-Revolutionary war post-Boston Tea Party George Washington. When he was done speaking he opened it up to questions and if you asked him a question about something in the "future" of George Washington he would answer as if he had no idea what you were talking about. One response he gave, that I thought was funny, was when someone asked about the town's relationship with Native Americans. He responded that he didn't know what the man meant, they were all native to America, he was born in Virginia and was an American, a British American. Then he said oh, you mean the Indians? A little boy asked about his wooden teeth and cutting down a cherry tree, and he said it was a lie, he didn't have wooden teeth, they were made of some whale bones and things, he also didn't know anything about a cherry tree. Silly.

George Washington

The lion and unicorn crest on the backside of the palace

Throughout the town they have "actors" roaming around in their period outfits, appearing to just be living in the town. It makes it fun. It's also fun that you can buy, and even rent, cute outfits for your kids to wear, so they fit in too.
I wish I would have taken more pictures, you never realize it until you are gone that you didn't get a lot of what you wished you had.

This girl came up to us with a story about wanting to tell a guy that she liked him a lot, but she didn't know how to write about it, and asked that we write a letter for her. Instead Joe drew her a picture.

If you open the picture large enough, you might see that Joe drew her standing next to the guy on his knee proposing with hearts coming up between them. It was pretty funny.

We met up with Joe's parents and finished touring around the town. We didn't see everything, the place was huge, but we saw a few of the main places. We also ate at Chowning's Tavern, it was fun to go in, but the food wasn't amazing or worth the price. But we needed something and walking out of the town didn't seem like something we wanted to do. We toured the inside of the Governor's Palace and adjacent kitchen, the Magazine, and The Capitol. The town also has these street performances that they rotate throughout the week. While we were walking up the street toward the Capitol we realized one was about to start so we found a seat near one of the stages, Raleigh Tavern, and waited to see what would happen. As the "play" went on there was a need for an impromptu jury to try a rebel rouser, they called up Joe and two other guys to be the jury. I didn't get any pictures because I was filming it, but it was bizarre and funny. Unfortunately the weather had started to get cold, and poor Joe was up on the stage with shorts and a t-shirt freezing (Steve had gone to get the jackets from the car, but it was far away). If we can, I'll put up a video clip.
Here are some more pictures of what we saw. The Governor's Palace actually burned down in 1781. But luckily Thomas Jefferson had drawn details plans of the palace when he lived there in 1779, which were used to reconstruct the building in the 1930's.

In front of the Governor's Palace

A map of the British Colonies

Just inside the front door, all of the weapons were usable

Joe's hanging by the guns

A side parlor

Strange chair in the side parlor

Some nice tile

One of the Governor's wives made this her dressing room, I think originally it was the Reception Room

The walls are covered in hand-tooled leather.
This is a crazy square piano from 1770.

Dining on some sweet boar's head.

The Ballroom. This is a true blue they would have painted with.

A boxed organ.

This is the real green they would have painted. The wood is all hand carved.
Pipe organ in the Supper Room

Palace garden

Gross meat drying

The Palace kitchen.

Sharon walking the Palace food garden

The Magazine

Joe inside the MagazineSteve checking out some guns

Inside Chowning's, waiting for our food
The street performance

The Capitol

After getting through the Capitol, we went back to the timeshare to change and get ready for out evening. We decided to attend a witch trial in the courthouse.

The Courthouse

It was really interesting. They held it at night, and that night it was raining, so it made for a strange mood. They actually reenact an actual trial that took place in the court house against a woman being accused of witchcraft by her neighbors. They have the official court documents except for the verdict, something about when they moved the capitol of Virginia from Williamsburg to Richmond it was lost. This is what they say about it: "You are the jury in this candlelit inquiry into the charges of witchcraft brought against Grace Sherwood in 1706. The audience is invited to question the witnesses, weigh the evidence, and determine the guilt or innocence of "The Virginia Witch."" It was interesting. We talked to the judge after and he said the audience's questions to the actors really determines the verdict, they can have a guilty and innocent verdict the same night with the same actors, but a different audience. At our trial, she was found guilty of being a witch, based on the evidence and rules of a 1706 court room of course.
Overall I really enjoyed Colonial Williamsburg. We really missed a lot of it, we didn't even make it to Revolutionary City. I will totally go back and experience even more.