Our Trip to Williamsburg

THIS AREA IS PACKED WITH SO MANY THINGS TO DO

We spent the last week of October and the first week of November at Williamsburg, Virginia, in a beautiful time-share condo. We were very pleased to be there during the peak color change.

Our primary purpose for flying to Virginia was to tour Colonial Williamsburg. We had both visited this historic area as children and it was on our bucket list of places to return. Within the Historic Area are 88 buildings that survived from the 1700's. More than 400 others have been reconstructed on their original sites. Colonial Williamsburg is a step back in time to the 18th century.

The Capital Building represents the original capital built in 1701. There are guided tours of this grand building. Every day at 2:00 The Declaration of Independence is read from the front lawn.

Most buildings are self guided. Costumed interpreters - tradespeople, housewives, slaves, freemen, governmental officials and soldiers, go about their everyday duties.

Since we visited Colonial Williamsburg on three separate days, we were able to enjoy lunch at three different Tavern eateries. Each having a unique traditional homemade fare. This one is Chowning's Tavern.

When the Governor's Palace was completed in 1722, it was the residence of Virginia's Royal governor. It was considered one of the finest structures in America.

The Palace grounds has an elaborate garden with flowers, greenery, arbors and a Garden Maze which we particularly remember from our childhood.

Everyday at 4:30 there is a fife and drum fan fair and cannon salutes. The crowd is addressed in preparation for the "siege of Yorktown".

Bruton Parish Episcopal Church was completed in 1715. The bell tower contains The Tarpley Bell cast in 1761 and it still rings for services. High back pews with doors were typical of unheated eighteenth-century English churches. The names on the pew doors are parish leaders and famous patriots who worshipped here, including U.S. presidents Washington, Jefferson, and Monroe. Since this is still an active church, we were privilaged to attend Sunday evening service.

The King's Arms Tavern was another favorite lunch stop. We enjoyed delicious chicken pot pie and traditional desserts.

The Public Gaol, built in 1704 once housed 15 notorious pirates of Black Beard and Henry "Hair Buyer" Hamilton who paid a bounty for Patriot scalps.

Public Stocks were a popular form of punishment for misdemeanors.

The Decorative Arts Museum houses British and American art and over 60,000 artifacts dating from 1600 to 1830. This was an amazing colonial era collection that included furniture, musical instruments, money, silver, china and pottery, quilts, paintings and folk art. On our second visit here we were treated to a short Chamber Music Concert on period instruments of spinet, violin, viola da gamba and a wooden flute.

Williamsburg is one point of the Historic Triangle with Jamestown ten miles southeast and Yorktown 13 miles southwest.

Historic Jamestowne along with the James River was named after King James I of England. This was America's first permanent English colony established in 1607. This is a National Historic Park, administered by the National Park Service. Original foundations reveal the footprint of the fort and structures. There is also an Archaearium Museum that displays over a million artifacts that have been excavated from the site. We also took the five mile Island Drive Auto Tour.

John Smith and 103 Englishmen endured a five month sea passage to reach the shores of Virginia in 1607. If not for the daughter of the Chief of the Powhatan Indian tribe, Pocahontas, they would have perished. Even at that, less than a third survived the first year.

Near the reconstructed glass furnace are the ruins of Jamestown's first glass furnace, all that remain of the colony's dream of a livelihood from glass making. When tobacco was introduced as a cash crop around 1613, the colony finally began to prosper.

Jamestown Settlement, next to Historic Jamestowne, is a commercial recreation of the English Fort, a Powhatan village and a museum.

We climbed aboard replicas of the 17th century sailing ships, the Discovery, Godspeed and Susan Constant, which are moored on the James River.

Yorktown is best remembered for the Siege of Yorktown which effectively ended the Revolutionary War when General Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette.

This is the Yorktown Victory Monument which commemorates the allied victory over Cornwallis in 1781.

Yorktown came under siege again in the spring of 1862 when Union General McClellan began his campaign to capture Richmond the capital of the Confederacy.

Yorktown Victory Center, next to Yorktown battlefield, is a commercial exhibit and museum of the American Revolution. Kurt volunteered to participate in loading the cannon for a firing demonstration.

Excursions From Williamsburg

Virginia State Road 5 which runs between Williamsburg and Richmond, following the James River, is a scenic winding road through the Virginia countryside. Many Historic Plantations, some settled by the English as early at 1613, are found along this road. We stopped to view several plantations and took guided tours of two. This area is also rich in Civil War History.

Berkeley Plantation, a 1726 mansion is the birthplace of both Benjamin Harrison V, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and William Henry Harrison, 9th US President.

"TAPS", was composed and first played at the Berkeley Plantation while Union General George McClellan used Berkeley as a Civil War Headquarters.
In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln visited Berkeley and reviewed General McClellan's Army of 140,000 Union soldiers on the front lawn.
The grounds feature five terraces that contain flower gardens along the James River.

Shirley Plantation is the oldest continuously owned family business in the United States since 1638.

The mansion built in 1723, was the birthplace of General Robert E. Lee's mother. Robert E. Lee visited this home frequently.

The Jamestown-Scotland Ferry, run by the Virginia DOT, is a 15 minute free ferry ride across the James River to Surry, Virginia.

While in Surry, we enjoyed a traditional Virginia ham dinner at the Surry House. The meal consisted of an old fashioned salt curred country ham slice, baked apples and mashed potatoes.

In Smithfield, home of Smithfield Virginia Hams, Historic St. Luke's Church has persevered for nearly four centuries. The old brick church, built in 1634, is among the oldest churches standing in America.

After a guided tour of the church we walked the cemetery grounds remembering that Confederate soldiers once camped in the cemetery during the Civil War.

Nauticus is a waterfront maritime science museum in Norfolk, Virginia. We spent more than half a day exploring all of the maritime exhibits.

With only two hours left, we stepped outside to explore the permanently moored U.S.S. Wisconsin. The Battleship Wisconsin is one of the largest and last battleships built by the U.S. Navy.

Wisconsin, commissioned December 7, 1943, was used in WWII, the Korean War and Operation Desert Storm. The self guiding tour allowed us access to the outside decks and large portions of the inside.

Nauticus Museum closed at 5 p.m., so we wandered a few blocks through downtown Norfolk looking for an interesting place for dinner. We found this converted church now called Freemason Abbey Restaurant. The building was constructed in 1873 by the congregation of the Second Presbyterian Church. We had an outstanding dinner. Kurt enjoyed roasted rabbit, while Virginia had the prime rib special.

On another day trip to Norfolk we visited the MacArthur Memorial and Museum. It explores the life and military career of one of the most highly decorated generals, Douglas MacArthur. His trademark cap, corncob pipe, and sunglasses are among the many relics. We watched a documentary on MacArthur's life in the Visitor Center, located next door to the memorial.

In the main rotunda, the tomb containing MacArthur and his wife are surrounded with inscriptions and flags of his military career.

We took a 45 minute bus tour of Naval Station Norfolk, the World's largest Navy installation. The base is home port to over 100 ships of the Atlantic Fleet. Unfortunately, security did not allow cameras.

Richmond, an hour away, is rich in attractions. In the heart of downtown is the White House of the Confederacy, built in 1818, the executive mansion of the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis and his family during the Civil War.

Next door to the White House is the Museum of the Confederacy. Some 20,000 artifacts including military equipment and clothing that belong to leaders such as Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, JEB Stuart and Stonewall Jackson.

The Virginia State Capitol building was designed by Thomas Jefferson. First used in 1788, it is home to America's oldest legislature. The Bill of Rights was ratified here in 1791.

A magnificent statue of George Washington stands under the interior dome of the two story rotunda, surrounded by marble busts of seven other Virginia born presidents: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and Woodrow Wilson.

Agecroft Hall, built in the 15th century in Lancashire, England, was dismantled and relocated to Richmond, overlooking the James River, in 1925. We took a guided tour of this elegant Tudor Manor House.

Fort Monroe was built between 1819-1834 and is known as the Gibraltar of the Chesapeake. It is the largest stone fortification built in the US with walls stretching 1.3 miles and enclosing 63 acres of land.

A moat surrounds the structure, which is in the shape of a seven pointed star. After the Civil War, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was imprisoned here until 1867.

A day trip to Virginia Beach included a stop at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Next after passing security at Fort Story, we went to Old Cape Henry Lighthouse. This is the first public works facility authorized by congress, completed in 1792. From the top of the lighthouse you can see the military base as well as Chesapeake Bay.

In 1881 a new lighthouse replaced the old Cape Henry Lighthouse. The site of the battle between the British and French Navy, during the siege of Yorktown, was just off shore.

This statue of King Neptune is along the boardwalk in Virginia Beach, just beyond the Old Coast Guard Station Museum.

The Mariners' Museum in Newport News contains one of the world's most comprehensive maritime collections. This majestic gilt covered figurehead known as the Lancaster Eagle, dates back to the 19th century.

The USS Monitor Center, also located at the Mariners' Museum, houses artifacts such as the gun turret and steam engine from the Union ironclad that came head to head with the CSS Virginia (Merrimac)during the Civil War.

A highlight of the Museum is the gallery of 16 intricately carved miniature sailing vessels crafted by August and Winnifred Crabtree.




After two full weeks weeks of touring, we found there is still much more to do in this very interesting and historic area of America.