Colonial Williamsburg

We spent our long weekend in Colonial Williamsburg. We drove down Saturday morning and then spent the afternoon sightseeing. We went to the Bindery, the Post Office, the Apothocary, and toured the Governor's Palace. It was an amazing building used for the Governor of Virginia when Virginia was still a colony of England. There were beautiful manicured gardens, a lovely ballroom, and a major collection of swords and guns meant to impress all who visited.

The Governor's Palace.

The beautiful walled gardens reminded me a lot of Mt. Vernon. We learned that Williamsburg, and especially the Governor's Palace, influenced Washington a great deal. Here the kids were looking through this cool round window in the palace wall out to where the land terraced out to a canal.
In the gardens there was a maze made out of hedges that we had fun navigating.

We ate dinner at a colonial restaurant called Shield's Tavern. There was no electricity, so we ate by candlelight. The food was wonderful and the kids had a lot of fun pretending to be old fashioned children. After dinner we joined in the evening activities as participants in the Gunpowder Incident. The story goes that on April 19, 1775, British soldiers came into Williamsburg and took the gunpowder out of the city's magazine. The citizens were outraged and demanded the gunpowder be returned. So as part of the program we first got to be the British soldiers. We had to line up in rank and file and march from the Governor's palace to the magazine. It was hillarious to watch the kids try to keep with the soldiers in costume leading our "company." We had to stop partway and hide from the citizen guards, and march up the street quietly all the while avoiding the plentiful horse manure. David decided we would all be pretty pathetic soldiers--especially me since I kept walking around the horse manure rather than keep in straight line. :) We finally reached the magazine and then we had to quietly steal the gunpowder. Sarah got picked to be one of the ones to actually load the powder kegs into a wagon, and had such a fun time doing it. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any pictures during the whole event, so we just have to remember it. After the successful raid, we became the outraged citizens and had to yell and scream at Speaker of the House Peyton Randolph who negotiated with the British soldiers. It was a fun night. Crowds of people gathered around to watch it--it was fun to be part of the show.

It has been interesting to learn about the history of the Revolutionary War beginnings in Williamsburg. We visited Lexington and Concord earlier in the summer and coming here has somehow put the whole story altogether. It was only two days prior to the Gunpowder Incident that the "shots rang out around the world" in Lexington, starting because of a British attempt to steal ammunition. But the citizens in Williamsburg didn't know yet. If they had, there might have been bloodshed in Williamsburg as well. It was only a few days later that the citizens did find out and then were worried about a full British conspiracy. Very interesting. In addition to all the history I am learning here, I am in the middle of reading a book about the founding fathers. I love how the history is all coming together and I'm getting such a better understanding.

A trip to Williamsburg is not complete without pictures in the stocks.

Monday we toured the Capitol Building.

We sat in the benches where great men like Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Peyton Randolph, and George Washington sat and debated the cause of freedom. We also learned about the Governor's council and how it was the legislative, judicial, and executive branch of government all in one, and how this greatly influenced the separation of our government as we know it today.

Here Sarah is getting ready to be branded in the Courtroom with a "T" on her hand for Thief.

A few more pictures
The apothacary.



The wigmaker's shop.

The jail.
I love how Sarah and Rachel still walk around holding hands.

The last thing we did before we left was take a "Bits and Bridles" tour which was a "behind-the-scenes" tour of the carriages and animals used in Williamsburg. At the end, the tour guide took the kids for a ride in this children's carriage, which is a replica of one used by some of the well-to-do children in Williamsburg. The kids loved riding around in it and pretending they were royalty.