Man, I feel like we hit the history jackpot today! We fully immersed ourselves into some GREAT history in the Williamsburg, Virginia area. It’s so amazing to us that there is so much history in this area of the country. And such a shame that we only have a few days to see it all.
We started this morning at Jamestown Settlement, where 102 English settlers formed a colony in 1607. The Jamestown Settlement is just down the road from the actual historic Jamestowne site and is a fantastic living history museum.
We had a great time exploring James Fort, trying on armor, watching a blacksmith create nails, and seeing a musket demonstration.
We headed down to explore the 3 ships that brought the group of settlers to America. The reproductions of the Susan Constant, Discovery, & Godspeed all had docents that showed us how they sailed, where they lived and described their journey.
Then we moved on to the Powatan Indian Village, where again, the docents of the museum just bring everything thing to life. Had they not been there, we would have thought the hollowed out trees were a sink and the corn cob game was a noose for animals – seriously.
Fast-forward to the 18th century, the Jamestown settlement was moved to Williamsburg where today you can walk around several blocks of Colonial Williamsburg and see how life was back then. Complete with costumed docents, this is an actual working town. You can see how the milliner makes dresses, a wigmaker designs wigs, a silversmith makes impressive cups and spoons, and more.
We played several colonial games and watched a drum & fife corp march to muster. And we even heard George Washington rally the citizens of Williamsburg before marching on to Yorktown. We were all so very impressed at the level of historical accuracy Colonial Williamsburg has. Unfortunately, we only had a half day to visit – one could spend days there and still not see it all. It’s a fantastic way to learn about colonial life.
Top top our already fantastic day off, we had a delicious lunch at The Cheese Shop in downtown Williamsburg, did a little shopping and rested a bit in a bookstore. It was one of my favorite days yet.
