Williamsburg, Virginia

Williamsburg

This week has gone by fast.  I arrived in Williamsburg on Tuesday night and checked into the Colonial Williamsburg Hotel and Suites, bought a multi-day pass to access Colonial Williamsburg.  It's like a amusement park for history buffs without the rides.  I didn't know quite what to expect.  The hotel was great, reasonably priced, clean with breakfast included.  I visited several sites in the replicated town.  Some of the buildings are original, some have been rebuilt.  

The first building on my self directed tour was the Governor's Palace.  Before the revolution began, the Governor was run out of town for stealing gun powder from the Armory.  When the town folks learned he skipped town, Patrick Henry had all his furniture put on the lawn and auctioned off.  Both Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson lived here when they were the Governors of Virginia.

One of the coolest features in the town are the speeches by characters form the past.  "Patrick Henry" (see below) spoke on "no taxation without representation."  It was interesting to hear him portrayed versus described in a text book.  The talk was 45 minutes long with another 15 minutes of Q&A.  The moment in time he spoke of was post tea party.  They wanted to be loyal subjects to the king, but they were not afford rights as would any loyal subject.        

I got to attend a mock trial in the old court house.  The judge was sitting in the second row and the clerk sat at the desk in front of him (below).  There were three complaints that were adjudicated. The parts of the defendant and plaintiffs were played by volunteers.  Back in the day, you could be tried and punished if you didn't attend church at least one Sunday a month. The court cases were for payment of returning a runaway slave, another was to have a will approved that was not signed by the deceased but was witnessed by two people, and the third for was a liquor license renewal which was heartily approved by the sitting judge.  It was a fun experience.  

They had  several business that would be typical of a Colonial town.  I visited a WheelWright shop where they were building a new wagon.  They have been working on it for 4 months.  All the work is performed using the same tools as used back in Colonial times.  White Ash is used for the hub of the wheel, Oak for the spokes and rim, and iron for the wheel covering.  Every piece of the wheel is cut using a pattern.

This is the Capital Building.