Visiting Williamsburg

Today was a mostly unscheduled day at the Vintage Birds Rally, so we decided to go to Colonial Williamsburg. I haven't visited the ticketed areas of the city since I was in college, and Dwayne had never gone. They are running a special for those who are 50+ that if you purchase a one-day ticket ($40.99), you can get a pass that is good through 12/31/2018 - so we can return multiple days if we want. Since we'll be here at the rally through this week, we figured we might work in another visit this week, and it isn't too far of a drive from the farm, so we can plan to come visit from there too.

Today, we concentrated on seeing the "craft" houses or "trades" shops...

After parking and getting our tickets at the Visitor's Center, we walked the 1/3 mile path "back in history" to the Colonial town.

The path led us to an area near the Governor's Palace.

Some of the things we would be able to see!

We didn't go into the Governor's Palace today, but took pictures from outside...

Looking down the Palace Green toward Duke of Gloucester (DoG) Street.

This is a private residence just to the left as you face the Governor's Palace. The story on why we took a picture - when I was in college at William and Mary, we had a fund raising weekend where we offered a "Rent a Christian Student" to do various odd chores that church members in the area might have to do. I was the coordinator for it my senior year, and a lady called to have someone come to polish brass. She wanted the students to come on Friday, and I had lists of students available on Saturday and Sunday... but not for Friday. So... one of the freshman who was in my core group and I decided to go to polish brass for her... I was thinking candlesticks, maybe cutlery... no... it was doorknobs, and door knockers and brass fittings on andirons in the fireplace... nothing that you could sit at a table and polish! We enjoyed our "work" assignment!

The first craft house we went to was the wheelwright. The crafts people are participating in crafts training just as they would have done in the 1700s. This young man is an apprentice wheelwright.

Front of the George Wythe House.

Office in the George Wythe House

I found the wallpaper in the hall to be a bit "busy"!

The room that it is said that Washington used when he stayed here planning the battle of Yorktown.

Another view of the guest room

A reproduction of a globe that, I think, the docent said was from the late 1500s...

They had the eastern part of the US and Caribbean

Not so good on the western part yet!

This would have been the room that students would have used in the Wythe House.

We walked through the external kitchen...

... and made our way to the cooperage.

Tools of the Cooper

Woods the cooper may have used.

We stopped at some other shops (no pictures) but ended at the Carpenter's Yard

One of the folks, Garland, that was also a student at the high school I went to, Walsingham Academy, is a carpenter and interpreter at the Carpenter's Yard.

They have saw pit and are preparing (probably later this week) to handsaw a large block of wood into 10 2"x3" boards.

We had noticed the large amount of moss on some of the roofs of the buildings in town and asked about how that affected the roofs - he said that if they were wooden roofs, it was pretty bad, but they now use a concrete material that is made to look like wood for the shingles.

We didn't "do" the whole Colonial area, but we enjoyed the parts we did get to do!