We went south to Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown this weekend!!
Williamsburg was the first capital of Virginia and is about 10 miles from the original Jamestown settlement. Today williamsburg is a thriving city with the largest
living historical museum in America.
Above is a reconstruction of the Governors Mansion.
There are over 80 original historical buildings in the museum area!
They have daily reenactments and performances to try and capture the time. Here we are listening to a reading of the Declaration of Independence. Today the theme is freedom. We are probably in the year 1760's or early 70's before the revolutionary war.
The best part of Williamsburg is all the craftsment. There are people that actually work and live here and do their crafts as it would have been done in the 1700's. Here is a printing press, it took about 12 hours to lay out a template to press.
Above is the magazine. I had no clue what that was, Matt knew though.
It is where they housed all the weapons for war and defense.
Here is the blacksmith. This was definitely Matt's favorite part! He sat and talked to them for about an hour. These craftsment were working but were also there to explain how things were done in that time period.
This was at the gunsmiths. They make 18th century guns here and are the only place in the world to still make them this way. I guess they are sold to collectors and such.
This was the wigmaker shop. Wigs were seen as an accessory in that day and it was socially acceptable to where something on your head when you went out, whether an adornment of ribbon, wig, bonnet etc. But many women and men had shaved heads and wore these wigs. They used either human hair, horse hair, or goat hair. This lady above is making a wig and explaining the customs of the day.
Here is the apothecary. I thought this would be the pharmacist or drug store, but it was actually the doctor who was also the pharmacist and also the surgeon. The jars in this picture are originals from the time period. I really would not have wanted to get sick at this time!
The cabinet maker was very informative. They do not use any power tools, all as it would have been done in the 18th century. The furniture is beautiful. He explains how they do inlays of differenct color of wood. They have 3-4 furniture builders here and they each do about 3-4 pieces of work a year, of course they have to take turns doing the talking and explaining to all the visitors that come through.
This was George Wythe's house. He was law professor and influenced many of our founding fathers through his teachings.
This is where they are making a house just like it would have been made in the 18th century. I love the joints they make everything fits together like a puzzle.
This man above is making shingles for the house and explaining the business of making construction in the 18th century.
Here we are inside the church. This was orignially an anglican church of England and is now a functioning Episcopal church. Above is the Governors pew. Here is where Thomas Jefferson and others would have sat during church. It was required to attend church at least once per month if you were in the house of burgesses (governing body). This of course was prior to separation of church and state. The governing bodies here were the first to introduce separation of church and state.
Another interesting fact of Williamsburg. On one end of the town is a William and Mary College, the oldest college in America that actually continues to hold classes in the original building. It would have been the first university in America. So this college basically lies right next to this living museum of williamsburg. So on one end was the 18th century atmosphere and then it gets mixed with a college atmosphere on the other end of town. It's a lot of fun.
Next we are off to Jamestown! We went to the archeological site though and missed the settlement and museum side. We were too tired to care!
This was the old church of Jamestown. Someone was having a wedding there the day we went so we didn't get to go inside.
John Smith statue facing the river and in the main fort area.
They had a glass blowing house on the orignial Jamestown, today they have a replica. In the 18th century it would have taken 4 days to get the fire hot enough to make glass and they would have only been able to make glass 3-4 times per month! Today it is different. Their glass is made out of sand, pot ash and other ash, heated to about 2200 degrees and then it melts into a liquid. I guess I just take these things for granted I never really knew what glass was made out of! But now I do. Oh and natural glass is green, they have to add other materials to make it clear or colored.
Today we started by taking a little detour and ended up in Alexandria, which is just beautiful! So we scratched our plans to go downtown and enjoyed the sights, sounds, and tastes of Downtown Alexandria.
There are sooo many wonderful looking restaurants down there,
