After the Peyton Randolph house, I headed to the main street of Colonial Williamsburg and started to visit the buildings with little flags in front of them. I was feeling pretty peckish by this point, but there were long lines to get into the taverns for lunch, service was apparently slow, and meals were expensive. I decided to pop into the bakery for snacks instead of wasting precious time getting lunch since we were already well into the afternoon.
It was during this stretch of the day that I had my second favourite moment, a visit of the Charlton coffeehouse. Coffeehouses were where men of all but the lowest social classes gathered to chat about manly topics, drink hot beverages, and even rent out dining rooms for dinner parties.
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- Stocks near the courthouse.
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- The courthouse. I missed the chance to hear an 18th century trial (but you can’t do everything in a day!).
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- Open air market. Nice concept, but I would find that all the shops in town have the same stuff in them.
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- The courthouse from the market.
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- The magazine (we’ll be returning there).
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- Private buildings are owned by the museum corporation and rented out to employees.
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- I like this sort of window detail.
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- Mossy roof.
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- Inside the millinery. At this time, milliners sold all manner of stuff, with the joke being that they were MILLiners, as in mille or one thousand things. It was only in the 19th century that milliners became hat makers exclusively.
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- Outside the milliner’s shop.
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- The bottle of ginger ale I bought at the bakery. I got strange looks drinking from it on the street.
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- The bakery is an unassuming little building.
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- The only thing that was closed Friday that I regretted not being able to see was the apothecary.
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- Appropriately enough, the apothecary was owned by a fellow named Pasteur.
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- Wow, that ginger ale was good! The ingredients are natural and include real ginger. At in the 18th century, ginger ale was made with ginger and/or sassafras and/or spruce, among other flavourings. Basically whatever was available.
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- Edinburgh Castle used to be a tavern. It is now a private residence. http://www.oldhousejournal.com/home_tour_living_in_colonial_williamsburg/magazine/1581
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- I’m now standing outside Charlton’s Coffeehouse
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- The exterior of the coffeehouse. I had a few minutes to wait till the tour, so the fine looking fellow on the porch told me all about the Stamp Act, which was essentially a tax on legal transactions. All ‘landowners’ in Virginia paid rent to the king, so they felt that they should not be taxed as well.
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- Looking at the capitol from the coffeehouse.
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- The wallpaper in the coffeehouse was considered ‘modern’ at the time.
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- Deeper into the coffeehouse, this wallpaper and secretary were considered outdated.
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- Inside the public room of the coffee house, all manner of bills were pasted to the walls.
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- There were a bunch of tables set with cups, spoons, creamers, and sugar. Nice realistic details.
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- WOW! They actually serve beverages on the coffeehouse tour! We had a choice of tea, coffee, or chocolate made traditional style, grated into hot water with only a little sugar and some cayenne pepper. I chose coffee, but kind of regret not trying authentic hot chocolate.
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- Sitting in the coffeehouse sipping our beverages (the coffee was excellent!) and listening to an interpreter prattle on about topics that would have been discussed at the time. At one point, he looked at me and said, “Am I boring you?” and I was appalled that I gave off that appearance as I was listening intently. Then he laughed and said, “It’s okay, I bore myself to sleep, too.” Sorry, Mister, you really were interesting!
