December 15, 2012 by Rae

Colonial Williamsburg, Part Five: First Impressions of Downtown, the Milliner, and the Coffeehouse

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.

: Stocks near the courthouse.

: The courthouse. I missed the chance to hear an 18th century trial (but you can’t do everything in a day!).

: Open air market. Nice concept, but I would find that all the shops in town have the same stuff in them.

: The courthouse from the market.

: The magazine (we’ll be returning there).

: Private buildings are owned by the museum corporation and rented out to employees.

: I like this sort of window detail.

: Mossy roof.

: 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.

: Outside the milliner’s shop.

: The bottle of ginger ale I bought at the bakery. I got strange looks drinking from it on the street.

: The bakery is an unassuming little building.

: The only thing that was closed Friday that I regretted not being able to see was the apothecary.

: Appropriately enough, the apothecary was owned by a fellow named Pasteur.

: 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.

: 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

: I’m now standing outside Charlton’s Coffeehouse

: 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.

: Looking at the capitol from the coffeehouse.

: The wallpaper in the coffeehouse was considered ‘modern’ at the time.

: Deeper into the coffeehouse, this wallpaper and secretary were considered outdated.

: Inside the public room of the coffee house, all manner of bills were pasted to the walls.

: There were a bunch of tables set with cups, spoons, creamers, and sugar. Nice realistic details.

: 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.

: 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!

December 15, 2012 by Rae

Colonial Williamsburg, Part Four: The Peyton Randolph House

From the Wythe home, I headed across the palace green to check out a few more outlying buildings before moving to the main street. I came across the Peyton Randolph home, a prominent Virginian politician at the time.

This tour ended up being my least favourite moment of the day. The focus of the tour was about slavery in 18th century Virginia, a time when all but the poorest whites had a few slaves. We didn’t learn that much about the house or Peyton Randolph, and we were expressly forbidden from asking questions about those topics!

Moreover, our guide was a little too deep in character and almost utterly unintelligible. He spoke very quickly in a very heavy accent laced with period words and euphemisms. Most people spent the tour with a ‘HUH?!’ expression on their face and the children were terrified of him.

Finally, I did not like the atmosphere of the house. The Wythe home felt very bright and cheerful. I could imagine children laughing in that home, people relaxing and playing games, and slaves being well treated. The Peyton Randolphe home felt very severe. I never did find out if Randolphe treated his slaves as badly as we were told many slaves were treated, but the impression that he did definitely coloured the tour.

What I took away from this tour is just how uncertain life was for the slaves. After Randophe died, his wife got to keep her slaves, but after she passed, the slaves would be sold. We were also taught about the punishment for disobedience (going as far to cutting off limbs or tongues!).

After all of this education, we were asked to debate whether, as slaves, we would have chosen to run away, accept our fates as slaves, or be conflicted. I think that was a nearly impossible debate to have with your 21st century point of views colouring our judgment. I said that I would run away “because nothing could be worse than this.” The next person said, “I’m staying because if I do as I’m told, I have food and clothing.” The kids chimed in also, with one making us all laugh when he said, “I don’t like being bossed around, so I’m leaving!”

All in all, this was a worthwhile tour and I do not begrudge the half hour or so I spent on it, but I think it could be refined.

: Yet another fine home.

: The courthouse off in the distance.

: They Peyton Randolph home.

: This house seemed unusual to me because most of the outbuildings, including the kitchen, were connected.

: Dinner was pork head.

: This house had a more sedate decor and felt much posher than did the Wythe house.

: Wallpaper in the landing.

: This is a neo-classical pattern.

: Most of the paneling in the house was an icy blue colour.

: A study.

: A guest bedroom.

: An Asian-themed wallpaper.

: Another guest bedroom.

: A skinny sliver of a storage room.

: More of the guest bedroom.

: The upstairs landing.

: Mrs. Randolph’s ‘closet’ (study) where she ran the household. The breezeway to the kitchen, scullery, and laundry is through this room.

: The breezeway to the kitchen, scullery, and laundry.

: Cooking hearth with a roasting spit.

: Lots of pots and pans.

: Cast iron cookware

: A guide to household management.

: A laundry bucket.

: Slates used to teach slaves how to read and write.

: The house from the rear garden.

: George Tucker House

December 15, 2012 by Rae

Colonial Williamsburg, Part Three: The Wythe House

After the governor’s palace, I wandered over to the first house that had a flag. There was a waiting period for the tour and the lady out front told me that I was much better off getting in line to view the Wythe house across the street as it closes at 1:00 and there were only a couple of tours left.

This is because the house is one of the few period buildings remaining and it even still has all the original 18th century woodwork, including the floors. Of greatest importance to most guests is this is the house where Thomas Jefferson studied law, so you can actually walk on the same floor and through the same doors as he did.

George Wythe was the first American law professor and a prominent opponent of slavery. The Wythe house was a wedding gift from his second wife’s father. They had no children, but they did received nieces and nephews regularly, as well as the Jeffersons.

: The Wythe house seen from the palace green.

: Cemetery beyond stone walls near the Wythe house.

: Surface coverings in Williamsburg are mostly gravel or brick-paved sidewalks.

: We waited for the tour in a little building next to the Wythe house that might have been a kitchen. It was built on an original foundation.

: The foyer of the Wythe house has this bright blue wall paper. All of the wallpaper in the house is an authentic reproduction by a company in England that has kept records of colours and patterns.

: The bright green in the dining room is a little shocking! Meals were breakfast, dinner, and supper. Dinner was around 2:00 and the biggest meal of the day so you could cook and clean up in daylight.

: The parlour had fuchsia wallpaper. Not normally my favourite colour, but it is exquisite here!

: On all the tours, the rule was that women over 21 were seated first, men next if there were seats left, and children had to sit on the floor. In the Wythe house, seating options included these window seats.

: All the windows in the house had big wooden shutters.

: The upstairs master bedroom had my favourite colour scheme and decor of the house, cream and dark purple, with the walls being stripped and the bedding being flowered.

: The master bedroom even had a closet!

: This is the guestroom where Jefferson would have slept. I don’t much like the shade of green on the wallpaper.

: But I really like the checkered green bed canopy.

: In this room, Wythe, Jefferson, and others studied the natural world. They felt that they did not need God to explain the world to them if they only just observed and studied.

: We were allowed to look through everything on the desk, including images of birds and insects.

: We used this microscope to view a cow’s taste bud.

: a reproduction of an 18th-century Bible

: All the floors were rough wood because there was so much grit coming in from the streets it would have been nearly impossible to keep them shiny.

: That’s about 250 years’ worth of the study door opening and closing.

: This light pink room is where the nieces and nephews stayed.

: There is a guest bedroom downstairs next to the dining room with this rather lovely carpet.

: This guest bedroom is decorated in a darker shade of pink.

: Another closet, this time inside Mr. Wythe’s office.

: Downstairs, this is Mr. Wythe’s office where he practiced law.

: Love these old secretaries.

: View to the gardens from the office. There were many outbuildings on the property.

: Stables.

: Wythe house from the gardens.

December 15, 2012 by Rae

Colonial Williamsburg, Part Two: The Governor’s Palace and Patrick Henry

First stop in Colonial Williamsburg is the governor’s palace. A popular activity there is to listen to a speech by one of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson or Patrick Henry. The fellow who plays Jefferson apparently looks like him… because he is a direct descendent of him!

On the crisp morning of my visit, the talk was by Patrick Henry. Other than his “give me liberty or give me death” speech, I didn’t know much about him. With the talk being 45 minutes, I didn’t expect to stay through the whole thing. The reenactor was so good, that I hung onto every word! I really would suggest not missing this if you go to Williamsburg.

(As point of reference, by this point, it was 11:30 and I had already been in Colonial Williamsburg two and a half hours!)

All the open buildings in Colonial Williamsburg have an English flag outside the entrance. The governor’s palace did not. It was just open for private school tours. But we could wander around the grounds.

: You have to go through this little gateway in the wall to reach the gardens.

: The gardens are full of these pathways.

: The governor’s palace from the rear.

: This crest was equisite.

: This is a curious little building with a door on either side, a few steep steps leading from ground level down, and about 1 square foot of space. I found an interpreter who was able to tell me what this building was possibly used for.

: Entrance to the cellar. Duck!

: Hooch.

: The cellar was quite dank and musty.

: Pots of apricots.

: The best the historians can come up with about the curious building is that the governor would stand in this building on a hot day and his servants would poor cold water on him!

: This drain is supporting evidence of the building’s purpose.

: Walled garden.

: Garden gate with a weight to close it.

: Go that way into the hedge? Huh?

: Oh, it’s a maze. How do I get out of here again?!

: Cute little door with a big lock.

: Patrick Henry. This guy knew his stuff, fielding questions with aplomb! He made the context of Colonial Williamsburg very clear and also revealed a lot about the man. Do a search about Sarah Henry, his wife, for example. Tragic.

: Cute little house off the palace green.

: Interior of McKenzie’s where you can buy snacks.

: You can buy cold drinks and snacks here.

: The governor’s palace as seen from the palace green.

December 14, 2012 by Rae

Colonial Williamsburg, Part One: Introduction and the Hopes Plantation

It is a very weary and happy time travel who posts tonight! My day in Colonial Williamsburg was much too full to do it justice in just one post, so I will be breaking it up into several.

Williamsburg is known as the Revolutionary City. It was the first capital of Virginia and the centre of political activity that would lead to the United States declaring its independence from England.

The historical part of the city, Colonial Williamsburg, is a huge living history museum set circa 1774, just before the American Revolution and the ratification of the Declaration of Independence. I’ll get a little more into some of the history as I work my way through the exhibits.

While Colonial Williamsburg is a living history museum, it is not like so many others I have visited where the costumed interpreters play a part and pretend they are actually living in that era. While they may take on the persona of an 18th-century whatever, they are still their 21st century selves and can answer questions as such.

In order to visit all the exhibits, you must purchase a ticket, which is $39.95 for one day. I got lucky and was able to buy my ticket through Groupon for $19.95. But, spoiler, $39.95 is a bargain!

My tips for Colonial Williamsburg: wear comfortable shoes, bring your own water and a picnic, don’t think you’ll find one-of-a-kind souvenirs, and if you absolutely want to pay huge prices for dinner, reserve very early to eat at one of the taverns. Yes, much of Colonial Williamsburg is a giant tourist trap, but one that is still well worth doing!

Plan a lot of time to visit Colonial Williamsburg properly. I arrived at 9AM and by noon I hadn’t even set foot in the core of the city yet! Many visitable buildings include tours of 20 to 45 minutes in duration and you can easily spend 10 to 15 minutes in each of the other ones watching demonstrations. I decided to work my way through the city, devote myself wholly to the activity in which I was engaged, and not bemoan missing anything when the day ended.

One interpreter gave me a valuable tip. While the town buildings and tours close at 5PM, the museum closes at 7PM. A good way to organize you day is to travel clockwise around the city, finish with the museum, and then hop on the free shuttle to get back to the Visitors’ Centre.

I don’t take notes, so the following pictures provide information I remember, but in no way encompass the whole of what I learned during my visit. You’ll just have to come to Colonial Williamsburg one day!

: Colonial Williamsburg Visitors’ Centre: get your tickets and map here

: If you take the shuttle from the Visitors’ Centre, you miss the Hopes Plantation, an imagined place that represents a typical middle class farm. Most Virginians lived like this.

: The farm is several acres large and has many out buildings including a kitchen, smokehouse, tobacco shed, and slave quarters. The cash crops were tobacco, wheat, and corn.

: Mmm, ham.

: I saw stairs like these at the Pamplin Historical Park. They are still scary!

: Period kitchen.

: There were still veggies in the garden, but these are rather frosty.

: Hot peppers.

: The shingles are made of cypress and the resulting roof can last 50 years!

: This man is making shingles.

: He has a little machine for holding the shingle, which he then planes and sizes. He can make 100 per day.

: More shingle shaping.

: She’s making pegs to hold joints.

: He’s making joints.

: There is no rock in Virginia, so unless folks could afford brick, their houses had no foundations. Most buildings were not considered permanent as they would rot out within a generation. So they would have plank roofs rather than shingle ones. No sense spending time and money on a structure that won’t last.

: Slave quarters. There could be 12 people crammed into a tiny cabin with a dirt floor. The top floor was used for storage.

: I crossed a number of these tunnels with a babbling brook by the sidewalk.

: Looking towards town.

: There is a little orientation building between the plantation and the governor’s palace. Inside, you can see the Frenchman’s map, the only surviving period survey of Colonial Williamsburg, and which allowed the museum to be laid out much as the town was. The French text says: “Map of the city of Williamsburg and the surrounding area, Virginia, America. 11th May, 1786. Surveyed on foot.”