Colonial Williamsburg and Petersburg Battlefield

John was out bright and early this morning into the backyard gardens with his camera. His favorite is one done by the Master Gardeners in the area.



Then off to another wonderful breakfast at the Inn.












Then it was Jean's turn with the camera as Williamsburg was coming to life.



We ran into these surveyors on our way to the palace. We got an explanation of how they used their instruments to measure property lines.
One of the merchants heading to her shop.

Then on to the Palace Garden and a presentation called "So Far from Scioto, a Revolutionary Story". This program is part of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's American Indian Initiative that develops, implements and supports programming, activities and projects through partnerships with American Indian communitives, Native-focused institutions, scholars and individuals who support cultural relevancy, accuracy and period appropriateness for 18th Century Williamsburg.

In the fall of 1774, Lord Dunmore, the last British royal governor in Virginia, waged war against the Shawnee along the upper Ohio River. As part of a peace agreement at the end of the conflict, a group of young Shawnee chieftains was sent to Williamsburg as part of a peace bond--a security that the Indians would cease raiding American settlements along the Ohio.

Lord Dunmore entertained the Shawnee emissaries during their stay in Williamsburg, introduced them to high society as special guests at Palace balls and traveled them through the Tidewater aboard a three-masted frigate. Evidence suggests that the delegation enjoyed the hospitality of formal dinners, carriage rides and possibly stayed with Dunmore at the Governor's Palace.

In Feb. 1775, trouble appeared to be brewing again in the Ohio between frontier whites and indigenous peoples. Equally, the Virginians were becoming increasingly restless with the colonial government and tensions were mounting in the face of growing conflict between the British Crown and Virginia's Patriots. The play takes place on June 7, 1775 when the Shawnee emissaries are trying to decide whether to stay or escape and return to Ohio. It was very well done and a great addition to the history of the period.



Following the play, we headed to Bassett Hall, the Williamsburg home of Abby and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. In the early 1900's, The Reverend W.A.R. Goodwin, rector of Bruton Parish, was inspired by the survival of so many 18th century buildings and by the role Williamsburg played during the American Revolution. He dreamed of restoring the city to its 18th century glory. He was able to communicate this vision to John D. Rockefeller, Jr in 1926 and Rockefeller gave the project his enthusiastic support for more than thirty years. He contributed the necessary funds to accomplish the restoration and established an endowment to provide for its educational programs. He and his wife would come down for two weeks in the spring and two in the fall and stay at Bassett House while he oversaw the restoration. The house was bequeathed to the Foundation in 1979 along with its furnishings and a 585 acre tract of rolling woodland.

After our tour we packed up and headed home. We stopped at the Petersburg National Battlefield, a Civil War battlefield, on the way home.
















Petersburg National Battlefield

This battlefield commemorates the 9 1/2 month seige upon Petersburg from June 1864 to April 1865 by Grants Union Forces. For history of this Battlefield visit www.nps.gov/pete/historyculture/index.htm
One of the fascinating battles of this area was the Crater battle. For months, coal miners from Penn who were in Gen. Grant's Union Army worked on digging a tunnel that ended under a part of Gen. Lee's line known as Elliott's Salient. On July 30, 1864, Union troops exploded the mine under the Confederate battery attempting to create a breakthrough into Petersburg. It created a huge crater but the follow-up attack by the Union troops was a disaster. The displays in the Museum about this mine were terrific.

After wandering the area for several hours, we headed home. What a great mini-vacation. We went from the first settlement in America, through the buildup to the Revolutionary War to the Civil War in three short days. Thanks to Gretchen and Jill, Dave, Colin and Ryan for a great 65th Birthday present!!

Historical Jamestown

Up early in the morning so we could enjoy breakfast at the Williamsburg Inn and then get to Jamestown. John took this picture of our lodgings on the way to the Inn. Breakfast turned out to be a wonderful buffet. YUM. After breakfast we walked back and packed up the camera gear and headed down the Colonial Parkway to Historic Jamestowne.





In the literature, we had seen that there was Historic Jamestowne and Jamestown Settlement but couldn't tell the difference. As it turned out, we went to Historic Jamestowne first which is where it really all began. It's the actual site of America's Birthplace and the Colonial National Historical Park. I won't go into the history, but there is an interesting article at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/05/jamestown/jamestown-standalone about what Jamestown was really like in the mid 1600's.

This Historical Park contains remnants of the streets of Jamestown as well as the archeological site of Ft. James. The Historical Park is administered by the National Park Service and Historic Jamestowne (the Ft. James portion) is jointly run with the APVA Preservation Virginia.


























































For years it was thought that the land that Ft. James was on had been eroded into the James River. But 16 or so years ago William Kelso thought differently and began excavating and has since found the original site of the fort. Visit www.historicjamestowne.org/the_dig/ for details on the dig. The archeologists were doing an update for the volunteers when we walked in and we were invited to join them....quite fascinating. There is a wonderful Archaearium on the grounds with some great displays about their findings. Pictured above are the archeologists digging, the model of Ft. James, a reconstruction of the original church. The bell tower was still visible when the dig began. Below that is a reconstruction of one of the barracks, the statue of John Smith looking out over the James and a picture of the Jamestown Monument.

Jamestown Settlement
After several hours and lunch along the James, we headed back down the road to Jamestown Settlement. It turned out to be a recreation of 17th century Virginia with a fun "living museum" with a Powhatan Indian village and replicas of the three ships that transported the original Jamestown colonists to Virginia in 1607.




























































After a great day of adventuring, we stopped by the Fresh Market for some wine and cheese and headed back to the house for a little happy hour. Happy Birthday John. One interesting happening...while we were enjoying our happy hour, a couple came in who were in the room in the front. They were on their honeymoon. He was probably 75 and she was probably 45 or so. They were quite an interesting pair. They had made colonial costumes to celebrate their marriage. Hers was a lovely brocade ball gown and his a typical gentleman of the day. They didn't have them on then, but we ran into them going to breakfast the next morning when they were wearing them! They fit right in and the costumes were incredible!

We dined at Christiana Campbell's that night and had those wonderful sweet potato muffins!! Great day!!

Colonial Williamsburg

Ah, Williamsburg, one of our favorite places! Jill and Gretchen gave John a night in one of the Historic Houses for his 65th birthday so here we are! Our room was the two far windows in this picture - in the Chiswell-Bucktrout house. We left home at 5:00 am and got here in record time. We went to the Inn to check in and found that our room was ready so we got our passes and tickets for what we wanted to do today and headed for the room. Very nice.















We just left things and headed for the newest site in the Historic area, the Charlton Coffeehouse. It is located across the street from the Capital and had as it's clientele many of the most influential gentlemen of the time. There was a tour through the house and then a stop in the cafe for coffee, tea or chocolate. We sat at a table with one of the local ministers and teachers at William and Mary. A very interesting conversation and different hot chocolate....much more bitter than what we are used to, but sugar was very costly then.















Then on to the cooper's and just a nice wander down Duke of Gloucester Street with lots of detours into backyard gardens and wandered over to the Dewitt for a garden talk by one of the horticulturalists.












A stop at the silversmith's shop and then lunch at the King's Arms Tavern.















Following lunch we did a Bits and Bridle tour where we went to the stables and learned about their Rare Breeds program where they are bringing back the breeds of animals that were actually here when it was Colonial Williamsburg. Also saw one cute little lamb :-)

Then we headed to the Behind the Scenes at Bruton Heights program, their research and preservation facility. That was fascinating. We learned some of the history, how they research and develop new programs, train their volunteers and then went into one of their labs....the furniture lab. That was great!






The item at the right is one of their reproductions...










.sure beats an outhouse!!
















We then had a quick tour through the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library. They had an original John Adams document on display.




















Then we headed back to the room for a short rest before dinner at the Cheese Shop and an evening at the Grand Medley of Entertainments. We really did have some good laughs there. Then back to the room after a very full day!