Good Karma at Williamsburg - living history

In my earlier adult years my in-laws were friends with folks who used to visit Williamsburg every year. The Berg's loved it so much they spent alternated spending summer vacations and Christmas holidays in Williamsburg. They said it never got old.

I never understood their feelings. My parents took us when I was about 10 or 12 for a family vacation to visit all the big historical sites that we are seeing on this trip. Williamsburg looks pretty much the way I remembered it. I think the biggest difference in these historical sites is not the sites themselves but in the way the National Park Service or the state/local organizations explain what you are seeing.

When I was young we spent months planning the vacations, reading all sorts of history books to understand what we were seeing once we got there. These days the exhibits are spectacular. Kids have lots of activities like the treasure hunt game kids play at Williamsburg using texting to find clues then win a prize when they collect all the stamps. Life sure has changed. And it makes these places so much more interesting.

We visited Williamsburg on June 30 and July 1. By the time we get going in the morning it is noon when we arrive anywhere. (Don't ask.) You enter Williamsburg from a visitors center and are met by a barrage of choices. After consultation with several helpers we decided to get the three day pass which only costs $8 more than a one day pass.

Williamsburg is Disneyland for history buffs. Just about everything is a recreation, put there to spark interest in history and tell the story. According to an article, The Reverend W.A.R. Goodwin arrived in Williamsburg in 1902 to become pastor of Bruton Parish Church to find a disaster. The church was falling apart, the old buildings falling down, and the community pretty much done. This was a shame.

Bruton Parish Church was established in the original Williamsburg plans in 1633, rebuilt as a brick church in 1678 so this is a real historical treasure. Rev. Goodwin took steps to clean up the church. Rev. Goodwin writes:
"Mr. J. Stewart Barney of New York gave his services as the architect of the restoration upon two conditions: first, that he should not receive any compensation for his work; and, second, that he should be allowed to restore the church exactly as it was in colonial days. The high pews were replaced. The pew of the colonial governor was rebuilt, and over it was hung the velvet canopy emblazoned with the name of Alexander Spotswood. The high pulpit, with the clerk's desk, was also rebuilt. The flagstone aisle was restored.

During the excavation, thirty-nine graves were found beneath the aisle and chancel of the church. Nine of these graves were identified by means of brass tacks that had been driven into the coffin wood.

At the consecration service, a Bible, which had been presented to the parish by His Majesty King Edward VII, was formally given by the Lord Bishop of London, who on this occasion paid his first official visit to his ancient Diocese of Virginia. This Bible presented by his majesty was placed upon a bronze lectern that had been given by President Theodore Roosevelt. After having completed the restoration of Bruton Parish Church, we moved to Rochester and did not return again to Williamsburg for thirteen years."

Rev. Goodwin was transferred in 1908 and did not return to Williamsburg until 1921. He found the church and the community worse than when he left it. Rev. Goodwin was nothing if not resourceful. He believed that the country would lose this important landmark if something major was not done. So he worked through influential friends until he met John D. Rockefeller Jr. He encouraged John D. Jr. to visit Williamsburg to see the place.

Rev. Goodwin describes the experience like this:
"It had been our privilege to meet Mr. Rockefeller on the occasion of a meeting of the Phi Beta Kappa Society held in New York in the interest of the building of the Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall at the College of William and Mary. We invited Mr. Rockefeller to visit Williamsburg. He came down with his family, and it was our privilege to show him the City of Williamsburg, in which he became greatly interested.

He also visited the Wythe House and saw what was being done to preserve and restore this ancient building. It had been the home of George Wythe—the first professor of law in America, the teacher of Thomas Jefferson, of James Monroe, of Chief Justice John Marshall, and of Henry Clay. The Wythe House had also been turned over to Mr. George Washington as his headquarters during the Yorktown Campaign, and there is every probability that the Battle of Yorktown, in its final details, was planned by Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, the Comte de Rochambeau, and General Thomas Nelson in the parlor. George Wythe was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The restoration of the Wythe House very strongly appealed to Mr. Rockefeller. It enabled us to point out to him the great advantage that would result if other old and historic houses in the city, fast falling into decay, could be rescued, preserved, and restored."

Bottom line: Rev. Goodwin convinced John D. Rockefeller and his wife Abby to purchase an entire block of property that had been historic Williamsburg. 

As Rev. Goodwin said: 

"It was our privilege to cooperate with him in the purchase of the property, which was needed for Williamsburg's restoration during the first eighteen months of the acquisition program undertaken. As was to be expected, the prices of property advanced as the purchase program proceeded. It is, however, interesting to remember that no single piece of property in the City of Williamsburg was purchased by any outsider or by any resident of the city for the purposes of speculation, the property all having been bought from the original owners.

Mr. Rockefeller did not in the beginning indicate his purpose of securing all, or of restoring the whole, colonial area of Williamsburg. He entered upon the work and proceeded with it gradually, buying certain pieces of property and finally committing himself to the restoration of the Main Building—or the Christopher Wren Building—at the college, the rebuilding of the Capitol, the rebuilding of the House of Burgesses, the restoration of the Duke of Gloucester Street, and the acquisition of Court Green and Palace Green."

They hired the best architects and historians, knocked down most of the buildings, did archeology, then rebuilt this fantasy land out of the few remaining properties that existed from the 1600s and 1700s. They used old plans, letters, drawings, and photographs to layout the place we see. The Rockefellers funded a foundation to endow improvements, maintenance, and operating expenses. They created museums, a shopping center, lodging, transportation, and services currently in place to support a wonderful historical experience. 

The place opened to tourists in the 1930s. Stuff is always changing, which is part of the fun. The gardens, houses, and actors are constantly enhanced. The re-enactors create new clothing, new gardens, and tools to demonstrate to visitors what it was like to work there. Technically Williamsburg today is not like Williamsburg when I visited in the late 1960s. I have to agree. 

The "Revolutionary City" is historic Williamsburg, a
special creation thanks to John D. and Abby Rockefeller Jr.

Most of Williamsburg is not original. But I don't care. It is a really neat place. We have John D. Jr. to thank for this amazing historical amusement park. 

The place is filled with historical re-enactments. Every day the guides are dressed in different costumes and have a differrent pitch discussing the properties in terms of the amazing history that took place in this community over the 250 years Williamsburg has existed. 

Williamsburg was established in 1633 to protect Virginia's Lower Peninsula against Indian attack. The capital of Virginia moved to Williamsburg in 1699 and the Capital and Governor's Palace were built. The capital moved to Richmond in 1780 because the colonists were afraid the British would overrun the current capital if it stayed in Williamsburg. Richmond is further up river so would be safer. They were right. 

We started our tour of Williamsburg on Day 1 visiting the Governor's Palace, mostly because it was the first thing we hit when we walked over from the Visitor's Center. It was raining much of the day so there were few crowds and the heat was managable. 

"spontaneous" music breaks out

Day 1 the perspective of all the guides and re-enactors was the British invasion during the revolution. Various tours talked about different years of the revolution. Redcoats were everywhere. Also groups of colonists hanging around talking revolution, from groups of musicians gathering to play instruments on the corners to fights breaking out between Redcoats and young men. 

The Redcoats picked a fight with the guy on the ground

In the Governor's Palace the perspective was the events leading to the Governor and his family flight from Williamsburg prior to the revolution. Since we just arrived with didn't have the hang of it yet. We saw a line so we went around it and toured the gardens first. Turns out you have to stand in line to tour the buildings. If you don't follow the rules they yell at you. We got yelled at. We started following the rules!

Joy and Katherine take a rest - and we just started!

Part of your visitors' tools is a list of the special activities for the day. With this list you know that at 10am you need to be at the Raleigh Tavern to hear patriots arguing about independence or at the Capital steps to hear the Declaration of Independence read. We almost never got that timing right. So we missed a lot of the interesting stuff. We made our own fun. 

Figuring out where to go and what to do

Kermit scoping out photo ops

I love this photo!! It appeals to my sense of continuity

We started our visit to the Governor's Palace in the gardens which are truly magnificent. Keep in mind that none of the Governor's Palace is original. It is totally a recreation from plans and drawings. 

Still figuring out what to do next

Joy and Kermit in the cell

Touring the cella

  Then we went inside. Our tour guide was an older woman who spoke softly but firmly. Kermit had a difficult time understanding her so he just took lots of pictures. She was tough too. She yelled at people for having phones on or stepping in the wrong place but she did it in a quiet voice like your mom. No one disobeyed her a second time.

The marble looks much less impressive
when you see it everywhere these days
but it was a big deal back then - this is not
the original

Guns and swords everywhere

The daughters' bedroom

 The entryway is filled with weapons. Evidently having lots of weapons is a sign of power. All the best aristocrats had lots of weapons in their country houses so it was mandatory here. It is quite impressive. This was the first marble floor in the colonies!

The Ballroom - that is Joy Pankey in the
foreground

Our guide in the Ballroom 

The first stove in Virginia was
in this ballroom 

Our guide talked about the fear the Governor's wife and daughters must have had as the colonists got madder and madder. The Governor had a few curfuffles with the local patriots (Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe among others) trying to carry out the King's orders and penalties after the Tea Party and Boston Massacre. Finally he gave up and slinked out of town during the night in 1776.

The detail work is amazing

 
 Finally out the back door and a new tour goes in the front door. This maze was lots of fun.

Separate kitchen building with a
real cook making real food

The cook said the actual cook would
have been a white man specially
trained as a chef from France

The study where Wythe tutored students in all sorts of things

Down the street to George Wythe's house (pronounced "with"), built in the mid-1750s. This is one of the few original buildings in the community. George was a law professor at William and Mary College, down the street. He tutored and was a mentor to all sorts of famous folks like Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall (later to the US Supreme Court) and Henry Clay. He was an opponent of slavery, heavily active in Continental Congress, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The house was George Washington's HQ before the seige of Yorktown (see how this all comes back around?).

This kid was having a temper tantrum. 

At the re-enactment

The big excitement in town on Day 1 was the British encampment. On the main green the British pitched row after row of tents. The soldiers and their families had cooking fires burning along with kids and women also in costume. Colonials wandered around too.

Katherine in the stocks - Kermit
never resorted putting her
in the dinghy but  this will do

We had lunch (a great pulled pork sandwich!) at this outdoor tavern under grape vines. These little boys were fighting/playing across the fence. This one little guy had quite an anger issue. I doubt if it was staged...

You can be in costume too!

Williamsburg rents costumes so mixed in with the actors were kids and adults dressed in period costume like these 3 little boys.
  
We were killing time in the encampment, playing with the stocks when we heard the drums. The British are coming!! You can hear them a long time before you see them.

Then this guy on a beautiful white horse rides in a reads a snarky worded notice from the King about how the colonists need to be have themselves or else.

You better behave or else!

Then they give a cannon and artillery demonstration.

 It was loud and smoky. Then they left just like they came.

Changing the guard at the capital

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be over there?"

 If you look closely, you can see the behind the scenes action. A big show like this does not go off without a script and tight controls. We saw the director wandering around getting folks in place prior to the artillary demonstration. He was asking this fellow if he was in the right place and where was Tony.

One Redcoat says to the other, "hold my flower while I get my gun." Seriously, that is what he said!!

"Here, hold my flower while I get my gun"

 But the show must go on! At the end of the show the guy on the white horse comes back. He has a microphone of course. He say to the company, "Pennsylvania Company 6... I mean, Company about face." He let it slip that this same group would be wearing different costumes the next day. And sure enough they were!

Day 2 we arrived at the other end of the historic town and started at the Capital. But this day the script called for the Colonists to be occupying Williamsburg. The story today was George Washington prepares for the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. See how this works? It is very clever and very informative. They make history come alive.

Day 2 it rained. That is ok. It kept the tourists out. We had hats. We won't melt. The best part was it kept the heat down.

At the Capital our guide was a young woman who was a servant. She told us all about how the Governor and his advisory counsel disagreed with the House of Burgess representatives. The time was prior to signing the Declaration of Independence.

The courtroom with our guide

The Governor's Chamber

This oxen driver was huge.
A kid stepped in front of the oxen
but they kept moving. Nothing stops oxen I guess.
The kid moved. 

We visited some of the craftsmen and women using the old techniques to create stuff that will be used everyday in Historic Williamsburg. These guys were making backpacks and tents while waiting for the correct fabric to arrive to recreate George Washington's camp tents used during the Revolution.

A mock up of Washington's tent

Raleigh Tavern

 If you don't get to a place on time you won't make the tour. We didn't get into Raleigh Tavern where they were plotting the revolution.

We visited the gunsmith (naturally) and saw them making parts for the guns you see in the demonstrations. The guns have to really work so this is important stuff.

We toured the silversmith's house that was attached to the store and workshop. The guide talked about how the master of the house was not at home but would love to receive us the next day. She wound this line into everything as she showed us how the house and workshop functioned. 

George inspecting the troops

At 3pm we heard drums again. Not the British this time but the Americans marched through town with a great fife and drum band into the green. George Washington himself rode in on a white horse that looked suspiciously like the white horse from yesterday. He gave an encouraging speech to the crowd and to the rag tag soldiers. Then we got an artillary demonstration. Go figure!!

No guns this time. Must be conserving ammunition for Yorktown.

 George hung around chatting up his officers while the cannons went off.

Then an officer got a bunch of the crowd organized into conscripted soldiers and off they marched across the field and out of town. No not really. The tourists stayed on the field and the soldiers left town to return again the next day as a different army. Nicely done!

We marched off to the bus and back to our car, tired but better informed about American history!!

Next: Jamestown and the Shirley Plantation