We were up and at ‘em early on Tuesday morning. We had a general idea of what we wanted to do that day so we headed to the Visitor’s Center, hopped a bus to the Palace, and began our day.
First, we toured the Governor’s Palace.
Outside the Palace before heading in for our tour. Rosemary frequently referred to the Palace as the Castle throughout the trip.
Inside the kids saw some of the rooms that they’d heard about in Felicity; like the weapon bedecked entry room and the long blue ballroom. For a guided tour, they did fairly well. Jonathan stayed out with Charlotte.
Once out in the gardens, Ben and Rosemary were ready for the maze in the hedges. They loved this part.
A quick hat switcheroo.
I ended up wearing the kids’ hats a time or two on the trip.
Charlotte and Jonathan met up with us in the gardens.
Happy to be out of the stroller and have free rein.
Moseying about before the rain. The rain didn’t last long nor was it heavy. It didn’t stop us from continuing to sightsee that day.
The back of the Palace.
After the Palace, Jonathan and I took the kids to the Gateway building for a Children’s Orientation Walk. They had a special kid’s map that they could get punched at various locations throughout the historic area. After receiving five punches, they would then get a special pin to wear. Rosemary and Ben got two punches just for going to the Gateway building and taking the tour. While waiting for the walk, Rosemary and Ben played some 18th century games. Ben did a Hotch Potch puzzle and Rosemary played Shut the Box, an easy dice game.
At the conclusion of the tour, it was about lunch time so we met my parents down at Chowning’s Tavern.
(I took this photo a few days later when the weather was much clearer).
We had to wait a bit for a table, so the kids enjoyed playing outside.
Sites that are open that day display a British flag outside. They’re really helpful since some of the buildings along Duke of Gloucester Street are private residences and not all of the historic sites are open everyday.
Walking with Grandma
Seated inside. My mom and Rosemary were having a very deep discussion.
Happy, sweet, Charlotte
My Brunswick stew.
Jonathan’s short rib sandwich
We walked by the stocks and pillory following lunch. Rosemary wanted her picture in the stocks. Ben did, too, but the seat was too far away for him to sit and get his legs through the holes.
In the pillory. (Warning, this was gross). We learned that sometimes the criminals, in addition to standing hunched over for two hours, would have their earlobes nailed to the board. Yikes.
From there, we toured the Geddy House, by far the best tour for us and our kids.
For one, we were the only ones on our tour. Also, the tour guide just put a bunch of the 18th century games on the floor for the kids to play with while she talked to us about the Geddy family and the house. She said that’s what it would have been like if we’d really been visiting as a family lived there. From there, we went into the shop and learned about half dollars and quarter dollars. We happened to mention Felicity at this point and our guide further explained how the house we were in would have been similar to Felicity’s as it was a middling class family’s house. Felicity had come up on our children’s tour as well and that guide gave us further insight after the books were mentioned. (I apologize for the references to these books, it was just really nice to have a way for our kids to actually understand and appreciate what they were experiencing).
Outside, we visited the gunsmith’s shop and the kids’ got the fifth punch on their maps, thus earning their special pin.
All three of the kids enjoyed seeing the horse drawn carriages as we walked through the town.
Running on the Palace Green.
There were a few things we wanted to do later in the afternoon so we visited some of the shops and trades while we waited.
Rosemary and Ben really enjoyed the Colonial Gardens. They were put to work watering the endive.
The gardener would fill up their can whenever it ran out.
They took the watering very seriously. On our way out, Rosemary and I got to try a pomegranate. Rosemary didn’t remember trying one before. It was really tart.
Soon we made our way down towards the Raleigh Tavern and the Capitol for the Revolutionary City Street Scenes. This was something that we didn’t remember seeing the last time we were there but it was really cool. The interpreters assembled to reenact various scenes relevant to what might have been going on in the city at the time preceding the Revolution. (Colonial Williamsburg alternates focusing on events leading up the Revolution and events occurring at the conclusion of the war each day).
In the above scene we watched Peyton Randolph receive news about Lexington and Concord (which made us think of Johnny Tremain) and talk with other townsfolk about the night the gunpowder was removed from the magazine (an event discussed in Felicity). Next there was a court of tar and feathers, which thankfully did not end up in anyone actually being tarred and feathered. What an awful practice!
Next we made our way down to the Capitol for a reading of the Declaration of Independence. Here you can see two of the interpreters. They wore microphones so anywhere you were you could hear them during the scenes.
Jonathan and the kids had great seats…until a large crowd came and stood in front of them. :-)
After the reading of the Declaration, a (very) small fife and drum group marched from the Capitol to the Palace.
Although small, it was still pretty cool. And while it sounds embarrassingly corny, it does make you quite proud to be an American.
From there we caught a bus back to the Visitor’s Center and headed to Friendly’s for dinner. Once back at the condo, we got the kids ready for bed. Rosemary and Ben each bought their first souvenir of the trip that day. Rosemary bought a soft doll named Margaret from the Marketplace vendors. Ben bought an airplane, an exceedingly relevant toy to Colonial Williamsburg. But he was very happy with his purchase.
It was a full and fun first day of sightseeing.
