My wife and I got back from Colonial Williamsburg last Wednesday
afternoon. It was the longest road trip we've made since we took the
kids out west many years ago. (During that trip our old, creaky, Jeep got
passed by a mountain goat which was standing still at the time. That's another story).
Our current vehicle did a lot better even though I made
the mistake of routing us on Highway 33. The steep and twisty way.
Motorcyclists would probably really like it. We liked the scenery when we
could take time to look at it. Not going that way again.
We were supposed to have another couple of drivers but our friends had to cancel at the last minute. Since my wife had a conference to attend at
Williamsburg and we had done the planning and booked a room we
gassed up the car and headed out ourselves.
It was warm and humid. Mid eighties to low nineties for temps and mid
90s for humidity. I did fairly well considering that winter just ended here
in early May. Was glad the air conditioning in the car kept working and
was available in most of the buildings we toured.
Lots of stuff to do at CW. I didn't do half of what I intended. Spent quite a while in the foundry/gunsmith shop but didn't see a gun being worked on. The woman portraying a brass foundry worker did a good
job of explaining the brass pieces made in the shop, and the fact that
"smith" included blacksmith back in the day. She was very good with the
kids who toured the place. Let them handle a flintlock rifle, the brass
pieces, and told how much various guns would have cost.
There was a bespoke kid's fowling piece, patterned after one made for
Washington's nephew. The kids were interested to hear that it cost as
much as eight other guns. I was interested to hear that they get
$15,000 to $20,000 for guns made there. "400 hours of handwork,"
she said.
They do street scenes each day. I saw ones from 1775, 1776 and 1779 (I think). Also have public audiences where staff portray Washington,
Patrick Henry, and Lafayette. I saw Washington and Henry portrayed.
Both were interesting and affecting. I noticed that what Henry complained about sounded awfully familiar given the scandals of today.
There had been a wreck out on the highway before the portrayal
started. So behind the Governor's Palace Garden where the audiences
were given a lot of cop cars, ambulances, and fire trucks cranked up sirens moved off. When the chopper started overhead I wondered if
Henry had been made as a dangerous radical AGAIN, and was in danger of apprehension. (My friend from the area said the choppers were from the local TV stations).
Toured the armory/powder magazine. Very nice collection of flintlock
arms. Brown Bess muskets, Charlevilles, blunderbusses, pistols, swords, pikes, a wall gun, and a one-pounder cannon.
Bought some expensive water from a vendor down the road and a
"ginger cake" a colonial cookie, to get me back to my car once.
The water was wet and cold. The "cake" was very good.
Ate some good brisket and pulled pork barbecue in the evenings.
Heard an impromptu music performance at a coffee shop one night, too.
A couple of drums, a lute, and some kind of recorder. Guys were good.
Had several interesting conversations with citizens of Williamsburg
circa the dates listed above. Asked one if the was the the same man
I had met "yesterday?" "Actually, that was a year ago," he said,
"Time flies."
It flew while we were there too. We would like to go back and have
already made some tentative plans to do so.
Road Trip To Colonial Williamsburg
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