Trip to Williamsburg, VA and Washington, D.C.: Day Two

Today, we woke up to brilliant sunshine and a slight chill in Williamsburg, VA. Dave was preparing for his first meetings with the Mars Company, so for most of today, it would be Eliot, Gavin and me. We weren't terribly familiar with Williamsburg, nor had we prepped by reading many tourist guides, so we figured we would wander about and see what we could see.

Firstly, I should say that we are staying at the Williamsburg Lodge, which is very nice, and a short walk to the Duke of Gloucester Street, which is sort of the main drag through the historic section of Williamsburg. This

street, and many through Williamsburg, are gravel and closed to motor traffic. The entire historic district, which probably includes 30-40 different buildings and structures, are a part of a living museum, one of the most intricate town-as-museum concepts in this country.

We started the day outside the "Magazine," which is a structure the town had used to store its gun powder, muskets and weaponry. We saw, and learned, quite a lot about the weapons of the Revolutionary War period of time, and some of the gory details of how these weapons were used to gain advantage in hand-to-hand combat. Useful information for 8 year old boys.

Pretty close to the Magazine were the stockades, shown here, which every tourist knows is where the obligatory photo is taken, and especially with boys, this one is one for the respective family albums.

Around noon today, we took a tour of The Governor's Palace, which had originally been built from 1706 to 1722 for the Governor of the Virginia Colony. The original structure--and indeed, much of the original Williamsburg--had been destroyed during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars in America, so much of the present day Williamsburg had been rebuilt in the 1930s with funding from Rockefeller, and the Williamsburg Foundation. Painstaking attention had been paid to the original details, so structures like the Palace are today something to see. The boys were very impressed, though the 45 minute tour we took included probably more details than they could handle. That said, it was well worth it.

More fun for the kids was the Palace gardens, which included a Maze, and a canal, with bullfrogs.

After a quick bite of lunch, we spent an hour or so experiencing some of the Revolutionary War re-enactments. The entire situation of Williamsburg is supposed to be set in July of 1775, on the eve of war. The re-enactments were, therefore, exciting and...I must admit...FUN. The boys agreed. From a crier on galloping horseback, to the loyalist who was pulled from the Raleigh Tavern, tarred and feathered, to the "tri-corn" wearing actors mixed with the crowd, it was a realistic and riveting experience.

Making it all the more interesting, during one of the performances, a large hawk circled, then landed in a tree, mere feet above the actors...then flew away after a collective OOOOHHH from the crowd.

We finished the day alongside a pond, where the boys spent an hour (while I was on a work conference call) making rafts from leaves, and damming the spillway with debris.

For those of you still reading along, I am posting all of my photos to a photo album on my Facebook page.