Give me Williamsburg or give me death!

We spent a day exploring Colonial Williamsburg, the largest living history museum in North America. That means there were a whole bunch of people acting as though it were the mid 1700s. Luckily, they "weren't annoying" (as Jason put it) and would talk to you normally if you had questions rather than feign confusion over anything you mentioned that wasn't from that period. It was a lot of fun to tour the city and talk to the local blacksmith, weaver, printer etc. about what life was like then. It made me daydream about going back in time and living in that era (of course I would have been extremely wealthy and educated, otherwise life would have been way too hard).

The Governor's Palace (obviously where I would have lived)

The front entrance to the Palace was a large round room covered in the Governor's sword and gun collection.



You could even tour the cellar of the Palace, which was actually really neat, and a little creepy.


A very small portion of the Palace gardens.

I just love this pic of Jason examining the wheelsmith's handiwork. It's such a guy thing to do. I guess it is a wheel for a cannon, which is pretty cool. I really liked that all the tradespeople were actually working on real things, not just hitting their hammer on the same thing all day. The Blacksmith was making nails for the carpenter who was building a shed. The printer was printing newspapers that were being sold in local stores. It was great.

We went to observe a "trial" at the courthouse and I got to act as a local seamstress taking on an apprentice. Jason wishes he had volunteered to be on the panel of judges and taken Bridget with him. She has started yelling randomly in such a way that it would have sounded like she was voicing her objections.

I absolutely HAD to buy her this little mob hat. Soooo cute! Even Jason didn't object to this one.

The best part of the day were the re-enactments in Revolutionary City. The audience was ushered around so they were part of the show and the actors scattered themselves among us. It really helped you appreciate what it was like to be there. I actually got a little teary eyed over their reading of the Declaration of Independence.

Benedict Arnold giving a speech and interacting with the crowd.

My absolute favourite thing was listening to the band. Everyone who had gathered at the Capitol marched with the band to the courthouse to hear the Marquis de Lafeyette give a speech and send off the troops to battle.

Bridget did NOT like the cannons! After they fired she startled, looked around for a second in confusion and then started howling. Unfortunately we cut off the filming right before the howl.

Such a long, hot day for such a little girl. Time to hit the pool.