Williamsburg

The main event in the historic triangle is Williamsburg. The capital moved from Jamestown to Williamsburg because it was more central to all the other settlements. Settlements weren't called settlements, they were called plantations. That word (plantation) morphed later into what we understand it to be. The first words of revolution were spoken in Williamsburg by all those historically famous people (Washington, Raymond Burr, Thomas Jefferson ..bunch more, but it all becomes a blur). The revolution really got going once news came here of the Boston massacre and how the British were treating the colonists in Massachusetts. The final straw came one night when the colonists went to the armory to secure (steal) the powder and munitions and found the British already had it all loaded in carts and were hauling it away. Timing is everything it seems in war.

Williamsburg is an amazing living history village, complete with a palace, parliament, stores, taverns, colonists, soldiers and patriots. Each day they reinact a moment in history that happened there. There is a square-mile area that automobile traffic is restricted. We took this as an opportunity to use our bicycles. Good idea. Williamsburg can not be toured in a day...we took three. Part of the village includes the Rockefeller museum and their home. We were amazed at the part this family had in recovering this town so we could enjoy it. There was an amazing tree in their back yard that I had Rose and Chris hug.

A special treat was to go at night for a ghost walk tour. These ghosts were really story tellers of that era. The walk was by lantern to several buildings that were only open for evening adventures. What a delight when the first story teller told about the Cherokee Indians that came to Williamsburg. Rose was enthralled. Having stories told by candlelight was a wonderful experience for all of us.

When we toured the palace Chris and I were rather impressed by all the weaponry that was hung in the entry way. The picture shows only one wall, but every wall had the same sort of display. Chris was thinking they should give him one sword since they had so many. I was happy to know that would not happen. The gardens (acres and acres) behind the palace kept us amused for hours. One highlight was the maze. We are getting rather good at them now...
The cellar under the palace was a surprise. Chris was looking for the restrooms and found the steps. It was very quiet down there and enough separate rooms that our imaginations could travel back to what those locked rooms could really have held.

The last event of the week was meeting relatives of Chris and Rose. We were pleased to find family living in this area and we were delighted to spend an afternoon touring the Virginia museum with them. Rose and Chris talked non-stop (as usual) and had a great time with their new aunts, uncle and cousin.

This was a very busy week and we would love to return and do it all again. I failed to adequately mention how beautiful the gardens were in all the places we went as well as the wonder of driving the Colonial Highway between the cities. The arched bridges and waterways, deer and other wild life (.. but no hope of a moose, we are now watching for alligators).
Now we are moving to the deep south, and hopefully sunshine and warmth. Next stop: North Carolina.

Jamestown and Yorktown

Some emails we have gotten question how we are going to handle the boredom
of living at home again. Rest assured that what I send you are the
highlights of our trip. What you are missing is all the laundry, grocery
shopping and cleaning days. It is a full day when we move from one spot to
another (mostly because when we get set-up we want to sit down). I am sure
when we get back to Oregon we will find this saying true: "Be it ever so
humble, there is no place like Home."

The area we have been for over a week is called the Historic Triangle. The
three towns are: Jamestown, Yorktowne and Williamsburg. The triangle is so
rich with activities that it could take a week to describe it to you, I will
limit myself to two updates.

This year is the 400th celebration of the settling of Jamestown. Jamestown
is the area that the first permanent English settlement was made...unless
you talk to someone up around Massachusetts. Up there, they say that the
pilgrims were the first characters to float across the big water and start a
settlement. Either way, all of them had a rough time! Most of that initial
group died the first year. In fact, they had several years of difficulty
until they brought over the first women. Then things leveled out and the
colony began growing. (All the women can smile here...)

There are two parts of Jamestown. There is the actual historic area (museum
and archeological dig) then there is Jamestown village which is a
re-creation for living history where children can learn without realizing it


A Powhotan Indian village has been recreated and the admission allows you to
be an Indian as long as you want. Every house is fully equipped in the way
it would have been 400 years ago. Rose and Chris told everyone that they
were Cherokee which raised a lot of eyebrows as they looked into those
honest blue eyes. There are several Indians doing Indian things...which
means they answered a lot of questions from these two. It wasn't an easy
task to convince them to see what else there was to see, mostly they wanted
to be Indians in the Indian village.

Down the hill from the Indian village was the dock complete with replicas of
the three ships that brought the first group to America. The ships were
fully furnished and everything could be touched and felt (as long as you had
an adult in attendance). While talking with the captain we found that if
you volunteer enough hours for the museum they will actually let you ride on
the ships when they sail them in the summer. Sounds like another "big field
trip" to plan for.

Along the shore is a ship-building area where we helped make a log canoe.
They built a ship last year, in fact it was one of the ships that was on the
dock.

To finish the day was the rebuilt fort. Every building was available to
explore and had everything just as it would have been 400 years ago. The
armor shop had complete suits of armor (child size of course) that could be
worn and played with (check out the cute soldiers). The only activity that
was restricted was cooking in the kitchen building. That was reserved for
the curator...but she patiently answered all the questions that Rose and
Chris could dream up. One flyer said to plan 3 hours at Jamestown....we
were there the whole day and could have played more, but it gets cold when
the sun sets.

Yorktowne is where the British surrendered, ending the revolution. The
British got hurt feelings when they lost the siege in Yorktowne. After the
terms of surrender were written, Cornwallis said he had a tummy ache and
wouldn't be able to relinquish his sword to Washington. He sent his aide
instead. Washington answered by not accepting the aides sword, but sent his
aide to accept the surrender. At any rate, the war didn't end immediately
but the fighting was pretty much over for the British.

While touring Yorktowne we saw what we thought was a misstatement. On one
plaque it said that the German forces were on the British side fighting.
Then another one said the Germans were helping the Americans. Turns out
they are both right. The Germans were on both sides. It seems the German
government was short of funds and England offered to rent soldiers. The
Germans who helped the colonists were promised a piece land if they would
help out. I guess they were making a gamble and bound to win. The French
were the deciding factor in our being a country. They had the ships that
were needed to blockade the English ships at the harbor mouth. The Freedom
Tower is a tribute to both the American and French troops. According to
what we learned, more French troops lost their lives than Americans at
Yorktowne.

There was a recreated army camp (not a fort) complete with muskets and
cannons. Chris was delighted that he could hold a black-powder rifle as
much as he wanted. Actually he couldn't hold it alone. Those guns are
rather heavy. A cannon demonstration included volunteers to help. Guess
who got to be a helper?? Even now they can explain how a cannon is loaded
and fired. At the end of the demonstration the cannon was actually fired
and we were all thrilled.

Next installment: Williamsburg

Getting some good history here

While in New York state we found a grist mill to visit. We were hoping to
see a paddle-wheel turning and hear the mill wheels grinding the grain.
Unfortunately, they only run the wheel a few times a year and we were a week
early. Even so, it was a very informative tour. The picture is of the
gears used to turn the huge mill wheels. All the gears are made from wood,
so I was very keen on seeing them. Each cog is set in a clamp system that
is fascinating by itself. The paddle wheel was actually housed within the
building, and I couldn't get back far enough for a good picture, so we have
to be happy with the memory.

The rain moved into the Philadelphia area about the time we did. Since they
are having a drought the locals were happy to see us and what we brought
(rain). The whole Continental Congress and Ben Franklin thing was lost on
Rose and Chris. The Philly-steak sandwich was lost on me, as for
interesting things this place was it. The best fun was the time before a
movie in the visitor center when Rose and Chris had a friend to make faces
with. They had a great time. After the movie we "met" the friend and he
was probably in his 60's and very fun. He fished around in his huge
overcoat because he knew he had something in there begging to get out.
Finally he found two little piggy banks to give to them. Silly me, I didn't
think of a group picture until he was lost in the crowd. So, we have
another time to be happy with the memory.

Taking a break from all of our history lessons, we took another train ride.
This was a wish Rose has had since the beginning of our "big field trip"--to
go on a steam train. This one traveled about two hours (round-trip) through
the Pennyslvania countryside. Without realizing our good planning, we got
the first run of the day. There were less than a dozen passengers traveling
with us. When we returned to the station it was packed! On a nice day this
train would be a good one for a picnic as they have an area where the train
will stop to allow you to disembark and pick-up on one of the other return
trips. It was a delightful day. We at least have pictures to trigger this
good memory.

Back to more history meant a tour of Washington DC. There is so much to see
there it is almost overwhelming. The natural history museum was our first
stop (we needed a pit stop and that was the closest building). Then it was
the long walk up the mall to the capital. The safety restrictions won't
allow us to carry bags or packages inside, so Jerry opted to sit-out this
time and the rest of us went in. The guides do a lot of talking which isn't
at all interesting when you are five and six, so we did our own tour
(unofficially of course). While we were wandering around in the hall of
statues the minority whip came out of his office and did part of our
mini-tour with us. Uhm....again, another memory as I didn't think to turn
the camera on him. We are still happy.

Our map doesn't have the cat (what we call the fifth-wheel) traveling into
Delaware, so we took a one-day excursion to find the beach. The coast line
here is much different from what we have on the left-side of the country.
Here, there are a lot of spits and rivers, which means there are few ocean
beaches. Although Delaware is the smallest state, when you are driving the
length of it without beach success you quickly tire of the effort. We did
go into a wildlife viewing area...the rule sign informed us that we were to
stay inside our car and not make any noise. We did. No wildlife ever came
into view. Take all of this to mean that it wasn't worth a picture and we
don't need a memory.

Next stop: Virginia.