Williamsburg,VA

On May 27, we left Chocowinity, NC at 8:40 with Acey’s mileage at 72,789.1 and Thor has 85,241 miles. We arrived at the Thousand Trails Williamsburg RV Resort at 1:15 and Acey’s mileage was 73,005.9 on arrival. Virginia is our 27th state!

May 27 marks ONE YEAR on the road! In that year, we have driven Acey 11,171.4 miles, Thor has gone 18,976 and we have ridden our bikes 1,097 miles and visited 27 states. We thank God for safe travels and good health!

After we had lunch and got all set up, we went to visit Bob & Carolyn; Carolyn is Linda’s second cousin, once removed – Linda’s great great grandparents were Carolyn’s great grandparents – and they were born in Sweden around 1837. Linda was able to find out lots of information about her ancestry that was confusing and many details she didn’t have! We had a great visit with a chili dinner and wonderful conversation.

On Friday, we visited Jamestown Island – In May 1607, the island was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Our first stop was at this Tercentennial monument where we waited to began an archeologic tour with a guide.

Each side had a bit of information about Jamestown.

This young archeologist told us about a couple of things she found just this morning – 2 pieces of a clay pot and a small (smoking) pipe. The bag is marked telling things like where and when she found these items. You can see the James River behind her.

Our guide took us to the area where the archeologists are digging.

They have been able to determine exactly where some of the palisades for the James Fort were located, and rebuilt the “wall” there.

The building that sat here had a cellar; after the building fell into disrepair, the cellar was turned into a trash pit – similar fate as a well that no longer was a source for water. The trash pits provide many artifacts telling how people lived. The building was probably built with a frame as seen below, a “mud-and-stud” structure.

Another dig is being done in this area – a house stood here that had a cellar. you can read more about the archaeology here

A model of James Fort, based on archaeological remains and historical accounts. The large building in front was the governor’s house; the museum now sits on that site.

They are continuing to find out more about the Jamestown Settlement!

We visited the Archaearium – the museum that had many interesting items uncovered by the archeological digs on site and information about the people of Jamestown.

This bronze Pocahontas statue was unveiled in June 1922.

“Only 17th-century depiction of Pocahontas, engraved in 1616 when she was in London. Pocahontas adopted English lifestyles after she was baptized and married John Rolfe in 1614.”

The Jamestown Memorial Church was just recently restored.

It is believed that this is the original Church tower built in the later part of the 17th century! The rest of the church was reconstructed the way it is thought to have been.

The lower left picture shows the tower before the church was replicated.

You can see a small part of the tower on the far side of the church.

Our last stop was at the Glasshouse where we saw demonstrations of how glass was made in the 17th century.

Later, we met with Bob & Carolyn and her brother Steve. They came over to see Acey and then we went out for dinner at Bonefish Grill, celebrating Bob’s birthday!

Saturday rain, rain, rain – it rained all night and most of the day – Linda worked on the blog for our last stay at Chocowinity, Jim fixed a few things, and we got some laundry done too. We Zoomed with the family in the evening.

Sunday more rain! We Zoomed with our Sunday School class and then joined the worship service for Stephens Valley Church on YouTube. We had lunch and the plan was to go to join Bob & Carolyn for a block party, but it was cancelled; we got together for dinner anyway and had a fun evening!

Monday was Memorial Day and we went to Colonial Williamsburg where they had a special program in the morning. The events were scaled down quite a bit from the events we recalled when we visited several years ago. We met up with Bob. He is a past president of the local SAR. Neither Jim nor Linda can trace their genealogy back to a soldier or supporter of the American Revolution.

The ceremony took place in front of the Governor’s Palace in Colonial Williamsburg.

Three wreaths were laid in honor of the war dead.

A fife and a drum played after each wreath was placed. No parade followed. On our last visit, pre-COVID, a Fife and Drum corps led a parade to the French Cemetery.

A bugler, atop the Governor’s Palace, played Taps to close the ceremony.

This little dog was decked out in Red, White and Blue!

Our first stop to visit the George Wythe House.

Sheep were grazing in several fields as we walked around

We left Colonial Williamsburg to meet up with Bob & Carolyn again for Bob’s birthday! We met their daughter Karen and her daughter Trinity, and Karen’s boyfriend Sean. We had lunch at Food for Thought; their ribs were delicious!!

We returned to Colonial Williamsburg This bell-shaped roof was interesting!

We took a walking tour and saw this garden where they were growing tobacco. Our guide said you can fit 10,000 tobacco seeds in a teaspoon! That’s a TINY seed! They plant the seeds and the plants start off very close to each other.

Then they are carefully uprooted and planted further apart. It should take an experienced planter only 2 minutes to plant per hill – and should be able to plant 350 hills per day.

Our guide had a lot of interesting information about the history here; the people, the government, how they lived, what was made… it was a whole different time for sure!

We spent a total of 3 days at Colonial Williamsburg; this plaque tells a little about the place.

These – and many more- plaques were along the walkway as we entered the historic area; going back in time!

We attended a rally where General Washington spoke to the crowd,

We toured the Capitol

This was Queen Anne’s Court – to serve on the jury, you had to be a man, a landowner, owning at least 60 acres and an Episcopal. That narrowed it down a lot!

This is the House of Burgesses – the Speaker of the House sat on the large “throne” This is original, saved from a fire that ravaged the building. We were surprised how many buildings burned once and many twice, but were rebuilt. Fire Department are so much more advanced today, as well as building code improvements.

In the back hung portraits of King George III and his young 16 year old wife.

And later, this fellow, from an Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, spoke about American Indian Life. Depending on who they knew, they could be treated very well, or they could be not much better off than freed slaves. During Colonial times, the Native Americans had no rights but were not slaves, Today, there are 575 tribes, speaking almost 400 languages in the US.

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The Governor’s Palace and Garden was very interesting! The front of the Palace is shown further up on this blog. The Palace is furnished the way it would have been when it was home to the last British Royal Governor of Virginia, John Murray. All of the pieces represent the period but are not original to the house.

The entry is filled with swords and muskets and 2 coats-of-arms; as the tour guide said, this is what happens when you have men doing the decorating!!

All of the guns have been fired!

To the right of the entry is a study/parlor

the door opens to the dining room

To the left is the “pantry” with shelves of glassware and serving dishes.

Up the stairs – MORE guns! ( We could not go upstairs)

The dining room

There is an organ housed in this wooden case.

Two ornate chandeliers – and portraits of King George III to the right, his 16 year old wife on the left – didn’t realize they were even in the shot – well almost anyway!

Another organ – ‘cuz, why not? There was also a harpsichord, not pictured.

We went out back to see the garden and walk thru the maze. Over the back door was another Coat of Arms

The gardens were very large!

We found our way through the maze and walked up the stairs to the top of the mount to get a look at the maze. The mount was built on top of an icehouse. The back of the icehouse had a tunnel entrance that faced north to avoid the sun. (we didn’t get a photo of the mount. -oops!)

On this warm day, it was cool walking thru the arbor – a great place to sit on a hot day!

We walked around and visited many of the businesses in Colonial Williamsburg. The Apothecary Shop displayed many items to cure various ailments,

There was a small office in the back of the shop.

This huge tree is a Compton Oak. We had never heard of that!

After we had lunch on Wednesday, we went to check out the Art Museums; Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum and The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum — they have lots of “one of a kind” things. This hippopotamus is a record player! (That is a mirror reflecting the record inside the hatch.)

There was a small carousel with a pig…

…and a cat

…and an ostrich!

There was a large display of various styles of weather vanes.

This dog was cute – what do you supposed surprised it?!

This Noah’s Ark toy – doesn’t look like there’s any way all the animals can fit into the ark, but the ark came with all of them packed inside!

and we saw some funky monkeys!

This fellow has built 14 Harpsichords while working at Colonial Williamsburg. We spent quite a bit of time hearing how he builds them. He pointed out some features on the two instruments on display. A Harpsichord has only one volume, unlike the piano; no matter how hard you strike the keys, the wire is plucked making the same sound .

We walked a total of 15 miles around Colonial Williamsburg during our 3 days we visited. We had hoped to visit Yorktown, but maybe next time… Thursday we visited Bob & Carolyn one more time and then got caught up on laundry – and worked on this blog! In the morning, we will leave for Delaware.