Great Hopes Plantation - A Colonial Virginia Farm

A short distance from the visitor's center we walked to the entrance of Great Hopes Plantation.  This is the part of Williamsburg that shows what the people who lived out of town would have lived like.  It is a working farm.

We learned that the term "oxen" is actually earned.  These were just cows until they were trained to the point of usefulness to be called oxen.

It was neat to see how everything was made with the resources that they had available in the surrounding woods.

A water trough.

The kitchen, which is also where the family would have lived until they became prosperous enough to build a house.  There isn't a house on the plantation right now.  There are plans to build one.

Mortar and pestle, for grinding.  Below is the smokehouse.

This next structure is where the slaves would have lived and worked.

I thought it was so interesting to see how they would have built the buildings.

This is the garden that was behind the slaves' quarters.  We were fascinated with the fencing and design.

Inside the slaves' quarters.

Talking with an interpreter about what children would have spent their time doing: work.  No one ate who didn't work.  The women didn't stay in the kitchen cooking and minding small children, they went out into the fields as well. 

This fence is specially designed to be too high for horses to jump, too strong for oxen to push over and tight enough to keep in small animals such as sheep and pigs.  We went and pushed on it to see how sturdy it was.  This picture doesn't show it's unique design very well, but it was impressive.

The barn.

Inside the barn.

Tobacco leaves drying.

And, of course, the hen yard.

Also on the plantation, the carpenters for Williamsburg do their work.  This man is taking a giant tree trunk and using a very sharp hand ax to make it into a square.

The long square then is taken over here to be cut into thin boards by this...

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...large two-man saw.  The "man" on the bottom is Sam.  All of what is built in Williamsburg does actually come from these carpenters who get their building materials in this way.  A very slow process.  

Next, another short walk to go to town to see city life!

Off to Williamsburg

 It's taken me a long time to finally get this trip started!  And...there won't be any pictures of Colonial Williamsburg in this post either.  But, I promise, the next post begins our adventure back through time, into Colonial America! 

 This was our part of the traveling train of cars.  Dad and Mom had Ben and Cal in their car when I took this picture.  I gave Elijah a page from Cecily's coloring book and a yellow crayon.  He worked really hard on this picture and it kept him happy for a long time.  That's the first picture he's ever really colored.

 This is a leftover-cupcake stop that we made.

 The timeshare.  Mom and Dad were able to reserve this just a few minutes drive from Williamsburg.  It was so nice.  Everyone was very impressed with the timeshare.

 Peter and I actually rented a cabin at a nearby Mennonite camp, but I ended up staying at the timeshare with my smallest 4 children most nights because there was so much space.

Even Bronwyn had plenty of room to stretch her legs. 

We enjoyed this balcony a lot.

Here is the Colonial Williamsburg visitor's center, getting our tickets.  This wasn't as quick and easy as we had hoped.  By this time, it was feeling like we were never actually going to get started on the adventure.  Bronwyn was ready for a nap and we hadn't seen anything yet.  But,(!) next time you will see that we ultimately got there.

A Birthday Tea Party~Amelia Turns 6

The birthday girl! (with wet hair)

Birthday breakfast before church.

Birthday dinner after church. (Chicken Curry on Rice)

Everyone is enjoying their Curry and some spinach salad.

Later in the afternoon, the table is reset for a birthday tea party.  It was Mom's idea to do Amelia's party as a tea party.  Extra fun!

It gave me a great opportunity to use the beautiful, crocheted table runner that my sister, JoAnn, made for me.

The bee-ootiful cupcakes were the handiwork of my Mom.  :)  We cooked together a lot of the day on Saturday getting ready for Sunday.

Amelia's place.

The guest of honor went 'round the table to offer tea to everyone.

Sipping her tea.

If you can believe it, these cupcakes were tastier than they were pretty.

The boys can tolerate a tea party as long as it involves cupcakes and cookies. ;-)

A very delighted tea party guest!

A gift from her Grammy and Papa...

...and the inspiration for the tea party theme, a porcelain tea set!

This is the beautiful card that my Mom put with Millie's gift.  Millie thought it was so cute.

"Thank you, Grammy!"

 Peter picked out with Cecily a little heart shaped box that comes with stickers and paint to decorate it with.

 I, addicted as I am to doll clothes, picked out several new doll dresses for her.

 And last...Amelia had requested a horse on a stick.  Since Cecily and Elijah both had them, she wanted to be able to ride with them.

 Galloping with Elijah.

Last, opening up the basket to inspect the tea set.  It is so adorable.  It has small flowers and strawberries painted on it.  A sweet party for a sweet 6 year old.  :)