The Boys Tour Williamsburg

On our first day, I went with my parents to rest and put the little ones down for naps after lunch.  Peter and the boys stayed in Williamsburg and saw some re-enactments and generally explored.  All of the following pictures were taken by Peter during their afternoon touring.

These carriages can be rented for rides, but we never did ride in one.

The boys were impressed with the way that this hedge was trimmed as an archway over the gate.

This is the main street in Williamsburg, Duke of Gloucester Street.

They saw many people dressed up as residents of Williamsburg.

Behind and to the right of these 18th century look-a-likes is a wooden structure that serves as a stage for short re-enactments. 

The boys watched a swordplay act.

And they also watched an act about a tar and feathering of a criminal.

When the re-enactments were over they visited the blacksmith's shop.

Look at that huge bellows hanging from the ceiling.

Near the courthouse they found some stocks to try out.  Doesn't look like a very pleasant punishment, especially as it is right on the main street where all the public passes.

Even Peter tried it out.  :)

The last thing they did before heading home for supper was watch a group of musicians playing the fife and drums march down the main street.  Peter said they got a very good feel for the era from this afternoon.  So much fun to take the closest thing to a trip back in time!

Governor's Palace - Outside

From the plantation there is a path that you can follow, going underneath the roads (see above), to get to the town of Colonial Williamsburg.  Once you enter Williamsburg, the roads are unpaved, and vehicle-free. 

As we enter, we see some pastures on the outskirts.

Peter took this picture.  He is a shepherd and particularly likes sheep.  :)

From the end that we entered, the first major building is the Governor's Palace, where I believe, the governor of Virginia used to stay.

We went into the courtyard that is around the Governor's Palace and saw several carriages that were on display.  The first, at top, was a landau.  The queen of England rode in this landau when visiting Williamsburg in 2008.  On the bottom is a standard road wagon, much more common.

Entering the coach house and stables.

A couple of rooms which would have been the quarters for the coachmen.

Horses quarters...

...with some fancy touches since this was a great house.

Here we are heading towards the gardens behind the palace.

 Love the architecture.

 Garden bench.

 We came pretty early in the growing season.  I bet it's just beautiful later in the summer.

 But it was fun to see shaped shrubs, etc.

 A highlight was walking down this natural archway that was lined on the outside with an entire row of blooming hyacinth.  The aroma all the way down was a-mazing.

 We came around to smell the hyacinth up close when we got to the end.

 These gates are the entrance to the gardens at the very back.  Outside them was a surprise that Mom had been waiting to show the kids.

 A small gate, going where?

 Any idea what it could be?

 A hedgerow maze!

 Isn't this the coolest thing?  I loved the whole atmosphere of this wonderful place.

 Sam and I found an entrance to an ice vault that was built straight into a hill, while the others were enjoying the maze.  A pretty ingenious way to store cold things before refrigeration.

 The end of our tour of the grounds around the palace was in the kitchen, which is separate from the house.

 The cook is showing us a mechanism she has for turning her meat on the fire.  There's a lever and pulley system that turns a gear to turn the meat.

 This is storage at the back of the kitchen.

More storage.  I love all of the earthy cookware and building materials.

 Some close-ups of the food on display.

 After we were done at the palace, we made our way over to the more modern shopping and dining area, outside of town.  On our way, Peter took this picture of me and Bronwyn.

 The weather was HOT.  Everyone is now tired, thirsty and hungry.

This pizza spot was just right.  Root beer, big glasses of water along with some pesto and barbeque chicken pizzas were just the thing.  So refreshing.

I considered posting only a sampling of pictures of our trip.  I decided to go ahead and post them all as this is sort of like my online scrapbook.  So, bear with me as I try to get them all on here pretty quickly and enjoy my reminiscing over the fun we had!