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Living in the Past? You Bet! A weekend getaway to Colonial Williamsburg By James Houck

Above: The Revolutionary City programs encompass the area surrounding Colonial Williamsburg’s Capitol. The Capitol was the site of many important political events that led to Virginia’s participation in the War for Independence. The most significant of these took place May 15, 1776, when Virginia’s legislators unanimously adopted a resolution declaring their independence from England, nearly two months before the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

Colonial Williamsburg in southeastern Virginia is a 3-hour drive from Annapolis and worth every mile of interstate travel. It’s a city that offers colonial tourism and collegiate living side by side, with William & Mary College next to the historic area. Though I initially balked at the idea of spending a weekend away from home to travel to yet another historic colonial town with an old college within (Annapolis suits me just fine, thank you very much), I eventually warmed to the idea of getting away from my ordinary surroundings. And so my fiancée, Kathy, and I made the trip back in time. And as it turned out, time travel was very, very cool.

James Anderson was the armorer to the Magazine prior to the Revolution and was public armorer for the duration of the Revolutionary War. The Anderson site highlights James Anderson’s role in the community as blacksmith, and his government role as armorer before and during the War. Photo credit: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Va.

When planning your trip to Colonial Williamsburg, know this: the historic town is small, but tourism looms large. This means that accommodations in the immediate area can fill fast, especially during weekends; window-shopping for your dinner is out of the question; and special programs and tours book up. You’ll want to put together a package in advance and www.colonialwilliamsburg.com is the Web site to visit when you do. The official Web site of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation enables you to book accommodations at any one of the foundation’s six properties ($49–799 per night), reserve a dining table at any of several taverns and restaurants, and order the ticket plan appropriate for your adventure. We took advantage of the Freedom Pass, $59 adults and $29 youths, giving us full access to all museums and programs, including Revolutionary City; discounted evening colonial performance tickets; and free shuttle bus service.

Also consider that this trip will have you walking, walking, and walking some more. Despite the timely shuttle buses that can drop you off at designated points of interest, you’ll be walking from museum to blacksmith to wigmaker to archeological dig, so be nice to your feet and bring the most comfortable pair of walking shoes from your closet. If you want to enjoy the nature trail walk into the historic area, you’ll thank yourself.

We checked into the Woodlands Hotel & Suites (our spacious king bed suite was $169). It has family written all over it, with a pool and a kid-friendly restaurant, but it caters to all visitors comfortably. It is the newest hotel owned and operated by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and, basically, the starting point for the Williamsburg experience—it is situated next to the modern visitor’s center, the Bridge to the Past, and the nature trail that leads to the main attractions.

In the 18th century, the Liberty Pole, which featured a bag of feathers on one arm and a barrel of tar in the other, deterred colonists from expressing loyalty to the Crown. A number of events that occurred during 1774 and 1776 were pivotal to the evolution of Virginians from subjects of a distant monarch to citizens of a self-governing republic. Photo credit: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Va.

Before we went to the historic area, we spent a half hour at the visitor’s center being “briefed” by the 1957 film Williamsburg: the Story of a Patriot, which provided a historical perspective. Then, with a colonial frame of mind and our area map and weekly event guide in hand, we sought living history at its best.

We enjoyed meandering along Duke of Gloucester Street and exploring the surrounding properties, peeking into trade shops. This activity was punctuated by spirited performances by the Eastern Cherokee dancers and, later in the day, at Revolutionary City, a Court of Tar and Feathers! This was a mock public trial of a gentleman with lips loose from alcohol who, in this performance, lambasted the men of Virginia who had answered the call to arms for the defense of American liberty. His sentence for challenging the rights and liberties of the revolutionaries was a good old-fashioned tarring and feathering at the Liberty Pole. Revolutionary City, the latest development in Colonial Williamsburg, is a cordoned-off section of the historic area where reenactments and performances are staged. Great orators, firebrands, revolutionaries, slaves, and even a few drunkards (actors, mind you) create this altogether riveting attraction.

We enjoyed just a taste of the daily bustle, camaraderie, and performances throughout the historic area and Revolutionary City. At the other end of Duke of Gloucester Street, respite from the 1700s can be found. The Merchants Square plaza features shopping and dining, twenty-first century–style, and serves as a nice reminder of the times in which we live. Of particular note, we enjoyed a visit to the Cheese Shop, a gourmet specialty store opened in 1971 by Thomas and Mary Ellen Power, where we purchased a fine bottle of Pinot Noir and two triangles of rich cheese for after-dinner “dessert.”

Horse and carriage rides offer a relaxing and fun way to enjoy the site seeing in Colonial Williamsburg. Photo credit: James Houck

For evening fare we returned to the historic area and colonial experience, where the King’s Arms Tavern suitably served the authentic dishes of the 1700s in a cozy house, lit only by candles and warmed by a fireplace. The servers, all wearing the period costume of estate servers, were on point and genuinely pleasant. We enjoyed peanut and crayfish soups, the eighteenth-century appetizer sampler (very, very interesting items on that plate to be discovered!), buffalo meatloaf, and a monstrous roast prime rib of beef. All delicious and filling—a meal fit for a cold winter’s eve.

After dinner we made haste to the Capitol building, where we enjoyed watching Cry Witch, a re-creation of the dramatic witch trial of “the Virginia Witch”—intense and very exciting. In the later hours we enjoyed walking off some calories, finding Duke of Gloucester Street still charming well into the evening, with many candlelight tours taking place and the lackadaisical merriment of other post-dinner strollers. We sauntered along, past Merchants Square, toward William & Mary College, from which we could distinctly hear the sounds of reggae music—a concert perhaps? Sure enough, back in the twenty-first century, the college was hosting a large, outdoor reggae concert—quite an interesting juxtaposition to our 1700s fun-filled day. After soaking in the sounds for a few minutes we wandered further into the college area and quaffed a pint at the College Deli & Pizza Restaurant, which was swarming with college students, loud rock music, and a buzz best described as “a party.”

Altogether the “world’s largest living history museum” and a dose of collegiate fun proved to be just what we needed to get away from another typical weekend at home.