We spent today in Colonial Williamsburg. Williamsburg is a community that has been restored to the era before the signing of the declaration of independence. 70% of the buildings in the community are original.
We start by paying for our passes so that we can go into most of the buildings. We walked to the orientation area and start with an orientation walk along the lawn in front of the Govenor's Palace. The tour gave us some idea of what we should go see.
Next we went to the Geddy house. Geddy was a silversmith. Most all of the buildings in Williamsburg demonstrate some kind of trade. These tradesman are quite skilled and sell their services to the local gentry (the upper class).
Across the lawn from the Geddy house is the Wythe house. This is the home where Thomas Jefferson studied law. We didn't manage to tour this house.
From the Geddy House we toured a few more building including the Bindery. At this era of time, the printer and the binder seldom do work together. Most printing is for newspapers or pamphlets that don't require binding. Binding is very expensive so few people can afford to buy books. The bindery makes money by selling blank books to merchants for their record keeping.
Our timing is good as we were the last party to sign up for lunch at the Kings Arm Tavern. The food was very good and our waiter was wonderful. After lunch, he asked the kids in the room questions about American history of this period, For getting correct answers, the kids received Kings Arm Tavern pins.
After lunch we headed to the Capital building. This was a fascinating tour. A lot of our American history and event that led to American independence took place in this building. Thomas Jefferson was a Burgess (elected representative) for Virginia and would work with other Burgess to pass laws that triggered the start of the Revolutionary War. Three presidents were Burgesses for Virginia. The president of the first two Continental Congresses was from Virginia and probably would have been the president for the rest had he not died in 1775. I found the tour to be most educational and enlightening with respect to the history of the United States.
As we walked down the street from the Capital Building we visited several more merchant buildings, including another silversmith and a millenary.
We closed the day by visiting a few gift shops.
Williamsburg was a wonderful historical experience.
Tomorrow we will be leaving Virginia and heading to West Virginia.
