What I Did on My Williamsburg Vacation

Dear Readers,
I apologize. MARAC is upon us and I have about a dozen posts I intended to share, but the recent invasion of tourists to see me really threw me off schedule (who knew they would be able to stay awake so late into the evening??). Here then is a partial list of how we spent our time and I hope you will find a few things of interest.
Sincerely,
Amy

Day 1: Arrival. Drove from the Richmond airport to Williamsburg along Rt. 60, which has lots of roadside history signs folks love and brings you into Williamsburg via Richmond Road (aka Everything Tourists Want Road). This was followed by a drive through Colonial Williamsburg (CW) and dinner at Pierce's.

Day 2: Williamsburg Day. Visited just about everything at the College of William and Mary including the new and original statues of Lord Botetourt. Visited Merchants Square for a lunch of peanuts and ice cream.

Although the new Smithfield Hams shoppe was not yet open, we did find plenty of hams in the Peanut Shoppe to prove that we were indeed in Virginia. While getting cash from my bank's ATM across the street I also checked out the archaeological dig revealing a 17th-century building in its former parking lot. You think someone is just building a new building, but no, first they are unearthing buildings.

Peered at CW briefly. Despite what some would tell you, we did not find that Colonial Williamsburg was built on rock and roll.

Made a quick trip to New Town (New Town=shopping and restaurants). I am sorry to have to tell you that the Trader Joe's at New Town will not open until 2008, so we still have to make the 15 mile drive to the Newport News location. Relaxed on a patio enjoying seafood for dinner. Bought a pie. Mmmmm, pie.

Day 3: Norfolk. Norfolk is less than an hour from Williamsburg, but as there usually seems to be traffic on I-64 or in the tunnel plan for at least an hour's drive. We spent the day at the Norfolk Botanical Garden enjoying the tram and boat rides and communing with wildlife including a bald eagle pair, osprey, heron, turtles, and others. I wanted to go to the Chrysler Museum of Art as well, but some in our little group thought the weather was too perfect to spend time indoors. Little did they realize that almost every day was going to be that perfect. More seafood.

Day 4: Jamestown. Breakfast out (Williamsburg has a few pancake restaurants, dontchayaknow). A long lunch at Williamsburg Winery followed by a drive to Jamestown. There are two Jamestowns for visitors to choose from: the actual Jamestown site on the island operated jointly by the National Park Service and the APVA and Jamestown Settlement operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. If you are looking for the ships and the living history museum, head to the Settlement. If the dig and associated artifacts and buildings are your thing, head to the Jamestown Site. I'm a fan of the NPS and the dig, but unfortunately we doddled a bit too long listening to the APVA volunteers and were too late for the glasshouse. If you visit during the week chances are good that you will see archaeologists at work. We had more seafood for dinner.

If you visit the NPS site and watch the introductory film, pay attention during the opening montage and let me know if you think the track and field runners competing is a shot of the men's 100m final at the 1988 Olympics when Ben Johnson crossed the line first. It went by too quick for us and it has been nagging at me ever since. Thanks.

Day 5: On to Yorktown. Yorktown is also home to NPS and Virginia options: the Yorktown Battlefield & Visitor Center or the Yorktown Victory Center. At the Victory Center America’s evolution from colonial status to nationhood is chronicled through a blend of timeline, film, thematic exhibits, and outdoor living history. Yorktown Battlefield offers ranger and self-guided tours of the battlefield where in 1781, the British army under General Charles Lord Cornwallis was forced to surrender to General George Washington’s combined American and French army in the decisive battle of the Revolutionary War.

We opted to drive to Yorktown Battlefield (which was free using our tickets from the previous day's visit to Jamestown) arriving just in time for a tour from one of the men in green and after unsuccessfully looking for a tricorn hat big enough for me in the gift shop, we purchased a CD and let it lead us around the battlefield. Note you can easily do the tour without the CD using the brochure and signage available at the stops, but at only $5 it was the least I could do for the Park Service. If you have visited Yorktown in the last 25 years I will wager that this is the same audio tour you listened to then as it regularly tells you to stop and restart the tape and to take your tape player with you to a particular part of the various stops. In addition to the battlefield, houses are also part of the NPS site and Yorktown is easy to get around. Note that there is a trolley that makes regular stops at several locations in Yorktown including the waterfront, which has been redeveloped in recent years and includes critical tourist options such as a beach, boats (a schooner you can catch a ride on, I think), Ben and Jerry's, and various other shops. You may also choose to visit the Yorktown Victory Monument and the Watermen's Museum.

I have visited Yorktown and Jamestown on bitterly cold and gray days as well as ridiculously sunny and warm days and I think either works well for visits to these sites along the James and York Rivers. Then again, I am a softie for bleak and gray.

We went to another seafood restaurant. Note: if you liked Cooper's in Scranton, check out Captain George's where the buffets are built to resemble ships. Be warned that the decor is in no way as excellent as Cooper's. It is simply the ship theme connecting these two dining wonders.

Day 6: Charles City County. On the way out of Williamsburg, we took the long way to Richmond along Route 5/John Tyler Highway with the plan to visit a plantation. After much deliberation over the various options among the James River Plantations, we chose Berkeley Plantation. Berkeley has a lovely location along the James where after the introductory film a costumed guide will take you on a tour of the main house's first floor. You are then free to wander the grounds to see the Harrison family cemetery, monuments to the first Thanksgiving (take that Plymouth), the first playing of Taps, and others. Berkeley has seen quite a bit of history from its ownership by the Harrison family (filled with governors, delegates, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a President here and there), the encampment of the Union Army, visits by Abraham Lincoln, to the first distillation of bourbon whiskey by a minister. Please note that there are no samples offered during the house tour. There are however "Civil War Horshoes" for sale in the gift shop for $24.95.

Knowing I wanted to save something memorable for a future visit, we did not hit all of the highlights of Williamsburg. Plan accordingly for yourself.