Monthly Archives: October 2014

Several years ago we came to Williamsburg and I recall coming to Jamestown as well, but I sure don’t remember what we saw at the Jamestown Settlement yesterday.  If you have been there prior to 2006 its time to take a return trip because a lot has been going on there.  There have numerous archaeological findings on the property and active digs happening now.

 As the guide said, “archaeology is the embodiment of the saying that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure”.  In fact, they have built a museum on the Settlement property to hold the findings and at least two of the findings have been classified as the most important findings in the world during two consecutive years.  They now have the exact outline of the original triangular fort and portions of the additions changing the shape to a five sided structure.
Model of what original fort looked liked

They have the exact location of the church building where John Smith and Pocahontas were married forming an alliance with the local Virginia Indians.  They have uncovered 75 grave sites and remains including the gruesome discoveries of what happened during the starving period when they were forced to eat anything they could find including rodents, dogs, cats, and horses.  They also found forensic evidence of survival cannibalism and they were able to provide a reconstruction of a skull of a young teenage girl giving her the name Jane.  This is like an episode of “Bones” or CSI but for real.

There is also a glassblower demonstration on the site and you can actually buy pieces made during the demonstration.

I had no idea, but we learned that glassblowing is dated back to the early Egyptians over 4500 years ago.  Unfortunately for Jamestown, it did not turn out to be a good source of income to the early settlement and this entire region soon chose tobacco as the product of choice to export.

They have also added a nice little Cafe’with a porch facing the James River.  Of course, that was our lunch choice and we highly recommend it for your visit as well.

Tomorrow Carol will be leaving us heading to pick up her friend in Annapolis and we will be heading south to North Carolina for a few days.  We will miss our traveling buddy.

Pictures of Williamsburg Plantation where we stayed Entrance and Registration office

Our villa for the week

We decided today was a good day to visit two of the many plantations in the area and we were told The Berkeley Plantation and the Shirley Plantation were the two not to miss.  Berkeley Plantation actually publicizes itself as the location of the First Thanksgiving when the small band of pilgrims landed in 1612 and immediately knelt to give thanks for their safe arrival.

They built their small settlement for three years before the Native Indians massacred the entire community.  The plantation was eventually bought by the Harrison family and became the home of Benjamin Harrison, signer of the Constitution, and birthplace to two subsequent Presidents.  This plantation has beautiful grounds right on the James River, used by many in the day to travel to the plantation.

View of James River from the Plantation

In fact, this plantation is where General McClelland had his men stationed during the Civil War after being pushed out of Richmond and where President Lincoln came to see him to relieve him of his command.

When lunch time came, we stopped at a restaurant highly recommended by someone at Berkeley called the Charles City Tavern.

Green Fried Tomatoes

Virginia Apple Salad with walnuts, blue cheese cranberries and chicken salad

Chicken Salad Sandwich

The Shirley Plantation on the other hand, was spared by the Indian uprising that destroyed most of the other settlements in the early 1600’s and was not touched during the Civil War.

As a result, this plantation has been in continuous operation for over 400 years with a member of the original family living on site all that time.  In fact, most of the plantations only open the first floor of the main houses to visitors because the upper floors are used as the residences of the owning family.  The youngest couple, married in the Spring, currently live in the two top floors of the Shirley Plantation but have their kitchen and laundry in the basement.  The only staircase in the building is a floating staircase, no visible means of support, and is still in continuous use today after over 400 years.  Now that’s good construction!

Entrance driveway into the plantation

One of the out buildings on the plantation with cotton field in background

After we left Shirley, we found a Wawa and Carol introduced us to their Iced Coffee.  All I can say is “now we are really in trouble!”

Back to Williamsburg to do some shopping before going to the Whaling Company Restaurant for a light dinner of clam chowder, steamed clams, ahi tuna, and french fries.  No one is ever going to accuse us of being nutritionists!

Only this time by bus!  We were up early so we could leave the Villa by 5:50 a.m. and stop at Wawa for coffee before we met our tour bus at K-Mart.  Don’t be judgmental.  We are not crazy.

The tour bus driver was a lifetime Williamsburg resident who filled the trip with interesting information and stops throughout the day.  For me, at least, the highlight was the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington.

It was obvious every detail was meticulously planned and monitored.  Each step taken by the guards is exactly like the step of every other guard in pace, length and execution.  Matt, our tour driver, told us that although many apply for the “Tomb Guards” very few are selected.  All the candidates have to fall into a specific height, weight, and waist size demographic to even apply.  They must also take a vow of abstinence from drugs and alcohol for life, even though their term in service is only two years.  In addition to the official ceremony, we witnessed a special presentation of flowers from a school.  I suspect this ceremony never gets old.

Many stops and facts filled the day.  Some of the stops were a repeat from our trip in March and some were new but all were interesting and worth the trip back into D.C.  I’m convinced you could visit this city many times and never see all it has to offer.  Matt gave us one of those informational facts that blows my mind.  There are over 1,300,000 items to see in the Smithsonian Museum Buildings alone.  If you spent one minute looking at each item, it would take you over 230 years to see each item.  I guess that means don’t even try!

Pictures of places we visitedJohn F. Kennedy memorial with eternal flame

Arlington National Ceremony where Tomb of the Unknowns is located  Korean War Memorial plaque above the memorial below

Lincoln Memorial

FDR memorial

World War II memorial  Lincoln Memorial in background

White House

Capitol Building dome being repaired

On the way back, we stopped at the restaurant at Bass Pro Shop and had a great dinner of salads and fried crawfish and calamari.  Who knew!

Calamari

 Islamorada Salad – cranberries, cashews, blue cheese and vinaigrette dressing

Crawfish Tails and Caesar Salad

Back to Kmart and the car by 9 p.m. tired but glad we went.  This trip has done wonders for my insomnia.

The prognosis was for rain all day, so after yesterday’s hectic pace, we decided to take it easy today.  It was almost lunchtime before we ever left the Villa but even then we weren’t in a hurry.  A little shopping, a little Wawa coffee, a little lunch and a movie, then dinner.

Part of our arrival package was a coupon for a restaurant that served dinner for two including appetizer, soup or salad, entree’ and dessert for $50.00.  This seemed like the right day to do this, so that is where we went after the movie.  Aberdeen Barn was a perfect choice and we didn’t have to drive very far.  As a matter of fact, I don’t think we drove more than twenty miles all day, which was good after yesterday.

At 8:30 p.m. we had reservations for a Ghost Tour in Colonial Williamsburg.  We dressed ourselves up to stay dry in the rain and off we went.

Three guides took the three groups in different directions through the dark streets of Williamsburg with nothing but the light of a single candle lamp.

Our guide with her lantern

We went into the Governor’s Palace and sat in a small room with chairs and very low lighting.

Before long, a young man entered the room and began talking to us about all that he had seen and heard since he left his wife and two small daughters to fight in the war.  At the end, we realized he was the ghost of a dead soldier.  Then off to a second room with a man playing a flute.  He was an incredible storyteller and told the story of a man who was sentenced to hang, but the rope broke.  While the Sheriff and Judges were debating if they could hang him again for the same crime, he grabbed the second rope put in place for a second man and hanged himself.  A true story!  The next and final story was in the smallest of the three rooms with only benches and a well dressed young man telling his story of desertion, trickery, deceit and murder.

By now the rain had stopped making the walk back to the car much easier, except for the “lumps” in the middle of the roads from the horse drawn carriages earlier in the day.

Nice day!

Yesterday we decided to go into D.C. on our own and do some things we wanted to see that are not included in the tour we are taking on Thursday.  The drive was a little over 2 hours and we went straight to the Reagan Building Underground Parking Garage.  As an added benefit, they had Valet Parking in the Garage which made the parking issue a no-brainer.  On the way up to the ground floor, we stopped for a restroom break and discovered a huge food court and since it was lunch time, that issue was taken care of as well.  We found a place called Bassett’s Turkey where they baked fresh turkey breasts for all their lunch offerings.  Carol and I had Turkey Caesar Salads and Jim had turkey soup and a grilled cheese and turkey sandwich.  We were saving our appetite for something special we had planned for dinner.

About a month ago, they opened a new White House Visitors Center showing background stories on many of the First Family’s stories.

It was well worth the extra trip into D.C..  Did you know that President Grant had a special table made for his Cabinet that had eight locking drawers so that each Cabinet Member could store some of their papers securely.  We  also found out one of the Presidents’ favorite foods was squirrel soup.  I’m not going to tell which one so I don’t spoil the surprise for you when you come to see for yourself.  Pictures below of inside the visitors center.

From there we walked to the National Air and Space museum.

 When we were here in March, this was one of the Smithsonian buildings we didn’t have time to go into.  There was everything from Wilbur and Orville Wright to the most current space flights with details and facts interesting to every flying enthusiast.

Then the long walk back to the Parking Garage.  I can tell you we were bushed!  Unfortunately, we were leaving D.C. right at Rush Hour(s) and what should have taken us 50 minutes took over two hours.  You see we were not headed back to Williamsburg, but heading north to Baltimore to a restaurant owned by the nephew of one of our friends.  The restaurant called “Clementine” has been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.  I can tell you that I would go back without any hesitation!  A very eclectic menu that changes daily telling a different story with food each day.

We started our story with a Pickle Plate Appetizer that included Bread and Butter pickles, pickled okra, cucumbers pickled in sea salt, pickled tomatoes and pickled cabbage.

Each one was delicious and just the right amount of pickle and crispness.  When our entree’s arrived, they looked so good, we almost forgot to take the pictures.  So please forgive any teeth marks you see on the food.  Jim had a fabulous trout dish, I had lamb chops with spinach and Carol had the best meatloaf I have ever tasted.  I kid you not, it tasted like steak!

After dinner we started the 3 1/2 hour drive back to Williamsburg getting to our Villa around 12:30 a.m.  I assure you we are staying close to home on Wednesday and sitting around drinking coffee for a long time in the morning.

Today is the official start of our newest adventure.  We are spending a week in Williamsburg, Virginia visiting Colonial Williamsburg and Washington D.C.  We have invited Jim’s sister, Carol, to join us and we met yesterday at the Williamsburg Plantation Resort minutes apart.  After looking over all the options for things to do, we attacked the day with a plan for the week and excited to begin this new adventure.

Even though The Weather Channel had promised us sunshine today and delivered drizzling rain, we followed the plan and headed to Colonial Williamsburg.  We were delighted to find that the one day ticket price allows people over 55 years of age to re-enter the area unlimited times between today and December 31st.  This eliminates the need to push ourselves to see all the things available in one day.  Between Jim’s bad knee and Carol’s recent infirmities from a fall, we are in no condition to take on Colonial Williamsburg in one day!

We started with a 35 minute long film depicting the sentiment of the day back prior to the Boston Tea Party and how Thomas Jefferson and John Frye first met when they served their first term in the House of Burgess.  It’s interesting that the film was originally made in 1957 and is still the same film shown today although colorized and digitally enhanced.  The film made me think what would be my stance if I had to make those same decisions today that they had to make back then.  Do you stay true to the “homeland” or opt for something new and better.  Think about that.

As I’m sure you know, there are numerous shops with educational information given by people representing craftsmen of the day.  I got particularly interested in the Jeweler’s Shop because there was a woman working with the silver and cooper.

I asked her if there were really woman silversmiths in the day and I was surprised at her answer.  She said all the trades, include blacksmith, had women working in them.  Back then, things were not as gender specific as they became later on and a child of either sex was sent to apprentice with a craftsman in the field in which they showed talent.  She said there were many women working as blacksmiths and that the craft requires less brute strength than the stereotype.  A silversmith has to be able to strike a hammer within 1/8 of an inch of the spot they intend and a blacksmith has a variance of about 1/2 inch.

She was so informative and I was having fun, but Jim came and got me because it was time to check on our lunch reservation.  Good thing because they had called our name.  We were eating at the King’s Tavern and people were waiting an hour to get in.

We decided to eat our primary meal for lunch and partake of traditional colonial food, which meant a cup of peanut soup garnished with chopped peanuts and sippets.  It tasted just like liquified peanut butter and we were glad we got one cup for the three of us to share.  Our entrees were Chicken Pottage Pye, (their spelling not mine), Fried Chicken with roasted potatoes and baked tomato, and beef with cheese and fries.  All three were delicious and I know this because we shared so we all got a taste of them all.  By the way, the Pottage Pye is a Chicken Pot Pie if you didn’t guess that.

After lunch we went into the wig maker’s shop.

I never realized that back in the day, wigs were custom made for each person by first shaving their heads and making an exact diagram of the individual head to include all bumps and shapes to help a woodcarver make a replica of the head.  That head is what will be used to make the wig and then reshape and dress the wig each time after.  Thomas Jefferson had seven different wigs including white for evening and formal occasions.  Patrick Henry had seventeen.   Their answer for bad hair days!

The balance of the afternoon was spent leisurely walking around and enjoying the area.  Jim took these pictures that we hope you enjoy.

Interior of General Store

Jewelry Store
Bakery a must stop
Pharmacy  Governors Mansion
House along main road of Colonial Williamsburg

Episcopal Church

And we ended the day with a trip to Wawa!