Williamsburg: History in Action I

After a music filled First Night, we spent the next day exploring some of the more traditional attractions at Williamsburg. The town was still decked in its finest Christmas decorations. Wreaths hung from every door, and garland edged the windows, the doorways, and the edge where the roof meets the wall. The decorations were are creatively designed from natural items. Pomegranates and horse apples, orange slices, peach pits, artichokes and more graced the wreathes. There were even garlands of strung sycamore seeds. We made our way through town, coming by foot from the visitor's center complex, passing in front of the governor's guarded and decorated palace, and made our way down the palace green to the Duke of Gloucester Street.

We headed to the Kimball Theatre, where we were scheduled to see Dean Shostak’s Crystal Carols Concert. Dean started off with the eerie and beautiful glass armonica, moved on to glass bells, played a bit of a glass violin, and ended with the Cristal baschet. This display and demonstration of unusual instruments is not to be missed. The sounds are unlike anything you have ever heard, and the delicacy of the instruments involved is stunning.

We made our way back to the Governor's Palace, and took a tour of its interior. Though rather small for a building with such a large name as palace, the rooms are beautifully decorated. From the sword and gun covered foyer to the spacious rooms for dancing and gathering at the back. After our tour, we headed down through the gardens behind the palace to the hedge maze there. While it was enough to entertain me running through it for a bit, it's not much of a maze, and the hedges are thin and sparse, making cut throughs all too easy.

We returned to Gloucester, and stopped in to visit the explore the magazine, and to learn a little about the colonial judiciary system at the courthouse across the street. We made our way to the Raleigh tavern, where we waited to get into to see some actors discuss the issues of the revolution. While we waited, Jake headed over to the Raleigh Tavern Bakery and got us some brownies and hot chocolate that was wonderful. We continued up the street to the Capitol building and took a tour of its interior, and learned about the colonial era government system. The green cloth gives many of the rooms the air of a poker joint, rather than the halls of government, but the rich wood decorations and historical narratives are not to be missed. We headed up the street, stopping in many of the shops, explored the wig maker's and some of the smiths. The smell of wood smoke from the fireplaces filled the air as we finally made our way to a bus station that carried us around to our car at the visitor's center.

We headed over to eat at Sal's Ristorante Italiano. The food was decent home style Italian, but certainly not fantastic, and the service was slow. It did make for a more relaxing meal than the hustle and bustle around historic Williamsburg. It was a pleasant end to a busy day.