We started the day with a drive over to colonial Williamsburg.

Those of you who have been there will know.  If you haven’t, put it on your list.

It’s more than seeing the sheep on the green

Or being serenaded during a lunch at a tavern (Bubble and Squeak, Pasties, and the BEST chocolate pecan pie).

It’s even more than the comical pictures (Yes, I know Cheryl wants one for her birthday. But I’m sure we don’t have room for it.)

For me it was the knowledge the various craftspersons brought to their presentations.

I was too engrossed in the discussion of 17th century women’s fashion to remember to take pictures in the millinery shop.  And by the time I remembered to take a picture in the silversmith’s shop all I could get was one shot of a pump drill.

In sum, a trip to Colonial Williamsburg is a good introduction to the technology of life in that period.

And it will leave you with questions. (How and why did they cut the square holes in the fence posts?)

From Williamsburg we took the short drive to the Jamestown Colonial National Historical Park

This park is cool because it’s a working archeological dig, and has been for a couple of decades.

So while there is lots to see, you can also watch real archeologists work. (You can tell an archeologist because their the ones with “archeologist” on their shirts.)

You can also see the results of their work.  The framework of this building is based on historical records of the time and the remnants of posts found in the dirt.

This is the 1608 church (Where Pocahontas and John Rolfe got married)  Again, the size and location is based on archeological evidence and the style of construction is based on records from the time.

This is a section of the palisade wall from the fort.  The original fort extended farther out into what is now the James River.  The river has eroded the bank rather significantly in the last 400 years.

It’s hard to see but this section of the entrance to the “new church” has names scratched into the bricks.  These are presumed to be Confederate troops who were stationed here in what turned out to be a backwater assignment during the Civil war.

There is an excellent museum at the park – well curated and very informative.  The three people pictured are John Smith, Powhatan (Pocahontas’ father), and Jane a facial reconstruction of a skeleton found with marks of canabalism on the bones – presumably dating to the awful winter of 1609-1610 when many in the community starved.

Suffering from serious “Museum Fatigue” we headed back to V.Beach and an excellent dinner (crab chowder, Fresh Tuna with cartelized onions, killer chocolate dessert) and an impromptu band concert in the adjacent street.  I’ve got a movie, but I need to figure out how to compress it before I can post it here.  I’ll work on that.

Tomorrow we head for Kitty Hawk – the farthest point of this adventure.  Then we turn our heads west.

Till then, Nite all.