Colonial Williamsburg

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Video: Train at Anvil Campground

We arrived in the quiet bucolic countryside of Virginia yesterday after a pleasant, if long, drive from Denver, NC. This was the first time Peg had sat in the LT. It towed the car nicely, with good power going up the hills around here, and the Brake Buddy worked well and was a real comfort.

We arrived at the Anvil Campground around dusk. They had placed us in the 30 amp area and we were all by our selves. On Saturday we met with Terri. It's so strange for us, her as well, to be seeing people we know from "home" in these different places. We took the day together to tour Colonial Williamsburg. We were told that we couldn't really do it justice in one day, and that is an understatement. They publish a weekly brochure of everything that goes on there, basically non-stop from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. The "park", if you can call it that, is a curious mixture of historical re-enactment, modern commercial establishments, and private residences. Refreshingly, the actors aren't forced to remain in character so they are easy to talk with. Since they aren't restricted they can answer questions that their "characters" might not have known about. I asked one young man if his sun glasses were period. They looked like John Lennon glasses. He said they were, and that the Chinese had invented sun glasses thousands of  years prior. He was part of a brief tour of the Capitol building, but we were on our way to the Fife and Drum march which was about to begin. We never got back to tour the Capitol building.

Capitol Building

The Fife and Drum march began after a full reading of the Declaration of Independence. How much do you remember?  "When in the course of human events..." is about all I remember. There is a lot in there, and to modern ears used to sound bites a lot of it sounds "blah, blah, blah-get on with it". And some of it sounds petty, and some of it maybe made up, or at least exaggerated. One of the colonial characters, there were several in the crowd listening, turned to me and said "He lies."

Colonial spectators, and a couple of tourists

 Others were supportive of the Declaration. It did give the sense that there were real divisions and disagreements, that the Declaration of Independence was not taken lightly and not wholeheartedly supported.

Video: Fife and Drum

The reading of the Declaration was followed by the Fife and Drum march. We followed down the main street and detoured into several of the many buildings and shops. Some are just stores selling Colonial tchotchkes others are working period shops like the blacksmith or tinsmith.

The Apothecary Shop

Man with interesting hat.

We slowly, and I mean slowly since there is so much to see, made our way down to our destination, which was of course, beer. The DoG Gastropub is at the end of the main street, on the modern side of Colonial Williamsburg. It was a bank at one time but now serves an extensive variety of beers, ales, stouts, etc. Also good food.

DoG Pub

It's called DoG because it is on the Duke of Gloucester Street. It has lots of beer.

On Tap

Or bottled

The food was good, too

Especially the lamb burger, on right

Texting Susan, "Wish you were here."

We have a 7 day pass for what they call The Triangle, which includes Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown. It'll be a busy week.