On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Betsy
Colonial Williamsburg is a place every American should have the opportunity to visit at least once. It’s beautiful, it’s richly educational about history and government, there is something to interest everyone (unless the only things you love are cars and television) — and what’s more, the streets are public and a lot of it is free.
The beautiful gardens are almost my favorite part. Every gate is open, and all the gardens behind the houses and public buildings connect.
You might be the only person exploring.
Each parterre, walled garden, little wilderness, flowerbed, and pasture leads to the next. You can explore for hours. Very inviting.
It’s all free and open to the public, even after hours.
Most of the structures are original, while others are carefully reconstructed. The entire colonial city, which was the colonial capital of the colony of Virginia, is preserved like a fly in amber since the Rockefellers bought most of it in the early-mid 20th century and endowed a foundation for its upkeep and to make it a public living history site.
The docents (costumes interpreters) are across the board excellent. Many have graduate degrees in history or are researchers. In recent years, interpretation of the site has focused more and more on the lives and experience of all people, including those who were enslaved and those who were less powerful than the male landholders of the colony.
But the halls of power and the acts of those who made “official” history are of course a central part of the interpretation.
The city was named for William of Orange, who was co-regnant with his wife Mary on the throne of England at the time the city was founded. William was Dutch, and the English fashions of the time in both gardening and architecture reflected this.
I could say so much more, but these are just some sights that show how much there is to see on a free visit to some of the outdoor areas of the city.
A day pass purchase gains you entrance to all the buildings and interactions with the excellent historical interpreters, from blacksmiths to musicians to militia officers and cooks. There is hardly a question you can ask that they can’t answer.
As a total nerd for history (and art and architecture and furnishings and gardens and walking in car-free places), I could visit this place again and again!
AM in NC
Beautiful photos, and thank you for the great information on Williamsburg. Makes me want to go back there as a now adult!
Jerzy Russian
Nice pictures. I love the parks with the period actors, who for the most part are well-trained and very knowledgeable. I have been to a few near Boston and Philadelphia, perhaps Williamsburg should be next.
Matt McIrvin
I got my fill of Colonial Williamsburg by, more or less, going to college there (or immediately adjoining). Ironically, while CW is a car-free area, life in Williamsburg was stiflingly car-dependent, a problem with the area if you’re a college student.
BretH
Great photos and enticing narrative! Haven’t been there since High School but this makes me want to go again, especially when it’s only two hours away from me.
New Deal democrat
The part about it being mainly free is a two-edged sword. Because maybe 95% of the people on any given day strolling Duke of Gloucester Street aren’t paying guests means its revenue stream is very small, and it has been in financial trouble for the better part of a decade.
Also, as an aside . . . Stroll across the street to William and Mary where you can see two 30’ tall Chinese palm trees and the two northernmost California Coast Redwoods in the East. Planted in 1953, they are already 80’ tall and their trunks are over 3’ in diameter.
p.a.
Looks inviting, thanks!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Beautiful place
Matt McIrvin
…The other local theme park, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, has become a major destination for roller-coaster enthusiasts, though I haven’t been there since the early 1990s.
Van Buren
Also, short drives to Yorktown and Jamestown, both worth a visit.
Jeffg166
I remember hearing about colonial Williamsburg when I was a kid in the 50s. To me it was a bunch of reproductions. Sort of a Disneyland in Virginia.
Reading about it later in life I found out a lot of the buildings were original or the remnants of building were being repaired.
It all seems shiny and new in the 50s. Now it’s had time to age.
Spanky
Williamsburg has been continually remaking itself, both physically and in the way the interpreters interpret the 18th Century as our understanding evolves. People of color were nearly invisible the first time I was there. There is now an unvarnished interpretation of the enslaved life. The trades have also been revamped and expanded.
But I don’t recommend going on July or August unless you really ņeed to experience the Tidewater summer. Not recommended.
MazeDancer
Great photos. Such beautiful architecture.
Salty Sam
An acquaintance of mine in my blacksmith community was a re-enactor at Colonial Williamsburg. He had to know his trade backwards and forwards before he was hired on to interpret there, including specific aspects of the site itself. Very impressive.
Another Scott
We spent a few days there on a winter vacation around 15-20 years ago. Very interesting and relaxing. Interesting food there too, and in Williamsburg (Death by Chocolate was invented/popularized down the street.).
Nice pictures, thanks for the memories.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
Charming gardens. Poppies! Interesting architecture. Great combination.
I love the thought that all the gardens connect.
Betsy
@AM in NC: I forgot to mention too, it’s really close to Jamestown (first permanent English settlement, although most people in New England think it was Plymouth Rock) :) and the battlefield park of Yorktown, where the British, to their infinite and on-going surprise, surrendered to General Washington.
Betsy
@WaterGirl: I meant not to duplicate pictures and include more variety, but probably uploaded this when I was tired on a weeknight or something. Sorry!!!
Betsy
@Jeffg166: I believe about half the buildings are original and restored.
Many colonial buildings had Victorian or other additions or remodels that were removed to bring them back to their original form.
Betsy
@New Deal democrat: Well, it is in fact part of an actual modern city, so the streets are public, like streets in all towns and cities.
They are pedestrian-only during the day, but are open to cars after closing time for the tours.
Yes, they’ve had financial issues but I believe that’s more due to changing tastes in recent decades. People today complain that their children won’t hold still for any form of entertainment other than what includes loud noises and flashing images, and many adults also have not learned to enjoy things that involve thinking.
also, incredibly rich people are at fault, since they have developed a strange penchant for endowing things like pro football, stadiums, and reactionary institutes, instead of libraries and art museums.
Betsy
@Jerzy Russian: That’s my thing! When I was a girl, I dreamed of working there as an interpreter. I should have gone for it!!
MelissaM
My husband’s family were there often as the patriarch retired there. We have pictures of husband and siblings in colonial clothing my MIL sewed.
We were there15 years ago with the in-laws. Highlight of the trip was a *ahem* precious know-it-all kid getting knocked down a peg by the tour leader after kid questioned why that cello was so wrong. Kid, that’s a viol.
Feathers
It’s spendy, but you can stay overnight in some of the historic houses that have been converted into hotels. There are also restaurants where meals of the era served in candlelight and with a roaring fire. I must say that the experience which really helped me understand historical novels was going to one of the candlelit balls that they hold at the Governor’s Mansion. It’s amazing how few candles it takes to light up a large room and how your eyes adjust. It’s a beautiful glow. Movies don’t do it justice. They have way too many candles and it’s still too dark. It’s really fun, because the reenactors are all in fancy dress and chatting with you as if you were fellow guests. They also did some lovely dances.
It’s popular for honeymoons. They have private cottages that are basically a steamy historical novel or movie set. I went with a group of friends, organized by someone who had honeymooned there, always wanted to go back in wintertime. So we rented one of the multi room houses and had an thank-god-we’re-past-the-bridesmaids-age party. That was in the 90s, no idea what it costs now. Highly recommended. The place is lovely at night and in the winter.
Betsy
I forgot to mention that the beautiful campus of William and Mary U is right there in the historic town, and that many people live in private houses in the historic colonial section (full-time residents, not just employees and interpreters of the site).
I looked up how many of the structures are orginal and it’s 88 of the total 301 buildings in the colonial section. The rest are careful reconstructions. Each building has a marker stating whether it is orginal or reconstructed or partially reconstructed on a corner usually near the foundation.
pieceofpeace
I for one can’t seem to get enough garden photos this spring, and these are lovely. I like that they look as they might have long ago, and without too much formality.
Thank you!
Dr Daniel Price (Saint Vincent)
I lived in Williamsburg (technically in James City County) as a child and attended public schools from kindergarten through graduation from high school. Having been accordingly saturated with the town’s history and that of nearby settlements, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. How I survived the oppressively hot and humid summers there is a mystery.
Betsy
@Feathers: Yes!!! Went to one of the balls and danced with the costumed dancers. Everything you said.
The taverns are great places to eat. I had Virginia peanut soup, one of my favorite dishes. A fiddler came around and played airs of the late 1700s.
My companion talked to the musician about music in the hallway when he was taking a break, and he told us if we liked music we should go to the ball that night at the Governor’s Palace, so after dinner we hurried off to the ticket office for that.
At the ball, even the dance lessons were grounded in Virginia /English history. And of course the dance music was performed live and original to the period as well.
It was both low-key — candles, natural acoustic instruments, no electricity or amplification — and extremely fancy at the same time, with ladies and gentlemen in silks and wigs, splendid armor and portrait paintings lining the walls.
That was a truly unforgettable experience. I think the tickets were around $12-14 each. What a deal.
I’m so glad you mentioned about the taverns, inns, and Palace events.
JaneE
This is a place you almost have to visit multiple times. Different things happen at different times of the year. We were lucky enough to see the brick firing one visit. Not exactly a trip to Home Depot. The food and drink are wonderful. We had a punch at one of the taverns that was delicious, makes me wonder why no bars serve them now. I don’t know what admission is now, but when we went it was well worth the money.
Mike in NC
Many years ago I lived in Virginia Beach and visited Williamsburg several times. Nice place well worth seeing. The street we lived on was ‘Lord Dunmore Drive’ and I had to look up who he was: the last governor of the colony of Virginia who tried to raise an army of ex-slaves to fight for the British. He was very unpopular!
Just Some Fuckhead
The gardens behind the governor’s palace – not free! – are superb.