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I’ll just state up front that I am not a fan of living-history museums. They very much feel to me like if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Historical cooking? Check. A blacksmith? Check. A tailor? You betcha. Some people say ooh, I say sigh.
However, Colonial Williamsburg is the mother of all living-history sites, so I thought if there was one to do, this was it. Doug had previously been here (twice), so I went while he was working.
Colonial Williamsburg is a 301-acre area that has several hundred restored and recreated buildings from the 18th Century, representing the time when Williamsburg was the capital of the Virginia colony. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James Monroe, James Madison, and many other famous names from history would have been frequent visitors, first as British colonists and later as the leaders of our young nation.
The seat of Virginia’s government moved to Richmond in 1780, after which a long, slow decline followed for Williamsburg. Original buildings were destroyed, modified or slipped into disrepair. However, in the 1920s, a campaign was started to restore Williamsburg as a way to commemorate this era of history in the United States.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., became interested in the project, and became a significant financial force for it. By the late 1920s he and a partner were quietly buying up properties, until eventually the plan was publicly revealed.
During the re-creation of the town, 720 buildings that postdated 1790 were demolished, along with some 18th Century buildings that were considered beyond repair.
500 buildings were reconstructed or restored using historical records, letters, early photographs, etc.
However, it was not necessarily a faithful effort. Notes Wikipedia,
The Capitol is a 1930s beaux arts approximation of the 1705 building at the east end of the historic area. It was designed by the architectural firm Perry, Shaw & Hepburn, who had it rebuilt as they thought it should have been, not as it was, despite objections and archaeological evidence to the contrary. The modern reconstruction is off-center, its floorplan is skewed, and its interior is overly elaborate.
Ouch.
My visit started with the orientation film they’ve been showing since 1957. You can imagine the portrayal of slaves shown in that (or you can watch it online yourself, if you’d rather not use your imagination for such things). It was a little rough to sit through, I thought, though if you read the reviews on the link, other people seemed to love it.
You can wander through Colonial Williamsburg without buying a ticket, but the art museums (one for Folk Art and another for Decorative Arts) and some of the historic homes require a ticket to enter. Considering you can see a good chunk with no ticket, I thought the $50 ticket fee was a bit steep, especially since not everything was open on the day I went. I shelled out for it nonetheless.
I spent most of the day there, determined to get the full experience. I did every tour available, saw some of the demonstrations, and spent hours in the art museums, which were a bit overwhelming, and, I thought, off-topic. I had to return a different day to see the Fife and Drums Corps, since it turns out it doesn’t happen daily (short video below).
Overall, I found the experience to be just “fine”. As not everything opened at the same time, I really crisscrossed the area and got my steps in. But I did not walk away thinking it was worth $50, or that it was something I would recommend to anyone, unless they are someone who can’t get enough of Colonial America and/or watching a costumed interpreter sew.
