Colonial Williamsburg - Williamsburg - TravBuddy

Colonial Williamsburg Photos

Colonial Williamsburg

based on 3 reviews

Contact & Location Details [edit]

Colonial Williamsburg Reviews

2 / 2 people found this review helpful
Colonial Williamsburg: History Recreated Mar 20, 2008
Colonial Williasmburg, Virginia, is one of the most famous among the living museum period recreations. Since the 1930s, early structures have been restored or entirely rebuilt and put on display and colonial costumed reenactors have given visitors a glimpse into life at the time of the American Revolution.

A ticket gives the visitor full access to the various buildings, trade and craft displays, and activities and programs. You can then watch the shoemaker and carpenter at work, see the restored interiors of the Governor's Mansion and House of Burgesses, hear heated debates among the townsfolk on separation from Britain, or watch as Governor Dunmore denounces the Massachusettss colonists to the north for dumping tea in Boston Harbor. The costumed cast memebers relly get into their characters and a lot happens around the restored area seemingly at random. Don't be surprised if you see a mother carrying her real (and also costumed) infant around colonial style or if a minute man on horseback suddenly rides up Duke of Gloucester Street to warn of the advance of the British. Many activities are aimed at young visitors, from colonial games to cooking and musketry demonstrations. (A classic activity is to have your photo taken in the stocks next to the Courthouse.)

However, you don't need a ticket to enjoy much of the Historic Area. You can see the exteriors of the buildings, eat at the taverns, and shop at the stores without admission.

Williamsburg has had its criticisms--blurring of what is historically real and what is a recreation, behaving too much like a theme park (but history can be fun, after all), and coming to terms with slavery and darker sides of its past. Clearly, a lot of history happened at Williamsburg and Colonial Williasmburg does its best to bring it to life for modern visitors.

Whether you go for the full experience or only take time to walk Duke of Gloucester Street, I highly recommend a stop at Colonial Williamsburg when you are in the mid-Atlantic region.
Governor's Palace and Palace Green
Coach at the Governor's Palace
Muskets at the Governor's Palace
Colonial cooking demonstration
Colonial games
Peyton Randolph House
Coach at the Court House
Capitol (House of Burgesses)
Moonvera says:
One of my favorite places in wonderful VA! :-)
Posted on: Apr 09, 2008
You need to be logged in to leave comments and smiles. Becoming a member is free and easy — Join the TravBuddy Community!
1 / 1 people found this review helpful
Oct 10, 2007
There is alot of activities for moms and dads, can see how they traded in the 18th century and go to wonderful wine tastings. For the kids there is playing games and lending a hand with the crops. From 1699 to 1780, Williamsburg was the political social and cultural capital of Great Britains largest, wealthiest and most populous colony.The hall of the house of Burgesses at the Capital echoes with the voices of Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason and other Virginia leaders who debated the issues of F reedom and liberty for Virginians.At the court house, you might be invited to be a witness,defendant or judge in a re-creation of the court case from the 1700'.While walking around the old town you can see how the carpenter made shoes for his people. And there are alot of fresh food markets to taste the wonderful fresh foods of the land.Its wonderful to see how they lived in the 1700 century.
The shoes maker, hes still makes...
Williamsburg Village closed up early....... Aug 23, 2008
Gotta tell you that it was so cheap because evidentley they close down
when and before the sun goes down. There were some stores open, but
not many. So of course, you buy, you pay. As far as anyone in garb,
well, the ones we saw, they were running to get out of costume to go
home, run into hiding, or you could not get to the closed area where
they were.Makes alot of sense then. We would have loved to seen this
area and were willing to pay. We had really liked the area of Williamsburg, but after this, we crossed off.

» Browse All 34 Things To Do in Williamsburg

Colonial Williamsburg Map [help geo-locate]
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links

Travel Blogs From Williamsburg

The Road to Williamsburg

We had been planning our Williamsburg trip for a while. Williamsburg is one of our favorite road trip destinations and hardly a year goes by that w...

Colonial Williamsburg Virginia

For everyone passing thru Virginia or visiting Virginia I recommend to see Colonial Williamsburg.  It is quite nostalgic and a great place to take the f...

A Day at Busch Gardens

March 21 was opening day for the 2008 season at Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg. We were on our way from our Kingsgate hotel by 9:20 for the 10:00 ...

Colonial Williamsburg

My friend Kate nannies for a family whose grandma lives in that area and had offered a place to stay for free; knowing my penchant for history, she asked if ...

A Colonial Christmas

After George read a couple of Revolutionary War books this past year and visited Boston, I thought it was time to show him my state's colonial history. C...

» See all 11 Williamsburg travel blogs