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The little girl gazes, transfixed, as the Colonial Williamsburg commercial appears on the tv. Men in three corner hats beat drums, a woman in cap and ample skirts spins wool, and the boy, the boy chasing that hoop down the lane with all the joy of Christmas morning. Oh that her history loving heart could experience such a place.
Growing up, she visits Williamsburg, Virginia, several times. Each time she is outvoted by her group. Either Colonial Williamsburg is too expensive or too boring. The girl sighs defeated, until now, because she FINALLY gets to visit Colonial Williamsburg.
Fun Fact, you can walk around the grounds of Colonial Williamsburg without a ticket purchase. The tickets merely allow you to tour the inside of the houses, the trades, and walk around the gardens. If the ticket price is too steep, or if you have little ones who would not appreciate a full day of spinning wool and colonial political lessons, no worries.
You can walk the lanes, see the charming architecture, shop, wave to a carriage passing by, and bask under the shade of this gigantic tree. No ticket required.
Visiting this adorable, chill, sheep, is also free.
Buildings and Houses
If you do invest in tickets, you can tour the buildings and historic houses.
The Governor’s House is a must. Our guide is everything my Colonial Williamsburg visitor heart could want for.
The inside is impressive, and the grounds are lovely. Were I ever exceedingly rich, I’d have a hedge maze on my estate.
At the Capitol and the Courthouse, we learn about colonial politics.
My favorite house is the George Wythe House. The staff are delighted by my history enthusiasm and give us lots of information about all of the rooms.
It’s inspiring thinking about the inhabitant of this house who fervently studied science.
*Note-We visited during the time of COVID so we weren’t permitted to tour any of the upstairs rooms of the houses/buildings
Trades
The most exciting part of visiting Colonial Williamsburg, is getting to learn about trades.
I enjoy the wigmakers more than I anticipated. Watching them thread the wigs is relaxing. The wigmakers chat about colonial fashion and explain the origin of the powder room ( originally the room where you powdered your wig).
Having the heart of a gardener, the garden is a highlight for me.
Look at all the chubby caterpillars.
Fans of the show Forged in Fire, we’re delighted to visit the forge.
Readers both, it’s no surprise that our favorite trade of the day, is the book bindery. We stop in twice to ask questions and hear about the lost art of book binding.
I want to know every book binding step in detail. A future hobby perhaps?
*Note-Not every trade operates everyday. They are on a rotation. Apothecary aside, I’m happy with the number of trades we got to visit. Too many, and we would have felt pressured to cram too much into a single day.
Food
Everyone said we had to get something from the bakery during our Colonial Williamsburg visit, but alas, it’s one of the trades closed the day of our visit. We were looking forward to eating a real old-timey meal at the King’s Arms Tavern, but strike two, closed until further notice during our stay. Shield’s Tavern, also closed, and Chownings only had the snack garden open, so we struck out eating in Colonial Williamsburg (we had an amazing meal at Amber Ox in town so no regrets).
Final Thoughts
We had a great time exploring Colonial Williamsburg. Thanks to our friend Jim’s advice, we went during the coolest day of our trip. Gigantic tree not included, there’s a lack of shade as you wander the streets. A hot, sun-beating, day, could make you want to take an unadvised dip into the horses’ water trough.
If you need a break for ice cream, or prefer a slice of pizza or a delicious cheese sandwich, instead of a traditional game pie, the main, modern, town, is within walking distance of the tourist site.
Shows like Little House on the Prairie and Anne of Green Gables, ignited my love for history. I’m less fascinated by the dates or dramatic events, and more interested in how people lived their everyday lives. No matter the time period, I want to know all of the details about what people wore, ate, how they spent their free time, etc… Colonial Williamsburg delivered on all of my history wants. That little commercial loving girl, FINALLY got to see her hoops, three cornered hats, and wool spinner. It was worth the wait.
More Fun Things to do in Williamsburg
We Eat A Lot of Williamsburg Ice Cream
Here’s where to stay if you’re visiting Colonial Williamsburg
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Dawn Byrne
atThank you for including that you can walk around for free. I didn’t know that. Your post makes me want to go to Colonial Williamsburg. Thank you for also including that this is great for those interested in how people had lived their everyday lives. It made me realize that I also don’t particularly care for historic events (lots of war) but am interested in everyday life lived in the past. I really enjoyed this post and got a lot of it. Thank you again.