Williamsburg One

--> Our first day in Williamsburg was spent, of course, at the colonial village. We were last her just less than thirty-two years ago and conisderable has changed. It goes without saying that the whole operation is slicker today than it was then, but there have been other changes, the most notable being the incorporation of non-white, non-planter narratives.

We started out walking the one third mile trail from the slick new visitor center to the village. That took us past the Great Hopes plantation, which was a plantation in the 17^th century sense of the word, a farm, not the great manors we think of today. In 1982 we were privileged to see a play put on by African-American interpreters who were struggling to make sense of their experience in Williamsburg, today African-Americans (40%) of the colony’s population, are a vital part of the story.

The history of Williamsburg’s recreation is fascinating and is not really our topic here. But what particularly captured our attention was Wetherburn’s Tavern, which is not a recreation, but the original building from the 1730s. My photos do not do it justice, none could I think, but to tread the original boards where Washington, Jefferson and even Franklin stood on. To see the walls, was a highlight.

And, of course, I had fun playing with the camera and even managed, I think, to capture a few decent images.