Spring Break in Jamestown and Williamsburg

So this is Fred and I on our first day of vacation down in Virginia. This is the site of the re-creation of Jamestown (not to be confused with the actual site of Jamestown which is a few miles up the road) where they have replicas of the 3 ships that landed with our nation's first permanent settlers, a small Powhatan encampment, and small settlement buildings set up the way it would have appeared in the fort back in 1607.This is the inside of the Powhatan hut. Apparently they kept fires going all day and all night to keep flies off the food which they stored up on the rack thing above my head. There was some lady standing behind Fred who took a picture at the same time he did. Then she thanked me for being in her picture - awkward.

This is the second largest of the 3 ships, the Godspeed. It held 52 people aboard - way more than I would have figured considering the space. It was fun to get on and see below deck but it still felt a bit like a toy ship to me. I can't imagine sailing across the ocean in it. That's me on the ramp in case you couldn't tell.

This is Fred and I at the Chesapeake. The picture isn't so good but it's one of the few with both of us in it.
The next few pictures are us at Colonial Williamsburg. It was very cool. They had this whole little city that was set up to be just as it was back in the 1700s. This was a little band that marched and played at the end of a day of reenactments when they raised the American Flag above the State Building. It was fun.

This is in the Raleigh Tavern where the Burgesses met in 1773. Here, the gal who was dressed up was explaining how the servant (me) overheard all that was discussed by the gentlemen like Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry (the man in green) after the dissolution of the House of Burgesses and consequently there were soon rumors in the street about their meeting.

This is Fred on a jury in the courthouse. He's all the way on the left. You can tell what an enthusiastic member of the court he is.


This is Fred in his element - with a gun. That man standing behind him told us they are the only shop in the world that still uses 18th century technology to make those guns. For me it was a little heavy and awkward. The barrel was too long for my weak arms. I would have made a horrible soldier.
This is just inside the Governor's Palace. I'm sure you can just imagine how happy Fred was inside this building. All the walls were covered with swords and guns. Apparently when the colony went to war all the men ran to this building and were outfitted with weapons. After the Palace burned down, Rockefeller used a journal from Governor Botetourt who kept impeccable inventory of everything in the house to reconstruct everything. Just inside the doorway on the other side of this fireplace is a small kitchen where more than half a million dollars worth of silver ware is kept. You'll have to check out the rest of our pictures of this place.
Here is part of the church that was constructed at the real Jamestown Fort. They have some thank you plaques to Pocahontas inside. Crazy. Sometimes I forget that history is real.And here is Fred preparing to load a cannon at Yorktown. This was our last day of vacation. It was cold and we were tired. That might explain a few of the other pictures.