Traveling Back in Time to Colonial America: An Escape from Hurricane Dorian
September 08, 2019
Twelve years ago, our 11 and 6 year old children declared that the historic Williamsburg area was their favorite place to visit, choosing it over Disney, Rome and California. Last week, we had the opportunity to rediscover Colonial Williamsburg as adults. The perspectives of the gentry, tradesmen, free and enslaved African Americans, shopkeepers, religious minorities, military leaders and even lawbreakers in 18th century America truly came to life through conversations, tours, re-enactments and an Escape Room adventure set right in the original Public Gaol building of 1722!
We were stretching our legs on Labor Day, after driving 15 of the 18 hours or so to the Outer Banks from a midwestern family gathering. Our friends, the same family with whom we had explored Williamsburg 12 years ago, were already enjoying beautiful sunsets and early morning fishing, along with our son. Then we got the text... Although Hurricane Dorian was not predicted to reach NC for another three days, the county had just issued evacuation orders. Despite the beautiful current conditions, it did not make sense for us to push on into the evening for a single ocean sunrise before a mandatory evacuation. Fortunately, we found a great deal on a two bedroom suite at the Historic Powhatan resort in Williamsburg, VA only an hour away.
The resort was beautiful, with lakes and fountains and gazebos centered around a historic building, the manor home of the architect Richard Taliaferro, who designed the Governor's Palace and Wythe House in Colonial Williamsburg. The building is open for self-guided tours and ghost hunting (for a fee) in the evenings. Interestingly, Taliaferro reserved a special fireplace design feature for use in his own family buildings, which can be seen here. We enjoyed a fabulous dinner of meatloaf in tomato gravy and shrimp 'n grits at the Food for Thought restaurant, enjoying the many quotes and other tidbits on the walls.
The next day, after our friends arrived, we were very pleased that we had said "No" to the ticket discount offered by the resort, which would have cost us two hours of vacation time. It turns out, Colonial Williamsburg had a much better deal for us (see Tips below). We got annual passes for less than the price of a one day ticket. There is so much to see and experience, and a multiday pass is highly recommended. Even the programs that appear on the schedule every day, such as Order in the Court, Entertainments at the Play House and The Necessity of Order in Battle, cover different topics from day to day.
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| The Fife and Drum corps |
The resort was beautiful, with lakes and fountains and gazebos centered around a historic building, the manor home of the architect Richard Taliaferro, who designed the Governor's Palace and Wythe House in Colonial Williamsburg. The building is open for self-guided tours and ghost hunting (for a fee) in the evenings. Interestingly, Taliaferro reserved a special fireplace design feature for use in his own family buildings, which can be seen here. We enjoyed a fabulous dinner of meatloaf in tomato gravy and shrimp 'n grits at the Food for Thought restaurant, enjoying the many quotes and other tidbits on the walls.
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| Taliaferro Manor House at Historic Powhatan Resort |
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| Order of the Court |
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