Williamsburg

Williamsburg never gets old - no pun intended! It seems no matter how often we come here, we always find things to do and see that we've never done before. And this time is no exception.

We started out at the Governor's Palace, which was home to five royal lieutenant governors, two royal governors, and the first two governors of the Commonwealth of Virginia - Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. The current building is a reconstruction of the original building that was built in 1722 and destroyed in 1781 by a fire. It was rebuilt on the original foundation. It is furnished as it would have been during the time of the last royal governor, Lord Dunmoore. When you enter the palace, you come into an impressive foyer that is decorated with 540 weapons along the walls. The rest of the rooms are equally impressive as are the the gardens.

Upon leaving the Governor's Palace, we walked along Duke of Gloucester Street, the main drag of Colonial Williamsburg, just enjoying the gorgeous weather and the ambiance of being there. We stopped in Bruton Parish Church, which has been in "continuous service to the Lord" since 1715 (isn't that amazing!!), the magazine and guardhouse and the blacksmith shop. We found an excavation site of a coffeehouse that was active in 1755. I didn't realize that there was excavation still being done in Williamsburg, but apparently there is.

Our next tour was of the Capitol Building. Another impressive building. This was the seat of government for 75 years. It was here that Patrick Henry made his famous "give me liberty or give me death" speech denouncing the Stamp Act. Of course most of the men in control of the legislature were handpicked by the reigning monarch, but the House of Burgesses was comprised of 12 men elected by the people. Some of those men were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and of course, Patrick Henry.

After the tour of the Capitol, it was time for lunch! We ate at the King's Arms Tavern. It was a little sentimental because Randy & I had visited Williamsburg over 22 years ago (one of our first trips together!) and had a very romantic dinner at this restaurant. So, it was nice to go back. Of course, it was a little different at lunchtime AND we're not so romantic anymore!! :)

Our last stop for the day was part of the performance "Revolutionary City." This is a series of vignettes in which different events of the American Revolution are portrayed. The one we watched was the reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 25, 1776, to the citizens of Williamsburg. It was rather moving to hear our Declaration read with such conviction and emotion. Glad we got to see that.

We had a great day. You can see more pictures at our Webshots site at http://community.webshots.com/user/guiler85/0. There's never enough time to do and see all there is here. Tomorrow we're going to drive part of the Colonial Parkway, to Jamestown. There are several pull-offs at the sites of historical events. We may stop in at the Jamestown settlement, too. Just depends on how many other people have the same idea!

Hope all of you have a safe and fun holiday weekend. Please remember to honor our fallen service personnel with a moment of silence or prayer as well as remembering our active military. This has become very personal to us. Until the next time . . .