Day 6: Monticello, Colonial Williamsburg,

It was 37° when boarded our bus at 6:00am. While we were loading up we got a special treat. A several deer had come down from the woods to munch on some new spring grass in the meadow. It was the perfect beginning for a wonderful day.

While driving to our next destination Wanda played a movie Williamsburg-The Story of a Patriot, Monticello, and that kept us interested until we arrived at the beautiful home of Thomas Jefferson. He was not only the author of the Declaration of Independence and the 3rd President of the United States, but he was also an accomplished inventor. The grounds were absolutely breathtaking and the house had some very innovative features. There is a clock in the foyer which showed the days and the time the counterweights went through the floor down to the basement because he had miscalculated their length.











His bedroom/office was another clever feature. The bed was built in a type of closet which was open on both sides. If he rolled out to the left he landed in his office and if he rolled to the right he landed in his bedroom. The butler’s pantry in the dining room was like a large lazy susan with the kitchen on the opposite side of one wall and the dining room on the other. He also had narrow cupboards built on either side of the fireplace that to the eye looked like part of the mantel but in fact housed a dumbwaiter that went to the cellar where his wines were kept so that the servants merely put the bottle in the dumbwaiter and it could conveniently be lifted into the dining room. He had many fantastic ideas and was a very clever man.

This afternoon at we arrived in the historic town of Williamsburg and were allowed to roam freely through the town seeing the sights or we could partake in an optional dinner followed by a performance at the Music Theater of Williamsburg. It was 4:10pm by the time our luggage arrived and we received our room assignments. We stayed at the Woodlands Hotel & Suites and our room is very pleasant. We stayed in room 5410. It had two full-size beds with salmon colored spreads in a striped pattern that is similar to ticking and the wallpaper is a dark blue and white stripe, one of the walls has a French toile pattern. The furniture is made of honey pine or a very light maple and pictures of historic Williamsburg hang on the walls.

As we walked over the “Bridge of Time” and arrived on the other side we felt as if we had actually stepped back in time. The first thing we noticed was that they were in the process of adding a Hope Plantation to the site but otherwise it looked just like the last time I was there. There were three African-Americans there who answered all of our questions and told us they were very proud to be a part of this endeavor because it was part of their national history as much as it was a part of ours.

While waiting to see the Drum & Fife Corps I saw my very first Cardinal! He was beautiful and almost brought tears to my eyes. It has long been a dream of mine to see one. The Drum & Fife Corps was fabulous! We followed along beside them all the way from the Governor’s Mansion to the Capitol Building. Afterwards we walked down Duke of Gloucester Street and signed up for dinner at Chownings only to find that they had changed into a tavern that didn’t serve meals. Things had changed since I was last there. So, we walked back up the street and ate at Shield’s Tavern. We ate in the basement and while we were waiting for our meal Eric had one of the musicians serenade me with a love song and then a woman performed the song “Shenandoah”. I always thought that song was about the mountains and the valley of Shenandoah but it was actually about a young colonial man who fell in love with a Shenandoah Indian maiden.When our waiter came we ordered the Mrs. Smiths’ platter which consisted of crawdad soup (which was pretty good actually, a lot like creamy Manhattan clam chowder.) Our main entrée was chicken breast atop a pile of creamy potatoes and spinach. We each had a draught of Shield’s own brand of root beer and for dessert I had warm pumpkin pudding smothered with creamy icing. The pudding was very much like bread pudding. Eric had chocolate ice cream with a chocolate cookie.

After dinner we walked west down Nicholason Street back to the hotel we saw a flock of cardinals. The lamps were lit, the air was cool and the crickets sang. This peaceful setting was disturbed by the sound of cannon fire or at least that’s what we thought it was. As it turned out it, it was coming from the armory where the militiamen, in full uniform, and were trying to teach a group of “Hottentots” how to march. They were somewhat successful and we were amused watching them shout out their “Yes, sir.” Perhaps military schools might be a good thing. The kids certainly seemed entertained.

As we looked towards the Capitol building up the street, you could see the bonfires in front of the taverns and the lantern-light tours being led by hosts in costume. It truly gave one the sense that you had been transported back in time. One tour, which unfortunately for us, was sold out was “The Ghosts and Legends Tour”. It was led by candle and lantern-light through what I presumed to be an authentic haunted house! Oh what fun that tour would have been. Apparently the best time to visit Williamsburg is Halloween and Christmas as they have lots of activities then. As we continued our walk somewhere around City Hall we lost our bearings and were escorted to the path back to the hotel by two colonial residents in full regalia. It was a pleasant walk and we had some great conversations. Before we reached the hotel we decided to stop at the visitor’s center we bought some DVD’s and Eric bought some CD’s; one was the movie Williamsburg - The Story of a Patriot and the other was a fantastic CD-Rom called, Colonial Williamsburg.