Williamsburg's re-creations offer authentic look at Colonial era

01-21-2007

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Costumed interpreters discuss the principles of revolution in the old Virginia capitol.

COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- They stirred the blood and warmed the chill of the mid-December evening, this neat phalanx of young men and boys tooting fifes and banging drums as they paraded along the town's dark street lit only by blazing torches that crackled in the breeze.

	Torches light the night at Colonial Williamsburg.

Behind me, mounting the steps of a Colonial, red-brick building, a dozen carolers prepared to lead assembled citizens in songs of the season. Candles in every window of the 18th-century structure provided festive twinkle, and we sang with joy.

Making new memories of history -- it's Kodak moments like this that make Colonial Williamsburg one of the most photographed places in the United States.

Since its founding eight decades ago, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has pioneered the fine arts of historic restoration and interpretation, breathing new life into the past.

In 1926, inspired by the Rev. Dr. Goodwin, rector of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, oil magnate John D. Rockefeller purchased the first historic building in the then-quiet country town near the James River in eastern Virginia.

But during its Colonial heyday, Williamsburg was the capital of England's oldest, largest, wealthiest and most populous New World colony. It was established in 1699 after fire destroyed the Jamestown Statehouse nearby, and a new capitol was erected for the colony near the College of William and Mary on what was then called Middle Plantation.

		If you go ... Colonial Williamsburg has done a superb job of organizing services that support its year-round flow of visitors without compromising its commitment to authenticity. It operates five hotels and motels, 10 restaurants and four dining taverns, all offering a range of comforts, formality and price. There are a new spa, a conference center and a golf club, and its Visitor Center provides a comprehensive introduction to the Williamsburg experience. Accommodation packages are as low as $49 a night per person. Non-affiliated hotels and motels also offer money-saving packages. Colonial Williamsburg's Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum will reopen Feb. 4 in its new location, next to the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum on Francis Street in the Historic District, where the 1774 hospital is located. For more information: Colonial Williamsburg: www.colonialwilliamsburg.com or 1-800-447-8679 (1-800-HISTORY).

One of North America's first planned communities, Williamsburg was for 80 years a focal point for the political, commercial and cultural developments that helped birth and shape the new nation. The cast of notables who held forth in its taverns, homes and government buildings included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason and numerous others on both sides of the revolutionary issue.

Then in 1780, Jefferson, the newly elected Virginia governor, moved the seat of state government to Richmond, and Williamsburg faded into relative obscurity. That slow decline also meant many of the town's Colonial buildings escaped the demolition of progress.

Since Rockefeller's original purchase, the nonprofit foundation has acquired 88 original buildings in the 301-acre historical area. After conducting extensive research, Colonial Williamsburg has painstakingly reconstructed more than 500 other known structures, most on their original foundations, to how they were between 1774 and 1781, the gestational years of the new republic.

Significant original buildings include the capitol, the governor's palace, Raleigh Tavern, the George Wythe House (a mentor of Jefferson's), the Peyton Randolph House (the first president of the Continental Congress) along with Bruton Parish Church, an independent place of worship that has been in continuous use since 1715. The foundation's archaeological collection includes nearly a million artifacts, thousands of American and English antiques, as well as myriad meticulously executed re-creations.

Today Colonial Williamsburg is the largest living history museum in the country, staffed with more than 3,000 employees and volunteers. It attracts more than 700,000 paying visitors a year, and up to 2 million more who wander its streets without buying tickets. It is the source of serious scholarship and significant publishing, books, periodicals and electronic educational tools. Indeed, the Colonial Williamsburg culture has given rise to an entire genre of American style and decoration.

Making new memories of history -- it's Kodak moments like this that Colonial Williamsburg also has become a world leader in the interpretation and presentation of history.

Skilled re-enactors at Colonial Williamsburg demonstrate how to make wigs from human hair according to 18th-century methods.

Trained re-enactors, many of them period experts in their own right, inhabit the homes, stores and craft works of the town, filling it with 18th-century vitality. For them, history is a mission, not a theme.

Spending time at Williamsburg is an immersive experience rather than a virtual one. Witnessing everyday activities and historical pageants that unfold against an authentic background has a special resonance; dining in a Colonial-era eatery imparts a better understanding of the period's tastes than reading a description of that meal.

Williamsburg's historic trades programs involve the training of professional, full-time artisans in brickmaking, carpentry, gunmaking and apothecaries. Butcher, baker and candlestick maker are all immersed in their craft and Colonial character, happy to share their knowledge and personal stories. Apprentices learn basic skills, and after completing a six- or seven-year program, they advance to journeymen and journeywomen. The most skilled become masters of their trades.

		History was made in a triangle The narrow peninsula between the James and York rivers in Virginia was the setting for decisive events that shaped our country between May 1607 and October 1781. In 1607, a handful of hopefuls established Jamestown, England's first permanent settlement in the New World. In Yorktown in 1781, troops under George Washington fought the last major battle of the American Revolution. Only 23 miles apart along the historic Colonial Parkway, Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown are the three corners of Virginia's "Historic Triangle." Along with other attractions, such as Busch Garden's European-themed adventure park and Water Country USA water park, they have made the area one of the Eastern coast's most popular vacation options. For more information: Virginia's Historic Triangle and other area attractions: www.gowilliamsburg.com or 1-800-211-7169.

Among special programs, formal dances are staged many evenings in the palace's candlelit ballroom by four exquisitely dressed couples, volunteer re-enactors who entertain the small audience with engaging side stories along with their intricate footwork.

A new interpretive program, "The Revolutionary City," aims to involve young and old in the philosophical and emotional issues that led up to and through the birth of the nation. It's based on events that actually occurred in Williamsburg.

In a program of short vignettes staged outdoors each afternoon (weather permitting) between 2:30 and 4:30, actor/interpreters dramatically re-create key encounters between important figures and common citizens at locations in the historic district.

Two story lines are played out on alternate days, with scenes unfolding in a way that gives spectators the feeling that they are "really there."

In seven scenes, "The Collapse of Royal Government" covers the period from May 26, 1774, when Lord Dunmore dissolved the Assembly of the Virginia Colony for its protest of the closing of Boston Harbor, to May 15, 1776, when representatives of the free men of Virginia resolve their independence from Great Britain, becoming the first colony to do so.

In an encounter in front of the Wig Shop, a loyalist mother explains to her daughter why the family might have to flee the country if revolutionary protests grow more violent. A young carpenter and his wife argue about his enlisting in the army and how the family will survive in his absence. A group of slaves considers the royal governor's offer of freedom if they take up arms against their rebel masters.

The second afternoon's story line, "Citizens at War," starts with a stirring reading of the newly signed Declaration of Independence, re-creating the event that took place on the balcony of the Virginia Capitol on July 25, 1776. The drama extends through the war years and ends Sept. 28, 1781, when Gen. George Washington addressed his troops and Williamsburg's citizens as he departed for the battle of Yorktown, 12 miles away.

In March, a third story line, focussing on the post-Revolution years, "Nation Builders," will be added.

Witnessing these grand orations is a wonderful way to learn. When coupled with visits to Jamestown and Yorktown, the other points of interest on the Colonial Parkway in Virginia's "Historic Triangle," Williamsburg is an authentic interlude in America's past that can be as comprehensive, informative and inspirational as a visitor could want.

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