Day 3 and 4, clean up.

Yesterday and today sort of blended and caught up the previous days. 

Governor's Palace and surroundings.

Yesterday we went back to see more of the Colonial area and some of the buildings we missed in the rain.  First stop was the Governor’s Palace.  Inside it was interesting to see how the building was completely set up to be a show of force.  Just walking into the foyer, which by today’s standards might not seem overdone, back in the 1700s, it was bigger than most entire homes.  But the walls were lined with guns and swords, as a show of the power and might of the Kingdom.

Curious Welcome scene in the Foyer!

Baking Bricks

We saw a presentation by a Silversmith, and then found our way to the Brickyard.  When someone “bought” bricks, the brick maker would show up at the place, and start digging up the yard to get the clay.  They would cure the bricks in the sun for a few days, then build a makeshift oven and bake them (but not really in the oven). 

We also went to the courthouse where George Washington went several times to take care of any legal business he had to do in the Capital city.

The Randolph House

Today, we went back to the Colonial area, and checked out the Museum.  It was pretty good, and there was a LOT more there than we expected.  (Kind of wish we’d done that day one when it was rainy!) 

After the museum and a quick lunch (sitting in our car because, well, 2020) we headed back to Jamestown to see the outside portion.   There was a little mockup of a Powahatan village (the native tribe that controlled most of modern day Virginia), which was nice. 

The biggest of the three ships that came over in 1607

But we were after the ships.  Well they only had two of the three (reconstructed) ships that sailed over.  Wow!  They were SMALL!!  Thinking of the “cramped” space in a coach seat on a plane for 2, 6, or 12 hours, I can’t imagine that space for a couple of months pitching and rolling across the Atlantic!!

Not very wide!

Learning the ropes!

Jamestown Fort 

We moved on to the Fort mockup.  They did a good job and it seemed believable.  They had a few craftsmen showing what they would have been doing in about 1612 plus or minus.  We explored the buildings and then as we were leaving it was the last chance to see one of the people shoot a musket.  We’ve seen them shoot those before but it was still interesting to hear and see it again!

Inside the fort

Typical building construction

Kind of a pointless weapon.

A more suitable weapon.

Duck?  Duck?  Goose?  Either way, Christmas dinner!!

Gov's Mansion in the far background

We went back to the Colonial area, hoping to get lucky and get into one of the places for dinner.  They didn’t take reservations, so it was going to be hit of miss.  Miss.  But Theresa wanted to see it all at night so we got to do that.  Walking on the street at night was risky as the “leftovers” from the daytime horse drawn carriages were harder to avoid!  It was sort of eerie with dark blobs of people coming and going on a dark street.  It reminded us of Halloween, but without candy or masks.  They had iron baskets with wood chips that were lit making pyres of light along the street.  That looked pretty cool, but probably won’t show in a picture.  And there was a quartet singing on a porch various Christmas carols from the period, which was nice for a few minutes.  Then on to home to enjoy some leftovers and plan for tomorrow!