Category: Williamsburg

Known as Prentis House, this is the oldest commercial premises in Williamsburg, an original building which was constructed in 1740 under the supervision of the merchant William Prentis. He ran a general store here until his death in August 1765, with his family continuing to run the business until 1779. Prentis was English and had been educated at Christ’s Hospital in London because his mother had died, and this charity school gave what his father John, who worked as a baker, considered to be the best chance for William. William decided to go one step further and decided to travel the long distance to take an apprenticeship in Williamsburg under Archibald Blair, eventually taking over the management of the general store. His eldest son, also named John, served as the Mayor of Williamsburg between 1759 and 1760, whilst his youngest son, Joseph, became the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates and a judge in the General Court of Virginia.

I’m quite taken by the bravery that William must have shown in moving to Virginia after he left school in 1715 to try and make his fortune, or at least, have more opportunities than he would have done in England. I imagine that his father John never saw him again, that must have been a challenging situation for them both, but it seems that William did very well for himself and many of his descendants took important roles in the affairs of Virginia. And here’s a portrait of him….. Back to the building, which was used by many different businesses after the Prentis family left it, with it being used by numerous traders until the early twentieth century when it became part of Colonial Williamsburg.

There was a horse and carriage meandering up and down the main street, all adding a little to the authenticity of the arrangements.

One of the large squares which the colonists decided to build for themselves and it must have been really quite exciting to have so much space available compared to back home where the Lord of the Manor would have likely controlled what could and couldn’t be done with their land. Or indeed, whoever else owned the land, great swathes of territory was owned by the church, Oxbridge colleges or the like.

This is John Blair house and it’s an original building and perhaps not unsurprisingly given the surname, he was a politician who held a number of different offices between 1728 and 1771.

The plaque outside the house notes that it’s also one of the oldest in the town that has survived, the right section dates from 1720 and 1723, whilst the left dates from 1737. There’s a joke in there about Blair as well as the right and left, but I’ll let the reader write their own.

The Governor built himself a very grand house, although I’m sure that no-one expected anything else. The official role of the holder changed over time, it was originally the residence of the Royal Lieutenant Governor, then the Royal Governor and then the Governors of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its building was approved by the colony in 1706, although it wasn’t completed until 1722. It was unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1781 when it was being used as a hospital for Americans who had been injured at the Battle of Yorktown, with the current structure being a replacement from the 1930s. As an aside, Yorktown isn’t located far from Williamsburg and if I come to the area again I think I’d go and visit that, it’s one of the most important events as part of the birth of the United States.

The view from the Governor’s Palace.

Another horse.

This rather lovely shop is an a restored building, originally Durfey Shop, named after the tailor Severinus Durfey who set up in business in the 1770s. It’s a shame that the name Severinus went out of fashion, it’s got quite a ring to it.

The home of Catherine Blaikley, a reconstructed building, named after the midwife who lived here between 1736 and 1771, it’s thought that she helped bring over 3,000 children into the world.

I think that’s enough of these historic buildings now, but I’d add that there were literally hundreds of others and it took me the entire afternoon and well as the morning after to finish seeing them all.

After spending most of the day walking around Colonial Williamsburg looking at buildings, as well as popping to the bar and eating tacos, I went back to the hotel for a while and managed to time it rather well. This photo doesn’t show just how much rain there was and I then noticed online that there was a weather warning. I tend to not bother looking at the weather in advance, as unless it’s serious I can’t do anything about it and so I don’t need to know about it. Or, put into other words, I didn’t expect quite this much rain.

I walked back into Williamsburg when the wind and rain had calmed down and there were tens of trees which had lost branches during the storm.

It was also very quiet and I didn’t much like the atmosphere in the area, it felt strangely foreboding. It was though I had spent too much time thinking about the colonists in the town and how they would have likely felt very unsettled and worried about storms in their new home. The colonists had a fair amount to worry about in that regards, especially as Jamestown, as the weather was often severe and could cause a lot of damage. And not only that, they were worried about rattlesnakes, a problem for the colonists of Virginia, as the damn things often come out after a storm because their home has been flooded.

I had also gone out to see what Williamsburg looked like in the dark, to see which buildings were lit up. To cut a long story short, it just looked dark and buildings weren’t lit up at all. This photo suggests a lot more light than there actually was.

More branches on Duke of Gloucester Street. I shuffled off back to the hotel quite quickly without feeling the need to linger for too long, as it was dark and there wasn’t much to see. And I decided that there might be a threat from rattlesnakes as well coming out in herds…. There were already work crews out trying to remove branches in the road and I had a slight concern that it might mean my rail journey out of Williamsburg the next day might be delayed, as the train line passes through a lot of wooded territory in this area. Fortunately, and as a slight spoiler, there were no such issues.

It was a lovely day in Williamsburg after the storms the night before, and ideal for those who enjoy sitting outside in the burning heat amongst the insects. Obviously, I wanted air conditioning and to be away from insects, so I went indoors.

A rather lovely cafe with a one hour limit sign on the table, which was a little superfluous during my visit as it was never that busy. It wasn’t the cheapest arrangement ever, a coffee was just over £4 although I can’t keep complaining about the exchange rate (although I likely will for a while yet). I did stay for around an hour, although I had to move on to see other things at that point rather than feeling obliged by the sign.

A hot latte and I think under half the customers order a hot coffee, it’s all about chilled drinks in the United States. Although, having said that, I’ve since got back into that habit, there’s something rather decadent about iced latte until the blasted ice melts. I understand Illy coffee is meant to be of a very high quality, although I couldn’t taste anything particularly exceptional about it, but it was pleasant enough. That coconut cold brew sounds rather lovely incidentally…..

Oh, and I liked the big coffee cups, visible in the left of the above photo.

As an aside, I liked the angry customer who left a review saying:

“This is the second time we have gone there for a double espresso macchiato…first time I had to tell them how to make it. Second time I asked do you know how to make a macchiato and I was told yes. Went to get my drink and it was not made properly….either they are clueless or their training is bad. Starbucks knows how to make a macchiato….why can’t an Italian coffee shop?”

The cafe replied:

“The difficulty stems from Starbuck’s marketing decision to use a real Italian term for a real Italian coffee to sell a drink that is not exactly the same thing. They have over 5,000 stores and many more outlets, so the term has been taken over. The “macchiato” part of the coffee refers to the combination of a small amount of steamed milk added to an espresso making a rich brown pattern that they called “stained””

The customer replied, still annoyed that they visited Italy often and knew exactly what an authentic macchiato was. Personally, I think the cafe is right, but I’d better not wade into macchiatogate. This is one problem with coffee though, it’s so complex ordering one now with the myriad of different options available. But, I digress.

I have nothing much to add about this photo, just that I surprised to walk by the United States’s national shrine to Walsingham. A little bit of a connection to Norfolk…. It was blessed in 1941 and there’s more information about it at https://bedeva.org/our-lady-of-walsingham.

To save me retyping it, here’s some history of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg. This could perhaps have been as well known internationally as Harvard or Yale, but its fortunes were intertwined with those of Williamsburg, which started to decline from the late eighteenth century when the state capital was moved to Richmond. It’s still an important institution and has around 9,500 students, with its first post-colonial chancellor being George Washington and, perhaps more intriguingly, its chancellor between 1993 and 2000 was Margaret Thatcher.

The Brafferton, which is the second oldest building at the college and it was constructed to house the Indian School which was to provide a free education to ‘western Indians’. The legacy which funded this was from Sir Robert Boyle and the trustees purchased Brafferton Manor in Yorkshire, using some of the rents to support this building in Williamsburg.

The statue of Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt, who was the Governor of the Colony of Virginia between 1768 and 1770 (and he had been the MP for Gloucestershire between 1741 and 1763). This one is a copy placed here in 1958 to protect the original statue, which stood here from 1801 other than when it was moved for its own protection during the American Civil War.

Pesky students no doubt.

After a far from ideal walk in the dark from the Amtrak railway station in Williamsburg where the authorities had forgotten to put sidewalks in places, I checked into the Rodeway Inn which was the first proper hotel of this trip. I arrived in the dark, but my nighttime photo was a bit blurry, so here’s the front of the hotel the following morning. Price-wise, the hotel was around £50 per night including breakfast, which I thought was very reasonable given the current exchange rate.

The room was the traditional American motel style, spacious and with a powerful air conditioning unit which I very much liked. They like the colour brown in a lot of these motels, I’m not sure it’s the most uplifting of colours. But, it was clean and comfortable, so all was well.

They were selling very reasonably priced Gatorade at reception, so that was the evening’s drinks of choice.

This was the breakfast the following morning, the usual really healthy doughnuts and muffins type selection, along with orange juice and coffee. I have to say it’s not the fine choice of cheeses and meats that I love from mainland Europe, but I don’t mind a doughnut or eight.

Oops.

I decided to incorporate a banana on my second morning at the hotel…..

This felt very southern American, with every room having its own bench to sit and look out onto the car park with. It annoyed me slightly that people did this as I had to keep saying hello to them as I walked by, this definitely wouldn’t catch on in the UK.

I liked my two nights at this hotel, it was quiet and it seemed family run as these Choice Hotels franchises normally are. I was pleased with everything for the price and it’s only about a ten minute walk into the centre of historic Williamsburg, so it was ideally suited for my needs. I’m not sure that I’ll have a need to stay in Williamsburg again in the near future, but I’d stay here again if I did.