Tag: Williamsburg

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.

My initial intention for the weekend was to visit Jamestown, the site of the first permanent settlement of the Americas by English colonists. However, talking to the lady at the Capitol the day before, she suggested some other things to do that she thought were at least equally as interesting. Some of those required a car, but she mentioned that there were more things to see in Williamsburg itself than I had realised.

The situation at Jamestown is something of an expensive mess for visitors as there are two different sites of which one is a recreation of the initial settlement with performers in the clothing of the time, whilst the other is effectively the archaeological investigation of the actual site. The former didn’t much interest me, I’m interested in structures, buildings and not some form of period open air museum. The other would have been interesting, but it was expensive and also lengthy to get to by public transport (one bus an hour and the journey is over an hour each way), so I was tempted by that, but decided to stick to Williamsburg. I think if I had a car then that might have tipped the balance, as it would have been quite thought provoking to be in the same place as the early settlers.

However, I’m very pleased that I made the decision that I did to spend the time in Williamsburg itself, as I didn’t realise just how much there was to see there. I also got a real impression of what life was like for early colonists, as they moved there relatively early on from Jamestown, indeed in a way that was more authentic as many buildings had survived from that period. Also, for practical reasons, there was a very heavy period of rain, which was enough for a severe weather warning (and more later on the damage done by that) and so I would have got very wet.

I left Williamsburg feeling much more informed about how the early colonists lived, how their settlement developed and also how it started to decline. Maybe at some point in the future I’ll return to visit Jamestown, but I was pleased to have had the experience of understanding how this colony developed.

Unfortunately, much of the Capitol building in Williamsburg is under scaffolding so it’s not possible at the moment to see it in quite its full glory.

This photo from the side is better, but it’s the history of what was once here that’s important. The current building is a recreation dating to 1934 when Colonial Williamsburg was being created as effectively an open-air museum, but it’s on the same site and was meant to look the same as the original Capitol building that was first constructed here in 1705. Virginia’s first Capitol was built in Jamestown, but that burned down (again) in 1698 and they moved it inland to Williamsburg partly for defensive reasons and partly because they were tired of living in a swamp. It took just under four years to build and there was a wing for the Governor’s Council and a wing for the House of Burgesses.

Things went well for quite a while, or at least until 1747 when the Capitol building burned down which wasn’t ideal. It was a marginal decision, by just a handful of votes, that voted for a reconstruction of the building rather than moving to another location in Virginia, but the replacement Capitol was constructed between 1748 and 1753. That lasted until 1779, when they finally moved to Richmond for defensive purposes because of the effects of the American War of Independence, with its last meeting on 24 December 1779. That was when the Capitol building in Richmond came into usage, which I had already visited.

In the meantime though, there had been some impressive speakers at the Capitol building between 1753 and 1779, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Richard Henry Lee. And, also, if history would have played out differently, Williamsburg might well have remained the capital of Virginia if Richmond hadn’t of taken its place. Incidentally, George Washington knew Williamsburg well and visited on numerous occasions, including spending his honeymoon here.

As for the Capitol building in Williamsburg, it became rather abandoned and forgotten about. The east wing was taken down in 1800 before it fell down and then most of the remains were destroyed by fire in 1832. That was the end of the original buildings, with only the foundations remaining, until it was decided to reconstruct it in 1934. Rather unglamorously in 1881 the line of the Peninsula Extension was built right through the middle of Williamsburg along Duke of Gloucester Street and went straight through the former Capitol building, not entirely respectful of the heritage of their colony. Anyway, that lasted from 16 October to 13 December 1881 when all other manner of complaints meant they shifted that section of the railway a little to the north, where it remains today.

I didn’t go inside, but for anyone interested, there’s a complete walk-through of the building at https://virtualtours.colonialwilliamsburg.org/capitol/.

I very much love an archival building, there’s something about books, archives, documents and the like that just captivate me. And this is the oldest archival building in the western hemisphere, or that’s what the museum claims. I’m not sure that I can actually think of a building in the UK that’s earlier than this that was solely built for storing documents (as opposed to storing them within part of an existing building), so I can’t dispute their claim. They built it because the Capitol building caught fire in 1747 and they lost their documents, so they wanted a fireproof structure where nothing could be destroyed. And this is it, known as the Secretary’s Office where county clerks were also trained and clerical work was completed. It’s heavily restored, but some of the structure is original.

This building is new and is one of the few recent additions to Colonial Williamsburg, which was mostly laid out in the 1930s. Given that it’s a recent construction, it’s allowed historians to have more knowledge and resources into ensuring its historical accuracy, so although it’s not an original building there is still an authenticity to it. The original structure was built as a store and private residence in 1750, before being turned into a coffeehouse which was operated by Richard Charlton in the mid 1760s.

The element that interests me most about this location is that in October 1765 this is where there was resistance against the Stamp Act which had been imposed by the British Parliament. And as it was a coffeehouse, this is where the centre of gossip would have been, where chat took place about the state of politics as well as where business was transacted. So, on this spot, debate raged about the impositions that the British were placing on those living in Virginia and the locals stoked up division in some Daily Mail sort of way.

Back to the Stamp Act though, a ridiculous piece of legislation which meant that most documents issued in Williamsburg and across the colonies would have to be published on paper from London which had been embossed with an official stamp. Not only that, but this paper had to be paid for using British money and not the money that the colonists used. Local man Patrick Henry had earlier on in 1765 given a speech against the Stamp Act in the House of Burgesses, but the situation got worse and protests broke out in the street. On 30 October 1765, a crowd harassed George Mercer when he was walking down Duke of Gloucester Street (which is the street I’m standing on in the above photo) as they wanted to know whether he would become the Commissioner in charge of enforcing the Stamp Duty tax in Virginia. Not content only with chasing him down the street and onto the porch of the coffeehouse, the locals then burnt an effigy of him. Mercer had a little think about this whole arrangement and decided not to take the job of Commissioner, which seems a very sensible call to me.

Anyway, although the building here might not be original, the location where all this happened is authentic and this is a piece of American history that I’ve only really read about before.

There are literally hundreds of buildings in Colonial Williamsburg and the element that I liked is that just about all of them have a little plaque on them explaining the history of the structure and also whether it’s original or reconstructed. This is Alexander Craig House and he was a saddler who purchased this house in 1755. Until his death in 1776, he lived in the section to the left and ran his business from the section on the right.

This is also one of the original buildings, known about from as early as 1712 although would have been constructed earlier than this, first owned by Susanna Allen and then transferred to a glazier J White (not Julian, it was John, but I liked the link) in 1734 and then were a series of owners from thereon in. In 1752, the barber and wigmaker William Peake purchased the building and it was him who sold it to Alexander Craig. One thing that is remarkable about the town is the survival of documents (not least down to the building that they constructed for that purpose) and not only have leases of sale survived, but they even have inventories of what was in each property.

I can’t list everything that Susanna Allen, as an example, owned, but the level of detail is exceptional. Below is just one part of the inventory of her property in 1720:

1 Long Oval Table £ 1.1.5.0
1 large looking Glass 2.10.0
1 Small Do 0. 6.0
1 pr window Curtains 0. 2.0
1 pr Small Iron doggs 0. 4.0
1 pr Small money Scales 0. 4.0
7 leather Chairs high backs 2. 5.0
8 old Chairs 1. 5.0
1 pr large doggs 1. 0.0
1 pott Rack 0. 1.0
3 brass pails 2. 5.0
2 Tables 1 Chest & Lumber 0.12.6
5 old Chairs 0.15.0
[torn] Curtains 0.55.0
[torn] Do 1.0.0
[torn] 0.10.0
[torn] jugs & 1 old Counterpin 2.5.0
7 beds & 1 old quilt 16.5.0
1 torn] Table & press bedsteads 10.0.0
6 old Chairs 1.5.0
2 old Chests 0.8.0
1 bedstead & hyde 0.10.0
1 Tea Kettle 0.10.0
2 Sifters 0.1.10
1 pr money Scales 0. 7.6
130 lb old pewter @ 9d 4.17.6
5 Tankards & 1-qt pott 0.10.0
11 old Spoons 0.1.3
1 looking Glass 0.2.6
11 knives 0.5.6
1 doz. Napkins 2 Table Cloths 0.19.0
6 Course Towels 2 pillow Cases 0. 9.6
14 pr Sheets 7. 5.0
2 old Table Cloths 2 pillow Cases 0. 5.0
1 press of Books 0.10.0

And here’s what the property looked like (it’s the one on the right) in the early 1930s, before it was restored as part of the Colonial Williamsburg project. Going back to an earlier point that I made about not visiting Jamestown, this was the sort of story that I was engaged with, how the very early colonists lived their lives whilst still sort of under British rule. Alexander Craig was apparently one of the most successful early saddlers in the colonies and he went there in around 1748, moving him and his wife from Glasgow to seek new opportunities, as well as having six children in Virginia.

I know this sort of text must sound very dry and perhaps lacking in much interest to most people, but this whole town is so packed with social history from the seventeenth century, not just relating to the colonies themselves, but also the areas from which they came.

With some period reenactors standing outside, this is an original building, known today as the Margaret Hunter shop. She established her business here in around 1770, making hats, cloaks and fans, remaining here until her death in September 1787. I understand that she came to Williamsburg from London in the late 1760s and she established some wealth, whether before or after arriving here, and it’s known that she ‘owned’ at least six slaves. She also faced the challenge of trying to ensure that the products she sold were fashionable, with trends in Virginia often reflecting the latest on-trend look in London.

This is the problem that they had with the restorations, namely that buildings had been so changed and faffed about with since the colonial period. It’s hard to picture this being the same building as the one in the top photo, so when they refer to it as “an original building”, there’s a lot of artistic license in that. It also took a lot of research, primarily from newspapers and old documents, to work out which building was which given what was left. I can imagine a lot of historians have spent many hundreds of hours trying to piece all this together over the last century.

This is what the house looked like in the 1930s after the restoration (so, just as it looks now really) and it can be seen just how many buildings had to be recreated as part of the Colonial Williamsburg project to complete the street as it once looked.

The courthouse in Williamsburg was constructed, although the designer is unknown, between 1770 and 1771, originally holding two separate courts, the James City County Court for hearing cases in the wider region and the Hustings Court for matters which happened in Williamsburg itself. The building is located in the middle of old Williamsburg, a deliberate decision to note that it was at the centre of the community.

Benjamin Waller read aloud the Declaration of Independence at this courthouse on 25 July 1776, just a few weeks after it was declared in Philadelphia, so I can imagine there was some gossip which continued on at the Charlton’s coffeehouse about that little arrangement. Following the Battle of Williamsburg in 1862, which was part of the American Civil War, the building was used as a hospital for Confederate troops, which is also when all the wood from the doors and windows mysteriously went missing.

The building is mostly original, but the original furnishings were stripped out in the nineteenth century (some recent replicas have been installed instead) and a fire damaged the entire structure in 1911. What was left of the building was taken over as part of the Colonial Williamsburg project in 1928 and the columns added to the frontage in 1911 (it’s not clear whether the designer ever wanted them, although it looks like they might have done) were removed. For those who had argued for decades about the columns, they would have been most disappointed that they lasted for just 17 years.

And some of the punishment devices on display next to the courthouse.

After a morning of walking around the historic buildings of Colonial Williamsburg, I thought I had better see what the craft beer options were like in the town. Given that this was such a touristy location I wasn’t entirely optimistic, but the Precarious Beer Project was centrally located in the town, was Untappd verified and was also well reviewed.

I must change that photo of me on Untappd. But, anyway, here’s the beer list, although I’ve also taken a photo of the printed menu which is further down this post. Credit to them for being listed on Untappd incidentally, it makes it much easier to look at the available beers in advance.

I went with three different beers to start off proceedings and they were all of a very decent standard, despite being across a number of beer styles. The Hip Hop’d Blues and the Oat Like a Butterfly Sting Like a Bee were my favourites, the latter was a oatmeal stout which was rich in taste and had an additional flavour of honey.

There’s a central bar area and then numerous food outlets around it including burgers and tacos, which you can purchase from and then eat at the bar itself or at the plentiful nearby bench seating. I went for tacos, but more of those in the next post.

Jumping ahead to the next day, as I returned to this bar before I got my train, I had another couple of beers and they were excellent again, the very agreeable Knuck if You Buckwheat brown ale and the Kung Fu Kittens NEIPA. As a brewery, I was impressed that they were producing such a wide range of different beer styles whilst also maintaining the quality. Some of the beers they were brewing seemed to be quite innovative, especially brown ale which isn’t widespread across this part of the United States.

There was a minor incident with this, as I needed to visit the facilities and I asked the barman to put my two drinks behind the bar. He willingly did that, but when I returned he couldn’t find them and he guessed his colleague had thrown them away. I mentioned I had nearly finished the brown ale, but he repoured both drinks back up to their original level so that was handy.

I mentioned that the reviews were very positive, although this one seemed very angry:

“The establishment itself has a great feel for downtown Williamsburg however the beer selection is very narrow minded, if you like hazy IPA’s your in the place but nothing else is worth while.”

I’m slightly puzzled how anyone took a look at their beer menu and thought that, unless the brewery had recently decided for one day to just stock IPAs…. But, above is the beer menu from the day that I visited. And another student was angry they had been carded (IDed)….

“Bad service, targeted specific groups for carding. Would not go with friends again!”

I liked the brewery’s response.

“Martha, we are legally obligated to card any patron under the age of 35. If you were with a younger group, and/or appeared under the age of 35 than our team did their jobs. We are sorry if this legal obligation created a poor experience for you. Calling this “discrimination” however is completely and totally ridiculous. Might we suggest that you lobby for a change to the legal statute mandated by the Virginia ABC.

In addition, it is our assumption you were a part of the group we asked to leave, as a result of having under aged patrons who refused to show ID, and we’re then discovered attempting to pass beer between each other. Your entire group was asked to leave, as this is company policy for any groups discovered to have under aged drinkers attempting to consume alcohol. Lastly, our assumption is the school of William and Mary, with whom your affiliated with would frown on students under the age of 21, consuming alcohol illegally.

There are plenty of other local college hangouts that may turn an eye to this type of thing, but fortunately we are not one of them.”

Sounds reasonable and I like a robust response from a venue. But, once again, I’ve digressed and so I’ll conclude that I very much liked this bar. As noted, I visited twice because I felt the beer options were so strong and the service was friendly and efficient on both occasions. Despite being in such a touristy location, I think they’ve delivered an authentic package of decent beer, clean and modern surroundings with friendly and engaged staff.

This taco bar is one of the food outlets located at the Precarious Beer Project in Colonial Williamsburg. You order the tacos at their outlet and they give you a buzzer to collect the food when it’s ready, meaning that you can then sit anywhere in the venue. I choose to go back to sit at the bar with my beers, but I can’t imagine that coming as much of a surprise. This whole food and drink arrangement feels on-trend without being formulaic, which is a difficult balance to get sometimes, but the staff were welcoming and it all felt informal and relaxed.

I went with the Circus Shrimp and the Spicy Chorizo tacos and they well presented and that lime created a handy zesty finish, with the ingredients being of a high quality. Lots of flavour from the shrimp and chorizo, although they were a little small and something larger would have been even more delicious. I adore jalapenos and am always pleased when they’re generously served to add some extra heat and texture to the food. Refreshing though, they went well with my IPA, despite being slightly awkward to eat without making a mess.