TR - O'nut does the Historic Triangle in Virginia

[Olympicnut]

I took my final vacation of the year in mid-November to the Historic Triangle of Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown Virginia, to get my history geek on with my friend Doug that lives in Delaware.

To my surprise, many of the buildings there were actually not originals, but reconstructions. I always thought they were all originals but alas, they were not. The State House, the Governors Palace, the Hospital, all reconstructed. Knowing that SORT of bummed me out, but all of the buildings were re-built exactly where they originally were, and built to look exactly AS they were, so that made up for it.

In any case, let the photos commence!

The Governors Palace.



Cool coat of arms and “arms” on the walls of the entryway.





Yours truly and the Palace. If you paid for admissions to the buildings, you had to wear that badge, which let the people at every site know that you were allowed admission into the buildings.



The State House.





Cool coat of arms on the cupola, just to make sure everybody that lived in 17th century Williamsburg remembered who their leader was back in the Olde World.



One of the original buildings that still stands. The George Wythe House. This is the back entrance:



And the front:



And a night shot because I heard it was haunted. If you look closely you’ll see lights in some windows and what I believe looks like a face in the upper middle window at the bottom left. NO lights were on inside and NO lights were on outside. And there’s an orb floating around. I was too far for my flash to make those sorts of weird lights. Hmmmm.



To be continued...

[Olympicnut]

Here’s the magazine, where ammunition and guns and such were kept. This is one of the few original structures that remains.



Part of the jail building. The original structure that is left is on the right hand side in the photo (you can see the different color in the bricks). That grey tube thing coming out of the wall is the "sewer line" from the jail cell.



And this is the toilet inside (What gnome? I don’t see no gnome )



The old hospital (re-built) is now a museum. It was an insane asylum and a Civil War prison. It may not be an original building but it was still spooky inside.



But inside the museum was this hidden Mickey!



The church.





This tombstone cracked me up. It was in the church courtyard which they obviously just built around the grave, and had a lovely bench built around it as well.



Unknown Civil War soldier.



Pretty sunset on day one.



Me after we took the Ghosts Among Us tour. It was very VERY cold that night, hence my unpleasant look, and the fact that I was quite disappointed in the tour.



If you ever go do NOT take this tour. It was not what I was expecting, which was a walking tour of buildings where your guide would tell you what haunts have happened in which buildings. No, the tour I took was that the guide took you to the Governors Palace, you sat in 3 dark rooms with 2 candles and a woman in each of the rooms, and they each told a ghost story (although one was about vampires ) and that was it. There’s plenty of other actual ghosts tours, I suggest looking into those.

[SCUBAbe]

orbs=dust

I love the pictures. I really like history and old architecture.

[Olympicnut]

Here’s a bunch of misc. shots from Williamsburg.

















Williamsburg is a living museum. People wear period costumes, everything that can be made on site IS made on site. From sterling silver goblets and rings, to smoked pork, to tobacco, to nails.

Here’s the blacksmith doing his job.



A gentleman inside the courthouse building.



And they are currently in the process of building a working plantation on site. Currently there’s a kitchen building, smoke house, tobacco house and slaves quarters. They are currently building the “plantation owners” house. Here’s one of the workers who was gracious enough to have her photo taken with me after she finished making boiled pound cake.



Chownings Tavern where we ate lunch one day. Best cream of tomato soup I have ever had.



I must say that everybody that worked in Colonial Williamsburg, from the bus drivers to the silversmith to the staff in the restaurants were all top notch. They were all informative and took the time to answer all questions without hesitation. It made the trip just that more interesting and informative.


We were pretty much done with Williamsburg after a day and a half, so we drove to Newport News (about 20 miles away) and went to the Mariners Museum.



Unfortunately this is the only photo I took. However, I must say that this was one of the best museums I’ve been to. Their main draw is that they have actual parts of the USS Monitor, the ironclad Union battleship from the Civil War. Their exhibit space for this ship was simply amazing, and we spent a good 2 hours just in there. They have brought up many pieces of the Monitor from off the coast of North Carolina where she rests at the bottom of the sea, some parts being displayed, others still in water in their labs being taken care of (you can see these parts, including the huge gun turret, from an overhead catwalk). I can’t give this place high enough marks. If you’re in the area and have a few hours, check it out!

[Olympicnut]

Our final day of being history geeks brought us to the final 2 points on the Historic Triangle, Jamestown and Yorktown.

Of course we all know Jamestown from Pocahontas right? Everybody sing!

In sixteen-hundred seven,
We sailed the open seas,
For glory, God and gold
And the Virginia Company….

Here we are inside the triangle fort. It’s obviously not the original walls, but it’s in the original location. It was way cool.





Captain John Smith. FYI had I stepped back 2 steps I’d have slid into the James River, it’s RIGHT THERE on the river bank.



This church was built half in the walls of the fort and half out, but when it was built the fort was long gone. The only original structure that’s left from it is the bell tower. Inside the re-built church however, you can see the original foundation under plexiglass from the original church.





Cool bronze relief map. The Smith statue would be in the middle of that long wall on the right where the gates are. You can see the church location on the far side of the map.



Where graves were found at one corner of the fort.



The Union Jack at the point of the fort.



Archeological excavations are currently happening inside the fort. They aren’t quite sure what they are yet, but they think they go back to the mid 1600’s.



Just outside the fort are these Civil War earthworks from 1861.



The other side of this tree marks where they believe the 1607 party first landed on shore.



Recall the Wythe House in Williamsburg? Well apparently this home looked very similar to it. Only this one has a convertible roof now All around the fort is where the town of Jamestown was built up back in the 1600's, until they moved the Capitol from here to Williamsburg. So there’s all sorts of building foundations all over the place. This is one of the best preserved.



The lovely Pocahontas and I.

[Olympicnut]

Last but not least on our agenda is Yorktown. You remember the History Rock song from those Saturday morning Schoolhouse Rock segments?

Cornwallis surrendered, and finally we had won!

Here’s a few battlefield shots.



According to the ranger, the long, somewhat shorter earthworks in the next 2 picts. are the last of the remaining ones from the 1781 battle. I was amazed they let just anyone walk around on them.





One of the redoubts that the Patriots took over from the British forces. Unfortunately this one, #10, is slowly falling into the York River. It’s quite sad. FYI the only thing original here is the earthworks. Those logs – concrete



There’s something called the Yorktown Onion. Apparently it only grows in these battlefields, is protected by law, and came over from Africa in the 1600’s or so on merchant and slave ships. Here’s a photo (it’s the long thin green stringy looking stuff). Kinda cool.



Surrender Battlefield. Here’s where Cornwallis surrendered. Only thing here today, a bunch of deer hanging out.



They had a bunch of British cannons mounted on a wall. This is an original and all of them are engraved that they were surrendered to the Colonies in 1781, or something like that.



And the house where the articles of surrender were written and signed. This house was totally rebuilt, but they showed photos of it from the Civil War days and they did a tremendous job at making look as it did in 1781.



Just a warning. Jamestown and Yorktown have 2 attractions each. Both have National Parks. But they also each have a “living museum” area. Those are NOT the same. The Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center are completely separate admissions from the National Parks. I call them both the “theme parks” if you will. I did not realize this until I arrived at the Jamestown Settlement, only to see they had an admission all their own apart from what I had already paid for the National Parks. No biggie, I wasn't really interested in another "living museum" anyway after being in Colial Williamsburg for 2 days. Just be warned, the Settlement and the Victory Center are SEPARATE admissions from the National Parks.

That said, I hope you enjoyed our little historical soiree to the Historic Triangle in Virginia. If you are into our nations history, I’d highly recommend spending a few days here. And if you come when Busch Gardens is open, you have that park to go to as well as it's only a few miles down the road from Colonial Williamsburg (they had already closed for the season, I was so bummed )

[pratt55]

I love it. I love American history and wish I could spend more time back east like you have, just to see what our forefathers accomplished. Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us.

P.S. I love potty gnome, that may become your signature photo from here on out

[twinmom]

Great TR as usual, Matt! Makes me want to plan a trip there.

[IzzyInWonderland]

That was an awesome TR! I've always wanted to go to Colonial Williamsburg and learn about Civil War history. Your pictures were fantastic and now I may have to plan a trip.

[aashee]

Great history. Wonderful shots. Great commentary.

Win/Win/Win!

Thanks Matt, I love historical areas as well and this looks like a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing!

[Roo719]

Thanks, O'Nut, for sharing, very cool trip you must have had. It's been years for me to have visited these places.

Peace?
Roo

[SummerInFL]

Great TR! I love the potty gnome. LOL

I'm sorry your ghost tour experience didn't pan out for you, love that photo though, the lights are definitely interesting!

Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip Onut, it looks like you had a great time!

[Roo719]

PS: As I drove to work, I got to thinking...if those weren't the original buildings, then what happened to them? Old age? A Great Fire?

Peace,
Roo

[Xharryb]

Great TR Matt! I really should go back there someday. Haven't been since I was a kid.

[sir clinksalot]

Awesome TR Matt!!!! I've always wanted to do this trip (along with Busch Gardens).