A History Lesson

Because of the uncertainty of the health of our yellow Lab, no plans were made last year to take a few days to go away somewhere different from home.  When our yellow Lab, Buck, had to be euthanized in early July 2011, we still couldn't decide on when and where to go.  This year it seemed as if the year would slide by again with no plans for a "vacation".
A coworker of mine (and good friend to both of us) had recently taken a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia and enjoyed their time there very much.
Based on this feedback, Mr P made arrangements for us to go away for a long weekend and gave me the dates to request off from work.  Friday morning saw us off to Williamsburg, Virginia for several days.  The drive took us about five hours but the scenery and changing colors of the leaves at this time of year were a treat in themselves.  Once in Virginia, vineyards and horse farms were numerous.

Virginia, also referred to as Old Dominion, is one of the original thirteen colonies making it home to many dramatic historic sites. Two other historic towns close by are Jamestown and Yorktown. Virginia is the birthplace of eight of our President's beginning with George Washington.

We arrived at our hotel, checked in and then after dinner, scouted out the lay of the land for the next day's visit to Colonial Williamsburg.
We were up early the next morning, stopped for breakfast at a pancake and waffle house finally making our way to the visitor's center at Colonial Williamsburg.

We decided to split our time there between two days since we would doing a good deal of walking and there would be time spent at the attractions to participate in the programs offerred.  Anyone can enter Colonial Williamsburg and walk all over the city; however, ticket holders can gain admission to programs designed to allow admission to the buildings themselves and have a history lesson on the building and the things going on in Colonial Virginia at that time.  
Saturday's Revoluntary City time frame was 1775-1776 - The Old Order Collapsed
A tour of The Governor's Palace was first on the list of things to see.  The Palance was the residence of seven royal governors and the first two governors of the Commonwealth of Virginia.  There are a number of reconstructed buildings in Colonial Williamsburg, this being one.  The Palace was reconstructed on its original foundation on Palace Street.  Our visit coincided with preparations for a ball to be held to celebrate the christening of Lord and Lady Dunmore's youngest daughter.  According to our guide the Lord and Lady were at church and the household was making preparations for the ball to be held that evening.

The Governor's Palace

The housemaid who welcomed us into the palace.

One of the downstairs sitting rooms 

An office area for Lord Dumore

The French nanny's bed in a corner of the bedroom the two older Dunmore daughters shared

The ball room with carpet that stretched from one side of the room to the other and from one end of the room to the other.  What a luxury in that time!  This room also had this larger "heater" to stave off any chill.

This room also had a "heater" but only an area rug.  While you can't see it in the photo, the walls in both this room and the ball room are wallpapered, not painted as they may appear.  The wallpaper is in squares of about 18 inches square, pasted together before they are applied to the walls.  While these walls had no pattern, those that did had to have the squares placed so the pattern matched before applying it to the walls.

During the previous night British soldiers had taken the colony's gunpowder and shortly after we left the Palace,  members of the Williamsburg Independent Company marched up the Palace Green and stormed the Palace to demand its return.

A stroll down the Palance Green brought us to the Lumber House where we had a short wait before taking a carriage ride.  More on the carriage ride and our visit in another post.