The Lord's Day in Williamsburg

The Lord's Day found us at Bruton Parish Church for worship, but our seats were not condusive for photographs so we'll have to get photos of the interior of the building later in the week. After worship we toured three other important structures in the town.

Here's Elizabeth, Karen, Heather, and Tim strolling through the working gardens of the George Wythe House. Vegetables to the left, matching outhouses on the right.

The Wythe House from the west end of the formal gardens.

To the north of the formal gardens are stables and several other buildings where trades are demonstrated today. Here's the weaver and his assistant constructing blanket cloth based on an 18th century pattern. The weavers in this building produce replicas for CW using 18th century techniques for use in other locations at CW. The weaver explained that it would take 22 years of 40 hour weeks using the loom in this photo to equal 8 hours of production of a modern loom.

In addition to practicing law in Williamsburg, George Wythe also trained Thomas Jefferson and several other young men in that field. This room served as Mr. Wythe's office and study, so it's likely he and Jefferson studied together in this room. You'll also notice evidences of Mr. Wythe's interest in science scattered about the room. Any guesses what's in the glass jars on the table?

Gretel and Elizabeth pretending to take tea in the parlor of the Wythe House.

This map shows up frequently around the city, and I believe it represents the boundaries of the colonies around 1750. If you look carefully you'll notice we live in Virginia, and our friends on the west side of the Illinois River live in New France, or Canada.

The receiving hall in the Governor's Palace includes enough weapons for a small army, and the crests of Queen Anne (who reigned when the palace was built) and the Kings George (the third of which was reigning at the time of our Declaration of Independence).

Close view of one of the swords.

The crest of King George showing the lion for England, and the unicorn for Scotland.

This shot was captured in one of the bedrooms in the Palace and is for all my friends that are familiar with the cost of building materials. Look at all that molding!

On to the Capitol Building where the Governor's Council meets in this chamber on the second floor above the General Court.

The Burgesses had this committee room above their assembly hall.

Although the Capitol Building is a reproduction of an earlier building, many of our nation's founding fathers represented their Virginia counties in a room like this on this spot. Patrick Henry's "Caesar-Brutus" speech was delivered on this site in 1765, along with many others that forged our determination to be an independent state.

One of our favorite shops to visit is the Millinery where Mr. Hutter is the Master Tailor. His work is equisite as evidenced by this quilted double-breasted jacket. His techniques are limited to those in practice in the 18th century (i.e. no sewing machines), and one can often find him sitting cross-legged on a table doing his work by the light of the window at his back.

Our home away from home. Thanks for visiting!

Williamsburg, Day 2

Not all the buildings on the 301 acres of Colonial Williamsburg are public buildings, in fact the majority are private homes in this living museum. Nonetheless their gardens are open to the ticketed guests of Colonial Williamsburg. We find ourselves touring gardens dreaming of having something similar in our backyard, until we remember that we live on the windswept prairie with harsh winters. Oh well, we'll just enjoy these while we're here.

Gretel and Elizabeth exploring every inch of the property.

A closer view of the flowering trees in this garden. Can anyone identify this tree for me?

I'm not sure if that's a potter's shed or an outhouse, but it sure is quaint.

The peaceful view north along Botetourt Street, named after the Governor of Virginia who served the colony from 1768 to 1771.

One of the beautiful carriages available for hire. Although we've never taken a spin around town in one of these, they are very popular.

The girls must visit the Mary Dickinson shop each year to peruse the many feminine delights ranging from decorative hats to jewelry.

This carriage driver was informing this befuddled tourist that he only accepted gold, silver, or short credit -- none of that paper stuff!

We were treated to a conversation with Patrick Henry today, and managed to get this photo of him with one of his admirers. You'll have to guess which is which.

The flora is much further advanced than in Illinois this time of year.

More of God's art captured by Gretel.

The Bruton Parish Church, long the center of worship for the city. Since services are still held in this building, we normally worship here on the Lord's Day.

Karen strolling through a "gentlemen's garden."

Peruvian squill, a native of the Mediterranean. (Must be a geographic anomaly)

Lest our friends in Illinois and Pennsylvania despair over the advanced state of this garden, one needs to remember that the soil here does not freeze in the winter.

Burgesses Nicholas, Henry, and Pendleton assemble the residents of Williamsburg on May 15, 1776 to announce that the Virginia Assembly has elected to declare independence from England.

The colors of the new independent state are flown from the Capitol tower.

Our friend since last year, Cookie Baker, with her son Thomas who plays the fife in the CW Junior Fife and Drum Corp. We hope to have more pictures of the Baker family later in the week when their older son David plays in the Senior Corp. Thanks for visiting!

The Williamsburg Tradition Continues, Day 1

Our family first visited Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia in the spring of 2004, and fell in love with the place. The people, the programs, the buildings, and the food all combine to make an experience unrivaled anywhere on earth. The most memorable part of that first visit was meeting the Madeira family from Pennsylvania: homeschoolers like us that appreciate the beauty and history of this former capitol of Virginia. This year the Lord made it possible that we could rendezvous again for our fifth vacation together. Over the next several days we hope to chronicle our experiences here so you can enjoy vicariously.

An essential stop on any visit to Williamsburg is the Trellis restaurant, and the experience only intensifies when one can eat outside on the patio. Here Heather, Tim, Karen, and I are ready to dive into savory cheesecake and grilled chicken and trout. Can you tell Karen is glad to be here?

One cannot leave the Trellis without dessert, and if you like chocolate you owe it to yourself to try their "Death by Chocolate." Karen and I shared this one, so we both survived. If you don't like chocolate, we pity you.

This building is new this year, and still under construction. It was a coffeehouse back in the 1770s, and this new structure is built on the original foundation. We'll investigate further this week to see what the Foundation has planned for this building.

The "Revolutionary City" presentations each day are interpretations of actual events that occurred in and around Williamsburg in the 1770s and 1780s. In this scene, the Declaration of Independence is read to the citizens of Williamsburg for the first time from the balcony of the Capitol building on July 25, 1776. This re-enactment takes some liberties with the reading in that several costumed actors recite portions of the document, but the presentation is effective. If you have not read the Declaration from start to finish, you owe it to yourself to spend less than 10 minutes reading our forefather's complaints to their king in England (they were concerned about more than just tax on tea). Extra credit to those that see the irony in that today we could make many of the same complaints to our president.

Lily is producing a portfolio of her sewing projects to be displayed later this month at her graduation ceremony, and there are several garments that aren't sufficiently documented. We hope to fill in the gaps on this trip, as we should have plenty of lovely settings for the photos. This shot shows the polonaised skirt of this gown, and the setting is the gardens north of the Governor's Palace.

Tim, Laura, Heather, and Karen stroll through the gardens with the Palace in the background.

The older girls socializing in the garden.

A bridge on the pond west of the Palace kitchen.

The parents relaxing after a bit of time on their feet.

Chatting.

Elizabeth enjoying the outside of the bridge while the older girls carry on...

The front of the Governor's Palace. More extra credit for anyone that can explain why the weather vane on the roof has the letters "G R" on it. Thanks for stopping by.

Construction update #30

We'll start this update of the barn construction with a picture of my handy gutter carrier, aka the minivan.

Even though I thought I would miss the pickup truck, the van probably made this job of carrying gutters easier than it would have been with the truck. My conclusion: if you want to do serious hauling, get a minivan.

Gretel was my gutter-hanging assistant and photographer through most of the project, and she proved just as handy as the minivan. Here she's caught me working on the first section of gutter on the south side of the barn.

Those hanger brackets with the screws attached are awful handy. I definitely recommend them, but would encourage you to shop around since your local discount lumberyard may gouge you compared to what they cost on the internet.

Gretel told me I look like a dwarf in this photo. I take exception; I think I look like a hobbit.

Finishing the first piece and getting ready to join it to the next one.

On to the north side where we're also halfway done and ready to climb the ladders with the last piece of gutter.

A minor adjustment to the east end.

I'd prefer to let the downspouts simply dump on the ground, but since that didn't work well on either side of the barn, we installed these underground pipes to direct the water to more managable locations.

Here's the north side, done until we do more earthmoving and landscaping. It even seems to work so far!

And last but not least the view from the roof of the house. Thanks for visiting.

First mowing of the year