Here's the story behind the beginning of Colonial Williamsburg.

In 1926 a tall young man began a walk down Duke of Gloucester Street in a half-asleep country town in Virginia named Williamsburg.  His name was Edwin Kendrew, a junior man from the architectural firm of Perry, Shaw and Hepburn in Boston 

He started started at the College of William and Mary where cows  were grazing on the village greens.  Model Ts rattled down the road past rows of garages, small time-worn shops, and a town gently decaying with old age. About the only recent addition was a sign on a garage, “Toot-and-come-in,” a terrible pun based on the 1921 discovery of Tut-Ankh-Amen’s tomb in Egypt.

He walked along the center grassy strip that divided the street into two one-way lanes with every step kicking up the dust of history. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson once walked here, on their way to worship at Bruton Parish Church.  The seeds of the American Revolution in the 18^th Century were planted everywhere, in houses and workplaces where the first American patriots met to cry for more freedom from Great Britain and equally determined loyalists said Virginia should never break its with the mother country. 

Years later he recounted that walk.

“I had a pretty good impression of the extent of the project – how large the town was in the 18^th century from the documents we’d been working with. I was asked to come down and inspect several of the existing colonial buildings that were particularly in need of repair and bracing, really in danger of falling down. It was very exciting to me because it was in May and everything was in a fine state of blooming including the dogwood. But much of the 18^th century atmosphere had been obliterated with gasoline stations on the main street and modern stores selling hay and feed products.  But I was thrilled when I could see bits of another century showing through this rather disarrayed modern development.”

Edwin Kendrew would win countless honors and become a senior executive of Colonial Williamsburg in the years ahead. But even he could not foresee in the jumble of old buildings what a Colonial colossus would emerge from the unique partnership in the 1920’s of the rector of Bruton Parish Church, A. R. Goodwin who shared his vision of a restored capital with one of the richest men in the world, John D. Rockefeller who would fund a world-class restoration of history.

The vision has now become a reality. 

 Walk down Duke of Gloucester street today.  The two one-way streets and center grass parkway with its 1920 telephone poles and street lamps has now become a wide pedestrian thoroughfare that can lead you to 301 acres with more than 500 buildings, 80 of them original and hundreds of 18^th century colonial interpreters who take the roles of 18^th century residents of the community. You can stay in any of five Colonial Williamsburg hotels or sleep in 25 restored 18^th century homes amidst authentic period reproductions as well as 20^th century conveniences. 

You have a choice of ten restaurants, some featuring such Colonial fare as Gingered Pumpkin Soup and Oyster and Lobster Pie.  Afterwards you can play on any of three golf courses bordered by nature trails and Civil War redoubts.  H

A few of the adventures we sampled: 

Off to see the Palace. The Governor's Palace was originally built by the governors sent by the King of England to rule Great Britain's new Crown Colony of Virginia. During the American Revolution it became a hospital for American soldiers killed at Yorktown; 156 are buried on the grounds. After the  Revolution, it was occupied by the first two American governors of Virginia, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. In 1880 the Palace burned to the ground. Even the singed bricks were sold off. The Palace you walk through today was meticulously restored from early drawings and archeological finds. Walking through the reception room with a crown of rifles in the ceiling and visiting the dining room and ballroom almost makes you feel like Patrick or Thomas are just on the other side of the door.  

Meeting the merchants.  "He didn't want any syrup of soot!" said the owner of Raleigh Tavern, telling us about one of his guests who was complaining about how coffee was brewed. The tavern owner, one of the dozens of costumed character interpreters on the Duke of Gloucester Street, was reading a printed announcement of goods that had recently arrived from England at the Greenhow Store.

Then he  grouched about the prices. Another interpreter who worked in the chemist shop became very upset with me when I asked if any American troops had passed through town recently on the way to fight the British at Yorktown. She looked at me sternly and said, "Don't be talkin' about things like that. The British have ears everywhere!" 

 Losing track of time in the gardens.  

Stroll in the gardens behind the Palace for endless vistas of flowers. Or visit some of the small fenced gardens all along Duke of Gloucester street. These same types of plants and flowers once graced the gardens and tables of the first settlers in Williamsburg.    Check the free Colonial Williamsburg Visitor's Companion (available at the Visitors Center) for times of a tour of the Historic Area gardens by the landscape staff 

 Watching old skills brought back to life.

In the wheelwright's workshop next to the Palace we learned how wooden wheels were created for the carriages and picked up a few tips from a carpenter about ways to work with wood.   In the Printing Office & Binder a master craftsman applied gold leaf to a Colonial book.  Best times to visit these  workplaces is early in the morning or in the winter or early spring when there are fewer visitors. Most of the Trades Interpreters (their official title) love to talk and you will have plenty of time to ask questions when they don't have to address a crowd.

Travelers Tip:

Try the peanut soup, pottage pie and spoon bread (all Colonial era dining treats) available at some of the Taverns in the Historic Area, but the wait can be long in the summer,  particularly around noon. Our suggestion: lunch about 11:30 a.m. 

Directions:  From I-95 in the Richmond area, take I-64 east to Williamsburg.  Use Exit 238 onto Route 143 (you'll bear right off I-64).  This is quickly followed by a right onto Route 132.  You'll turn left onto feeder road Route 132Y into the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center.  Just follow the green shield signs to Colonial Williamsburg.

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