If the ages of said girls range from 10 down to 4...
If you have a week of vacation and have access to the following...
If you have a love of history, but still want "fun" time with the family...
Here is a "semi-schedule" should you choose to see the sites of Williamsburg, Jamestown and D.C.
This past week we decided, as a family, that we'd like to take a trip to our country's "founding" cities/capitol. In preparation, we gathered and/or participated in the following:
1) We were able to reserve a week's time share condo at a Wyndham resort entitled Governor's Green. It was nice b/c we had an incredible 3 bedroom condo...it also had 3 pools (indoor & out), a free putt-putt area and availablity to feed the roaming ducks:) It was minutes from Colonial Williamsburg. We bought our groceries for the week, packed lunches and ate breakfasts & dinners in the condo as all the main attractions close at 5pm.
2) We sewed and/or borrowed colonial dresses...enough for at least 2 per girl, including Mommy:)
3) Read and/or listened to the entire book series of Felicity An American Girl. Also, watched the Felicity Movie along with the behind the scenes and tour of Williamsburg that is included in the DVD.
4) Read and/or perused these other books: Mary Geddy's Day, What would it be like to live in Colonial Williamsburg?,
and for "Mommy's" pleasure reading:
just because I like that "historical fiction" reading:)
There are hundreds of Colonial Williamsburg books and D.C. books available at the library...we read through a ton of them...it's best to just find ones that fit your personality best and run with it...sometimes the girls just read through to find interesting facts and then went on to the next...the ones I listed just happened to a be a couple that stood out in my mind.
5) Planned a "mid trip" surprise for our girls in order to make it the entire 9 hours to our destination...
We finally arrived and made a "plan of attack"...So here is what I would suggest...
First thing to do is to get the "map" of Colonial Williamsburg for the week...it will give you special presentation times.
If you are especially into scripted readings and performances, you will want to check out the outdoor presenations near the Capitol, etc..However, our girls are into dancing and therefore we would recommend the following:
*Pleasures of the Dance: it is an opportunity to actually do some of the dances of that time period. It is a 30 minute presentation and it is wonderful! Our entire family participated in all the country dances together. It was fun to see Daddy do his "courtesy".
*Dancing on the Boards: these are theatrical dances that are performed and they are both comical, serious and beautiful. The girls thoroughly enjoyed this 25 minutes presenation.
*Fife & Drum Retreat: The young men (and women) play their instruments down the city street into the Magazine and then they shoot off the cannon and the guns. You'll want to at least see this once.
There are many other options and fun things to do, but these were our favorites...and seeing as we wanted to spend time swimming, playing putt-putt and getting the occassional Starbucks, we didn't do a die-hard visit...and for Little Munchkin's sake, it was time well-spent!
There are some really great opportunities in the evening for presentations. These are ones you must pay extra for and it can get rather expensive, so choose wisely...however, the free options during the day are wonderful as well. We chose to just use the daily performances for our viewing and spent our monies on a Horse & Carriage ride (as per request of Little Munchkin) Again, although it is great fun to dress up and tour the houses, etc...it can get long for children under 6...so we made sure to include things that our youngest could look forward to.
*Must sees in Williamsburg:
Everard House: this is the house that Felicity's movie is based on.
Wythe House: this is a house that Elizabeth might have lived in. The backyard has basketmaking and chickens:)
Geddy House: based on the Mary Geddy book, the girls loved when they recognized rooms, etc
Prentis Store: fun place to purchase trinkets, but know that they sell many of the same things at the visitor center
Governor's Palace: the tour is long, but once you get to the ball rooms, you feel transported back in time and then you step into the gardens...the girls got lost in the Maze...it was wonderful..
be sure to roam the palace green too...often they have fun games to play, oxen to see, horses & gentlemen to speak with, etc...
Charleton CoffeeHouse: this is a new addition since 2009 and it was probably my favorite...we interacted with the "tourguide" who was "from that time period" and enjoyed a cup of coffee, tea or hot cocoa (depending on your preference) from the old recipes...the hot cocoa was a huge difference from what we are used to and the girls got a kick out of it.
We saw pretty much everything, but those were our favorites...the apothocary and millinery shops are fun too...again, just listing the "top" things for us...
Some extras you may not know about:
*There is a huge tree to climb in behind the Magazine...we passed the time climbing all through this with the girls and it gave them some opportunity to get out some energy.
*Kiddy corner to the Capitol, out back behind the bakery there is a shaded presentation area...hardly anyone goes there and it's a great place to stop and have a picnic lunch. Everytime we've gone they've been working on excavation, so that's been really interesting to watch...
*The Mount overlooking the Maze behind the Governor's Palace is a great place to have lunch as well...it's the original "ice house". It's shaded and beautiful and then you can watch the kiddos run around the maze after they finish eating.
I'll be posting more pictures on facebook if you are friends with me there...As the week goes on I'll share with you our experience at Jamestown, Mt. Vernon and D.C. as well...it was a fun-filled week with the girls!
See you soon!
