Jamestown Settlement Ships

The first colonists came to Jamestown on three ships.  Those 3 ships have been reproduced and placed at the pier at Jamestown Settlement.  You are allowed to go onboard all 3, but can only go beneath deck on the largest ship.  The staff are dressed in appropriate period clothing and will answer any questions about life onboard the ship during the 4 month crossing to the Americas.  We know that we would not have wanted to cross the ocean on even the largest of the ships.

the largest ship over 100 made the crossing on this one


two smallest ships

Jamestown Settlement Indian Village

The Indian village is set up as a Powhatan Village would have been during early Jamestown days.  There are many dwellings set up that you can enter.  Inside the dwellings you can see what the Indians used during their daily life.  Very interesting and worthwhile to see.

Historical Jamestowne

Historical Jamestowne is operated by the National Park service.  You can see where Jamestowne was established.  They are doing digs there and finding more information about the establishment.  There is a short movie to watch.  It was very hot so we did not stay very long, but did manage to walk the trails.

Memorial Church was location of 3 churches.

Guess who this statue represents?

John Smith

reproduction of barracks

Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia

Wow.  What a great museum.  In 1890, some of the Virginia ladies decided to save the White House of the Confederacy and as many items from the civil war that they could.  Because of their work, this wonderful museum exist.  Items from all major battles are in the museum.  We spent many hours in the museum.  We also toured the White House of the Confederacy.

White House of the Confederacy

Lee’s sword of surrender

Colonial Williamsburg Mental Hospital Museum

The first mental hospital was in Williamsburg.  The hospital is also the entrance to the museums at Colonial Williamsburg.

 

used for unruly patients.

Colonial Williamsburg Museum Music

There are not very many musical instruments here, but there are some different ones.

This is a Hippocerous.  You can see that it is a record player that needs to be wound up to play.  Once it plays, the hippo’s tongue moves back and forth.

Shitholt

Colonial Williamsburg Museum Coins

If you’ve ever wondered what kind of coins were used for money in Colonial Williamsburg, then you will enjoy the part of the museum that displays the different coins.

prettiest coin

doubloon

ugliest coin

Colonial Williamsburg

Colonial Williamsburg has lots to see and do.  We bought a pass that allowed us to visit 3 days, really need that many days to see it all.  We watched both movies, took the tours, visited the museums, and watched the reenactments that took place in the afternoons. 

 

as part of the reenactments,Patrick Henry speaks to the people.  He came and visited us as we were waiting for the show and answered questions about what was happening in Williamsburg during the 1770s

House of Burgesses where many important decisions were made concerning the independence of America.

Capitol building

Armory  where lots of guns are stored.  There is a staff member who explains all the guns and things stored in the armory.

reenactor

Colonial Williamsburg Governor’s Palace

After purchasing our tickets we saw a movie then took the bus to the Governor’s Palace.  We had to wait a short time for the tour as they only take a few people through at a time.  Our guide came out to greet us and told us that when we entered the palace, we would be seeing the palace getting ready to celebrate the birthday of Queen Charlotte in the 1770s.  Really a great tour.

Yorktown Battlefield

The battle that took place at Yorktown turned out to be the last battle of the Revolutionary War.  With help from the French, Washington was able to defeat Cornwallis in only 9 days.  We arrived at the battlefield in time to catch the film shown by the National Park, which tells about the battle.  We came out of the movie to find a volunteer ready to lead us on a short tour of the British side of the battlefield and tell us about what happened.  Our volunteer was French and so gave us great information about the role the French played during the Revolution.  He really was entertaining.  After that tour, we went inside the small museum, went to lunch, and then spent the rest of the afternoon driving the battlefield.  Great day.

The York river behind the British earthworks.

British redoubt 10 captured by the Americans.  Alexander Hamilton was on this raid.

These weapons, made by the French, were already 100 years old when they were used in the Revolutionary war.

British walked down this road when they surrendered.

Sailing on a schooner

While eating lunch, Gary and I saw a schooner heading in to dock.  We talked to our waitress and she said that we could board the schooner and go for a sail.  We walked down to the dock and were able to sail at 2:00.  Trip lasted for 2 hours.

While we were sailing, we saw the USS Cole.

Really enjoyed the ride.

the Alliance 105’  The captain takes it to Panama for the winter.

USS Cole

Yorktown Victory Center

Yorktown was where the final battle of the Revolution took place.  Today we went to Yorktown Victory Center where we got to see lots of artifacts from the revolution, but no pictures were allowed inside the museum.  Outside the gallery is an encampment that shows how the soldiers lived during the war.  After going through the encampment area, there is a farm set up to show how people in Virginia lived during Revolution times.  We enjoyed the center very much.

6 soldiers were assigned to a tent.

The doctor explaining how he would bleed his patients and catch 10 oz of blood in the little cup he is holding.

After explaining how the cannon worked, they fired it off.  Earplugs anyone?

Thoughts on DC

We are really pleased with our DC trip.  We got to see lots of interesting things.  We enjoyed the Holocaust museum; sure wish I could have taken pictures.  If you come to DC, be sure to put this museum on your list, the videos are graphic and makes me wonder how one human can do those thing to other humans, especially children.  Most of the museums do not open until 10:00.

We also go to go the the archives and see the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights.  Lots of hands on things to do there, again no pictures.

We became pros at ridding the metro system.  Easy to do once you understand the different lines and have a great map to follow.  We found that most people were welling to help us out if we did not know where to go to catch the next train.  Be sure to hold on to your phone and do not, repeat, do not, lean against the escalator while talking or looking at your phone; we witnessed a man lose his phone this way.  A couple of kids reached down and took it out of his hand and took off running.  Most of the people getting on the trains are listening to their ipods or phones.  Earphones everywhere, heads bobbing up and down.

Food is expensive at the café’s inside the museums.  The Air and Space Museum has a McDonalds and it is usually very busy around lunch time.  There are small kiosks on the mall which offer hotdogs, salads, and sandwiches at a more reasonable price.

People use the area on the mall to play softball, frisbee, and run.  Lots of people like to run on the grassy mall.

It got hot and muggy in the week we were here.  Bottled water is $2.50.

The IMAX shows were wonderful.  Especially liked Born to Be Wild, the Hubble, and the dinosaurs.

We were here during the school trips, lots of 5th through 12th graders running around.  Some are well-behaved, others,  well----

Some of the museums let people in according to times so you have to have tickets for Ford’s theater, White House tours, Capitol tours, and elevator to the top of the Washington Monument.

The first night we arrived, we took the night tour of DC and really enjoyed that.  It gave us an idea of how the mall is laid out.  I personally think the night view of the Lincoln Monument is better than the day.

We are now really good at walking.   The museums are not very close together, so be sure to wear comfortable shoes.  Lots of stairs but there are ramps, escalators and elevators, that is, when they are in working order.

It rained a couple of the days we were here, but we just bought cheap parkas and kept on going.

We were on the go most days from 8:30 till 6:00 and are now taking the next 3 days to reenergize.

Cherry Hill is a great campground.  Really very helpful in giving directions.

National Aquarium Washington DC

Final day of sight-seeing in DC.  We went to the National Aquarium.  We had to pay to see the exhibits.  Did see things we had not seen in other aquariums.  Very small aquarium.