Colonial Williamsburg is awesome: it has shops, taverns, stocks, a market, and most importantly, history.
While we were waiting for our passes, we played the hoop and stick game. The hoop and stick game is a super fun game from the 1800s that children would play in their free time. The objective is to keep the hoop running for the longest amount of time without touching the hoop with anything but a small stick. i also experimented with hoop duels; two people charge at each other with their hoops and you try to interfere with your opponent’s hoop so as to have the last hoop running.
Once we got our tickets, we started exploring.
When went down the Duke Of Gloucester Street and stopped at the market house and the Tarpley, Thompson & Company Store. We came back up the street at took a stop at the stocks, which are right next to the courthouse. After goofing around at the stocks, we went on a slave history tour.
Slave History Tour
When the colonists first arrived in Jamestown and later Williamsburg, they did not have slaves. Eventually, after wasting several years searching for nonexistent gold, they learned from the natives that tobacco thrives in hot, humid climates. Unfortunately, tobacco is a labor-intensive crop and requires many workers to yield a substantial profit. So, someone suggested, “Well, we are having a bit of a problem in England with overcrowded prisons. What if we create a pardon program where prisoners work for seven years to earn their freedom?” They named this “indentured servitude,” and so they did. Additionally, people who wanted to come to the New World to get rich signed contracts to pay for their passage, making them indentured servants. After their release from servitude, they generally began farming because the land was free, and who would stop them? They also hired indentured servants. Quickly, a problem arose: they were running out of prisoners and passengers to farm their ever-growing plantations. So they started looking for different sources of labor. One day, an English privateer arrived and unloaded 20 Africans, stolen from a Portuguese slave ship. The people made them indentured servants. Twenty years later, a man named John Punch ran away. While it was not uncommon for an indentured servant to run away, the punishment was the number of days the servant ran away added to their contract. Mr. Punch ran away with two other white men, who received the regular sentence, but Mr. Punch received a life sentence, making him the first official slave in the English colonies. This also became the first instance of official race-based decision-making in the English colonies. The introduction of African slaves into the English colonies marked a significant shift in the labor force and the social structure of the colonies. The use of indentured servants as a source of labor was problematic enough, but the demand for cheap labor for the tobacco industry led to the enslavement of Africans. The practice of slavery became increasingly common in the English colonies, especially in the southern colonies, where large plantations were established. Slaves were treated as property and forced to work under brutal and inhumane conditions. The practice of slavery was not only morally reprehensible but also deeply ingrained in the economy and social structure of the colonies. Slavery persisted and grew in Williamsburg right up to the Revolutionary War. One of the governors of Virginia in Williamsburg was Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was a complex figure when it came to slavery. On one hand, he was a vocal opponent of slavery and believed that it was morally wrong, referring to it as a “moral depravity” and “a hideous blot” on American society. Yet, on the other hand, he owned hundreds of slaves throughout his lifetime and even fathered children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, with whom he had up to a 38-year affair. Despite his opposition to slavery, he struggled to reconcile his personal and political beliefs with the realities of owning slaves and the economic importance of slavery to the South. In his later years, he advocated for the gradual emancipation of slaves, but he was never able to fully extricate himself from the institution of slavery. Even at his death, he only freed five slaves, bringing the total number of slaves he freed to seven, all of whom were in the same family – the Hemings family. Most, if not all, of whom could probably pass for white. This is the sad truth of slavery that repeats throughout America’s history.
The Governor’s Palace
Later we took a tour of the governor’s palace. The Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg, Virginia, was originally built in 1710 as a residence for the British Royal Governor of Virginia. Over the years, the palace was renovated and expanded, with the most significant changes occurring during the tenure of Governor Francis Fauquier in the mid-18th century. The palace became the center of political and social life in Williamsburg and hosted many important figures of the time, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry. During the American Revolution, the palace was seized by the Continental Army and used as a hospital, barracks, and storage facility. After the war, the palace burned down, and a school was built on top of it. In the early 20th century, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation acquired the palace and undertook a massive restoration effort to return it to its 18th-century appearance.
Jamestown
next we went to Jamestown. Jamestown was founded in 1607 by a group of about 100 settlers who were seeking wealth and land. Life was difficult in the early days as the settlers struggled with disease, famine, and conflicts with the local Powhatan tribe. In 1676, Jamestown was burned down during Bacon’s Rebellion, a revolt led by Nathaniel Bacon against the colonial government. The rebellion was fueled by discontent among the colonists over high taxes and the government’s unwillingness to protect them from Native American raids. Although the uprising destroyed much of the town, the settlement was eventually rebuilt and became the capital of Virginia until it was moved to Williamsburg in 1699. After that, it began to crumble until it was, in the words of one historian, just some bricks and a church.
Yorktown
After Jamestown, we went to Yorktown. Here is the battle. In September 1781, the Continental Army and the French army under General George Washington and General Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau converged on Yorktown, Virginia, where General Charles Cornwallis and his British army had established a fortified position. Washington’s army, with the help of French artillery, began a siege of Yorktown. The British were heavily outnumbered and resorted to a desperate defense. The key to their position were two redoubts, numbers 9 and 10, that stood outside the British lines. On the night of October 14, 1781, Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette led successful assaults on the redoubts, allowing American and French artillery to fire directly into the British lines. With no hope of relief and supplies running low, Cornwallis attempted a breakout but was forced back by the allied armies. On October 19, Cornwallis surrendered, effectively ending the war in America. Cornwallis tried to humiliate the victors by having his second-in-command, General O’Hara, surrender his sword, and O’Hara, out of stupidness or in an attempt to embarres the americans, tried to present it to the French commander, Rochambeau, who gestured to General Washington, who refused the sword from anybody but Cornwallis, and directed O’Hara to surrender it to his own second-in-command, General Benjamin Lincoln.
Busch Gardens
On Saturday I went to Busch Gardens. My favorite ride was Finnegan’s Flyer because of it’s calming stableness. For everything else you have to wait for forever to ride in the front but on Finnegan’s Flyer, everyone is in the front. Besides all the screaming, it is a very calming ride. I would deferentially recommend Griffon. If you go to the roman section of the park first, you will get 3 of the best rides in one. Only downside was I didn’t get to ride Pantheon becase it was closed.