In our first day alone we spent time with the blacksmiths, gun makers, sliversmiths, a shoe maker, and a wig maker. Each craftsman drew Savannah and the other children into the story of their work. They talked about what they were doing as they made actual items to be used on site or for other historic sites. Every gate hinge on property was made the way it would have been 300 years ago, along with the wagon wheels, windows, nails, and anything else that might need to be repaired or replaced. It was amazing to watch them use ancient tools and create masterpieces.
Not only were the children drawn into the conversation by the artists but they also had examples and tools for the children (and adults) to pick up and examine. This is better than any history class. You just can't get this stuff from a book.
Although 300 years ago there was not a farm in Colonial Williamsburg, they created one just outside of the area to represent how 97% of Virgin's population lived at the time. Below you can see tabacco drying after the summers harvest. They us an ox and and old plow just like back them. This is not just an easy tourism related job!
Colonial shopping was also a big hit with all of us. We explored the stores full of handmade goods just as closely as we did the exhibits. They had cool wooden toys from the time period, old maps (which were amusing to see what they thought Florida looked like. Let's just say they had it about half the size of Cuba.), sewing projects, handmade nails, hats, kitchenwares, canned goods, and the best rootbeer ever (no high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavor). We all had fun with the hats.
Real rootbeer.
Savannah with a giant leaf on her head. Don't ask me why. It's a 4 year old thing.
Shoemaker shop.
Shoemaker. We listened to him for at least 20 minutes, maybe longer. I am telling you, they can hold a child's attention.
Savannah really enjoyed the court house. Which is odd because we really haven't talked to her about breaking the law, court, or jail. I mean, why would we? That's not normal preschool topics. None the less, she enjoyed learning about it and was made head judge (they had 12 back then plus 12 jurers. It was fun to learn that we kept lots of the same British ideas of law.).
Savannah was then promoted as sherrif of the court (they were always a judge as well). She is so little in the box that all you can see is Mark.
Seeing horse drawn carriages around town was cool.
The lady in the wig shoppped played her part so well that she scared Savannah as she informed her that well brought up little girls shaved their heads so the wig will fit better. She also added that she would have time to perform this task for her in an hour or two so that she could get a proper wig. She offered to shave Mark's head as well and that's when Savannah headed for the door!
We had lunch at Chowning's Tavern. Candlelit of course since we were now in the late 1700's. Mark would raise his mug periodically and yell revolutionary battle cries. I think in this picture he had just yelled out "Down with the King!" We really submerged ourselves in the experience. Can you tell?
Savannah drinking apple cider.
These are just a few highlights. We took a ton of pictures (these are unedited) and I recorded a notebook worth of things I learned (I love history, can you tell?). More to come in the next post.
1 comment:
Looks like a great experience! Mark's picture with the hat made me laugh. After Lee saw all our hat pictures, you know he just had to make a comment about germs ;)
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