Tag: Colonial Williamsburg

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Photos USA

Photo of the Week: Hey, doll face!

Dolls in period costume for sale, Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia (Scarborough photo)

These dolls were in a box in an outdoor, tented market stall on Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.  Vendors in Colonial dress were selling all sorts of related gizmos – penny whistles, tri-cornered hats, butter churns (OK, just kidding on that last one.)

I have photographic evidence of my teen daughter wearing a replica of a late 1700s women’s cap, also for sale at the stall, but I can only push the Blogging Mom thing so far!

Check the Colonial Williamsburg Monthly Specials page for deals on lodging and admission, and the Calendar page for upcoming events and focused tours for children, like a chance to be a pretend trade apprentice (like a weaver or silversmith.)

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Blog Photos USA Video Posts

Video of the week: Colonial Williamsburg

Earlier this year we took a family press trip to Virginia’s “Historic Triangle” (Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown) and our tourguides gave us a disposable digital video camera to play with.

The CVS disposable costs about US$30 and then another US$12-13 to develop, but it did motivate me to film without my usual over-analyzing and artistic angst. Once I show you the good clips from it, I’m going to start using the video mode on my Kodak digital camera, for better video quality.

I’ve never had a video camera, so I made all of the usual newbie mistakes: panning/moving the camera too fast so that the resulting video induces vomiting, simply forgetting that I had the thing in my purse, and then not getting around to getting the clips off of the camera and onto my computer.

With great fanfare, I’d like to announce that in addition to filming a little video clip of me with a laptop camera, I actually drove over to my local CVS pharmacy yesterday and got the contents of the camera onto a DVD. I popped the DVD into my laptop and voila — a whole lot of “OMG, I forgot I filmed that!”

So, here is my first attempt at doing a little travel video work for Family Travel’s Photo/Video of the Week — it’s a short narrated clip from July 2007, taken on Duke of Gloucester Street in front of the King’s Arms Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg.

(1/12/08 – The original video seems to have somehow disappeared, so here is a link to it on YouTube in case it drops out again….)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uAza9uCLKM

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USA

Colonial Williamsburg: a homeschooler report

Last month I put up a post announcing Home Educator Week in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, and one of our homeschooling readers seized the opportunity to take her two kids and immerse themselves in Colonial America for a day.

I thought you’d enjoy Lydia’s fun report (complete with her son in a tri-cornered hat) on her Little Blue School blog: Colonial Williamsburg in Inappropriate Shoes.

The next special educational event is African-American history programs throughout February 2008, and the next Home Educator Week is February 20 — March 5, 2008.

Technorati tags: travel, family travel, homeschooling, Colonial Williamsburg

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USA

It’s Home Educator Week in Colonial Williamsburg

Colored yarns at the weaver's, Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia (Scarborough photo)

For those of my readers who homeschool, next week (September 17-21, 2007) is the designated “Home Educator Week” on site at Colonial Williamsburg, the 1700s living history museum in Virginia that my own family visited earlier this summer.

The Home Educator Week information sheet lists all sorts of places that you can visit and the role that they played in America’s Colonial daily life.

There are tradespeople like weavers and the wheelwrights (who kept carriages and wagons on the move) that you and the kids can watch in action, and the info sheet tells you who’s doing what and on which day.

For example:

“If you make your way back to Duke of Gloucester street you will find the Blacksmith ready to meet your needs Monday through Sunday from 9-5.  Directly across the street, visit the Print Shop in the mornings from 9-1, and the [book] Bindery in the afternoon from 1-5.”

There are also special learning programs this week at the Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. For example:

September 19

** 10:30am – Wee Folk – meet in the museum’s Introductory Gallery. This program is geared to children ages 3-7 and their adult friends. Participants explore the galleries through stories and activities. 45 minutes.

** 3:00pm – Crack the Code – meet in the museums’ Education Gallery. See if you can Crack the Code as we investigate various Secret Codes used during the [American] Revolution. One hour. Geared for ages 8 and older.

If you are there during this event, don’t miss musician Dean Shostak and his glass armonica (invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761.)  He’ll play it and other instruments in concert on Wednesday, September 19th at 11:30am and 1:30pm at Williamsburg’s Kimball Theater.

If you can’t make it to Virginia, there are electronic field trips and other teaching resources available, including a teacher’s e-newsletter.

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Technorati tags: travel, family travel, homeschooling, Colonial Williamsburg

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USA

Virginia’s Three-Cornered Hat: History, Water Park, Roller Coaster

You have a friend in the history booksIf you’re looking for a great combination of living U.S. history combined with theme park fun, consider the “Historic Triangle” of Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown in Virginia.

There’s not a better place for one-stop learning about our country’s colonial history, including one of the first European settlements at Jamestown, a colonial world brought to life in Williamsburg and the battlefield at Yorktown where we won our freedom after a decisive defeat of the British forces.

Just because school’s out for the summer doesn’t mean that brain rot has to set in too soon! 🙂

This is Jamestown’s 400th anniversary, so the buzz is on to bring visitors here (even Queen Elizabeth stopped by recently.) The historic sites just launched a brand new website, www.VisitWilliamsburg.com, complete with trip planning tools and interactive features.

Now is a great time to celebrate the nation’s history where it all started. Founded in 1607, Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the U.S., and organizers have pulled out all the stops for a year-long 400th anniversary celebration.

Once you check out the historic places, cool off at the new Water Country USA . The mid-Atlantic’s largest water play park, it has a Fifties and Sixties surf theme and over 30 slides and water rides. Roller coaster fans can check out the Griffon, Busch Gardens Europe’s newest roller coaster. I remember taking my daughter to the park when the Drachen Fire ride first opened (it’s since closed) and now they’ve raised the bar with the tallest floorless dive coaster in the world.

Book any visit with a ticket package and get the official Williamsburg-Jamestown-Yorktown Visitors Guide for free. If you find a lower room rate on another website than what you paid to book your room via VisitWilliamsburg.com, they’ll honor the lower rate you found. If you book participating properties for 4 nights, you’ll receive the 5th night free, or take advantage of the 7-4-1 Flex ticket’s unlimited access for 7 consecutive days to 7 destinations: Busch Gardens Europe, Colonial Williamsburg, Water Country USA, Jamestown Settlement, Historic Jamestown, Yorktown Victory Center and Yorktown Battlefield.

A family of 4 can stay 5 nights and visit all 7 attractions for as little as $899, plus food and incidentals (if you fly in, you’ll need a rental car to most efficiently get around to the sights.) Children 5 and under are free with an adult, and by purchasing 7-4-1 Flex tickets on VisitWilliamsburg.com, you get a discount from the normal purchase price at the gate.

Anyone in the family enjoy golfing? The Williamsburg area also has lovely courses and offers vacation packages as well. The surf’s up in nearby Virginia Beach or on the Outer Banks in North Carolina if you want to pack in some beach time.

Technorati tags: travel, family travel, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Virginia