July 11th: Milliner, Silversmith & Blacksmith

After visiting the Carpenter & Joiner, we peeked into the Milliner shop.

Very pretty.

I just noticed the girl on the left in this pic is different than the one from above...how did they change places so quickly?

Right next to the Milliner is the Silversmith workshop. This really was fascinating.

They start with a rod of silver like you see there on the left...and as the silversmith hammers it out, it gradually goes from to the ladle on the right. Makes you appreciate how much time and effort it took to produce all those beautiful silver pieces back then.

You get the bowl of the ladle just the right shape and size by hammering it against a form like you see him doing below.

Fun to see the shops filled with all their tools.

A little further down the road is the Blacksmith, whose shop was dreadfully hot.

They have to keep those fires going and hot even on those awful hot summer days.

Zac & I decided to escape to the "cooler" outdoors while the others learned more about the blacksmith.

 While outside waiting for the others, we spotted these people coming out of a house. I don't know where they were headed but I did find it interesting that they stayed 100% in character as much as I could hear their conversation from where I was.

July 11th: Tavern Dancing, Wigmaker, Public Gaol, Carpenter & Joiner

After the Benjamin Powell House, we made our way to the Raleigh Tavern, where we briefly parted ways. George took the 4 bigger boys inside with him where they took part in a dancing lesson, while I took Zac with me to purchase some treats from the Bakery (*I dream of CW ginger cakes...I'm craving them at this very moment...their pretzel rolls were really good too.*)

George took this pic of the motto carved over the mantel in the tavern: 

Hilaritas sapientiae et bonae vitae proles (Jollity is the offspring of wisdom and good living)

Jollity is a nice word. Jollity.

Anthony got chosen to try dancing...

After so much jollity, they were in need of the refreshment I'd just purchased from the Bakery.

I love this place. So pretty.

We next stopped by the wigmaker.

Did you know you could get a wig in horse, goat, yak or human hair? You could. 

And your wig was your status symbol.

Next stop: the Public Gaol (jail)

Bye boys! Have fun!

Ok, so we didn't leave them there.

We apprenticed them to the carpenter instead.

And the joiner.

George was in heaven here. He loves woodworking of all kinds. His grandfather was a carpenter by trade. It was at this point that George began considering working for CW and applied for an apprenticeship. Ok, kidding but this seriously would be a dream job for George, if it paid well enough.

Taking a quick break in the shade...it was a steamy hot day...and they are munching on those delectable ginger cakes, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, YUMMMMMMMMM!!!!

And we're only halfway through this day. Oy.

July 11th: The Benjamin Powell House

Just behind the Capitol is a small house which it's easy to miss on the map--I'm so glad we didn't miss it because it was one of our favorite spots in all of Colonial Williamsburg. It's the Benjamin Powell House and it's entirely geared for children!

They have all kinds of colonial games for the kids to try their hands at--here is "battledore and shuttlecock"...think badminton--Aaron just hit the shuttlecock so if you look closely you can see it:

And of course everyone knows the wooden hoop:

 

We wandered down to the smaller buildings behind the house were there was a laundry room and then a kitchen, and the kitchen was awesome. The lady working in there immediately put each of the boys to work preparing something for the food. She had each of the big boys grinding and grating different spices...

Even 2 year old Zac had a job to do, sprinkling spices on the food.

After all that work, she had the boys washing dishes:

I loved how seriously the boys took it:

After they finished their chores there, we walked out into the garden. What an awesome garden!

So so pretty! I'd love for my garden to look like this someday. And everything else too...

Then we went into the Powell house itself where there were more games to play.

Here, the boys are learning to play "Shut the Box":

And Zac made up his own game sorting colored marbles...I loved that the lady totally played along with him:

And then we left that fun little paradise:

Each of the boys got their maps punched for taking part in the activities there:

And down the road to explore something else!

July 11th: Magazine, "The Revolutionary City", Capitol

Still in Colonial Williamsburg, we left the Courthouse, and walked across the way to the Magazine, which is a small building where all kinds of weaponry and other supplies are stored.

 Through this window you can see the Courthouse and to the right of that are the stocks & pillories we'd just visited.

 Other than seeing all the weapons, there really wasn't much exciting going on at the Magazine so we walked back out of there and gathered together with a small crowd forming just outside the Courthouse.

 Each day of the week, the "townspeople" of Colonial Williamsburg play out the events of a historical day during the Revolution called "The Revolutionary City"--so periodically throughout the day, crowds of people would gather together to see these dramatic reenactments at various places throughout the city.

George was really interested in it... Me, on the other hand, knowing all the fun things to see and do at all the different places around the city, and also knowing how very un-interesting these dramatic reenactments would be for the boys (the littlest ones in particular), I was in favor of skipping out on this and taking advantage of the crowds being engaged in the dramas to be able to visit some part of the city & having it to ourselves...George overruled so we did sit through many of these.

Some parts of the dramas required the entire crowd to move from one end of town to another to hear the next segment of the drama...so here we go...

And this is not a flattering picture.

I did think this guy played Thomas Jefferson rather well.

Nevertheless, you can see for yourself how "interested" the little boys were.

 A third part of this series of dramas here... 

Thankfully that was the end of that (for now) so we took advantage of being down at that end of town to visit the Capitol (which is the building you see above.)

I don't remember now what the significance of each of the following rooms was (something governmental) but I just like to see the period furnishings and architecture.

And the next thing we saw was one of my favorites...