Touring The Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg

This is the third post of a new travel series.  In this series, we are headed east starting in Wisconsin and going all the way to Virginia to see the home of George Washington and Colonial Williamsburg.  To start at the beginning, go HERE where  we stop in Indiana to celebrate Easter with my daughter, son-in-law, and our grandchildren.

I have wanted to see Colonial Williamsburg my entire life.  I know it isn't on everyone's bucket list, but as a lover of old homes and history, it was on mine.  I could not believe I was finally here and we had picture perfect weather to enjoy our day!

We only spent one day in Williamsburg because we did the "Historic Triangle" which required two extra days.  We may not have been able to walk up and down every single street in the Historic District  in one day, but we did see all its major attractions like the Palace, the Capitol, and the Courthouse.  To keep my post on Williamsburg from becoming too lengthy, I'm going to divide it into three posts, with one major attraction in each post.  This week's post will cover the  Governors Palace, which was my favorite part of Williamsburg and I am standing in front of in the photo below.

Colonial Williamsburg is the world's largest living history museum.  It encompasses 301 acres and 88 original 18th century structures.  There are hundreds of houses, shops, and public buildings reconstructed on the original foundations.   There are also museums, farms, gardens, and live characters re-enacting life in the 18th century in Williamsburg.  

It is free to walk around Colonial Williamsburg and see any outdoor demonstrations, but if you want to go inside any of the buildings, you need an admission ticket.  We first stopped in their beautiful Visitor Center to purchase a ticket where we got a "lovely" tag to wear all day long 😀. I actually recommend getting a physical ticket even though the tag ruins all your photos, because if you purchase them on line you have to constantly bring up your ticket on your phone to show to an employee anytime you want to enter any building, which seems to take time as then you have to stand in line.  Whereas with a physical ticket, you just walk right past the line.

There are many ticket options available, including a three day Historic Triangle pass which allows you to see Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown.  Even though we were doing all three towns, we chose a one day pass for $34.00 because we already had an America the Beautiful pass which got us into the national historic sites in Yorktown and Jamestown for free.

Colonial Williamsburg Visitors Center

Parking at the Visitors Center is plentiful and costs $10 for the day.  We stayed at a hotel in Williamsburg, not Colonial Williamsburg, which is much cheaper.  Once we purchased our tickets, we caught a free shuttle from the Visitor's Center to Colonial Williamsburg.  This shuttle runs all day and stops at various points in Colonial Williamsburg if walking gets to be too much for you.  However, it is a very busy and under-scheduled shuttle so we only used it once, and that was early in the morning.  After that, we could never get on the shuttle, and we ended up having to walk all the way back to our car at the end of the day.  The lack of shuttles would be my one and only complaint about Colonial Williamsburg, and we weren't the only ones there complaining about it.  Everyone was complaining about the shuttle service, or lack thereof.   Cars are not allowed in Colonial Williamsburg so it's either walk or take a shuttle.  There are scooters for rent, but we never checked into the price of that as we're both capable of walking.

We got off at the very first stop on the shuttle route:  The Governors Palace.  We were a little early for the very first tour of the day, so we decided to walk the grounds first.

I was awestruck of the Palace gardens.  I thought it was brilliant how they created a vegetable garden on a hillside.  My entire yard is a hill, so I'm always looking for new ways to get more use out of it.

It was finally time for our tour to begin.  All the buildings that we went into were tours.  You couldn't just walk in by yourselves and look around, unless it was a carpentry shop or something like that, but even then there were always employees in period costumes giving demonstrations and answering questions.

The Palace is a reconstruction of the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg.  The main residence burned down in 1791.  It was the official residence of the royal governors of the Colony of Virginia.  The reconstruction that we toured was built on the original site in 1930.

The first room the tour guide takes you in is the magnificent foyer or "Entrance Hall".  This was my favorite room in the house.  The walls of the foyer are adorned with weapons:  swords, knives, and muskets all arranged in an ornate fashion.  These arms were taken down and used during the French and Indian War and in the Revolution.

On one side of the Entrance Hall is the Parlor.  The parlor was used as a waiting room, a place of business, and a setting for "polite entertainment".

On the other side of the Entrance Hall is the Pantry.  This is a room that was used by the butler or housekeeper to provide a secure place to carry out their responsibilities.  Supervision and security of valuables were kept here.  The door was usually closed as the room was used as a base for the staff to coordinate their daily activities.

The First Floor Hallway.  There is a casual dining room on the right where visitors would often gather to meet with the governor after waiting in the parlor.   

The Dining Room

This gorgeous stairwell is across from the Dining Room.

The Second Floor Hallway

The Study/Dressing Room adjacent to His Lordship's Chamber may have been used by Lord Dunmore as both a library and a dressing room. 

His Lordship's Chamber

The bedchamber above the dining room was interpreted as the Daughter's Room, where two of the Dunmore daughters might have slept.

Her Ladyship's Chamber

The Upper Middle Chamber was originally intended as a State Room.  By the 1750's this room had been combined with the study and the chamber over the pantry to form a private suite of rooms. This room is referred as a "dressing room".  Lady Dunmore likely used this room to spend time with her daughters and lady friends. 

Our Tour Guide was wonderful.  He told such interesting stories of the history of the home and its occupants, and he spoke in character at all times.  Even his posture was in character! I should mention, he was our second tour guide.  My husband didn't care for our first tour guide at all and to my embarrassment asked an employee if we could switch tours.  They kindly let us do so, and I must admit, he was a 100% improvement.  The first tour guide was dressed in period costume but didn't act like a character from the past.  She also spoke so rapidly and didn't share interesting facts about the house, but seemed to talk about a lot of nonsense.  We weren't the only ones in her tour group that felt that way.  One man said to my husband "Geez, did she have to many cans of Red Bull this morning?" 😀

The Ballroom and Supper Room, the two grandest rooms in the house were added in the 1750's.  Musical instruments were housed here including three organs, a harpsichord, and a piano forte.

I found this old wood stove and the way it ventilated so interesting. 

A painting of Queen Charlotte graces one side of the doorway and a portrait of King Charles III is on the other. 

The Supper Room.  I loved the bright green paint on the walls.  Our tour guide shared that this color was hard to create and signaled wealth and that was why it was popular among the elite. 

Is he the coolest tour guide or what?  💖

After our tour of the Palace we decided to explore more of the grounds.  The gardens in Williamsburg are just beautiful.  I couldn't believe all the flowers they had in April!  Everything was still brown and mud in Wisconsin, so it was so nice to come here and not only experience warmth and sunshine, but beautiful flowers!  I am sitting in front of the Evergreen Maze.  You would need to see an aerial shot to get an appreciation for the maze.  There is one on their website HERE.

Flowers and vegetables grow right next to each other to create beautiful, harmonious, and practical outdoor spaces.

I loved this tree lined walk way.

The evergreen maze could be seen from the upper stories of the Palace.

I loved the white wrought iron in the garden.

Gorgeous paths and interesting brick architecture enhance the garden beautifully.

You can take a horse and carriage ride in Colonial Williamsburg.  It was always fun watching them go by and seeing all the different styles of carriages. 

Here is a far away shot of the Governor's Palace.  The center building is the main house, the one we toured.  The property is enormous, in addition to the main house and kitchen outbuildings there were stables, a coach house, laundry, pasture, dairy, farm, park, and extensive gardens. 

 A view from across The Palace Green.  The nice thing about getting to Colonial Williamsburg early and leaving late, is getting beautiful photos like this without people in them.  This was taken at the end of the day, after we had dinner at The Merchants Square when Colonial Williamsburg was officially closed.  The Historic Area is open from 10:00 to 5:00 but you can walk around the neighborhood anytime so after closing is the best time for photography.

 I hope you enjoyed my very first post of Colonial Williamsburg.  Next week I'll cover The Capitol along with some other fun highlights in the Historic Area.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Continuing On Coloring Through the Book of Psalms

For this week's craft post I have a few beautiful coloring pages and inspirational Bible verses to lift your day.

My regular readers will know that I have been working through a devotional coloring book for over a year now called "Bless The Lord Oh My Soul".  I only work on this book during the spring/summer months when the gardening season keeps me pretty busy, then in the winter I switch back to my "Cozy Moments to Calm Your Heart" devotional coloring book.

The "Bless The Lord Oh My Soul" book has you read one psalm or part of a psalm per day, then it has a little space to write your personal reflections.  Check out my first post HERE for links and more information.  There is a coloring page every five or more pages.  What I do is read the daily psalms, then I color in the closest page while I mediate on the verse.  It takes me several days or a week to complete a coloring page depending on the difficulty of the page.

Now that I've updated you on my method and progress of the book, let's look at my newest pages shall we?

"Create In Me A Clean Heart"

I've said before there are some pages I really enjoy to color and "Create in Me a Clean Heart" was one of them.  I love this verse.  I have always loved the old chorus that is based on this psalm and I sing it to myself quite often.  This is the perfect verse to mediate on and I love coloring flowers and birds, so I enjoyed this page very much.

"When I Am Afraid, I Put My Trust In You"

I bet you can guess this page took a while 😁 I remember seeing it in black and white for the first time and thinking "Where do I even begin?".  When facing a difficult coloring page like this one I just start by picking one repeating item, like the pink flower, and I just color the same flower till I got them all, then I pick the next repeating item, and so on and so on till it's done.  

This page contains another powerful verse.  It is a good one to put to memory when fear and anxiety overwhelms me.

"I Will Sing Praises to You"

When I first saw the page above my initial thought was to color the spirals with an ombre effect, but I didn't think I had enough shades of the same color, so I went with this wild design instead.  I really love it and I am glad I didn't go with the ombre style.  I filled in the background with a black pencil to really make the colors pop.

God is our strength, our fortress in times of trouble.  It is good to sing praises to God when we are afraid and to remind ourselves of His steadfast love for us.

"Your Steadfast Love is Better Than Life"

I remember singing this psalm in church too, does that tell you how old I am?

This page was a joy to color.  I loved the imagery as well as the verse and I sung the old chorus in my head as I colored.   It brought back lots of good old church memories.  

"Shout for Joy"

My last page ended up with a monochromatic look even though I didn't intend it that way.  I just looked at the tulips first and thought "Well I'll color the tulips pink first" then when I got to the circular clusters they looked like berries to me so I colored them a pinky/purple and before I knew it, I had a monochromatic page. 😁

This is such a happy verse!  I love how it's not just believers who are told to shout for joy, but the whole earth!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

See more posts on "Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul" below:

Coloring Through the Book of Psalms

Coloring Through the Book of Psalms, Part II

Mt. Vernon, the Home of George Washington

This is the second post of a new travel series.  In this series, we are headed east starting in Wisconsin and going all the way to Virginia to see the home of George Washington and Colonial Williamsburg.  To start at the beginning, go HERE where  we stop in Indiana to celebrate Easter with my daughter, son-in-law, and our grandchildren.

This past April my husband and I drove out east to see Mt. Vernon and Colonial Williamsburg.  I have wanted to see Colonial Williamsburg my entire life, so it was quite the dream come true for me.  Hubby decided that since we were already in the area that we should also stop and see the home of George Washington:  Mt. Vernon.  It is located about two hours north of Colonial Williamsburg. 

As I shared in my last travel post, after spending Easter with my daughter and her family in Indiana, we drove to Fredrick Maryland which was 8 1/2 hours away.  The next morning, we headed to Mt. Vernon which was only supposed to be about 1 1/2 hours away but ended up taking 2 1/2 hours because of traffic.  DC traffic is just awful, that's all I can say.  In fact, for us midwesterners, all traffic out east is just terrible.  We midwesterners don't know how ya'll eastern people can live like that.😁  But, you have a beautiful area, lovely weather, and lots to see and do so maybe traffic is just what you're willing to put up with to enjoy everything else. 

Now, unfortunately Mt. Vernon is undergoing a major reconstruction right now.  I knew about the construction when planning our trip and asked hubby if he still wanted to go, and he said "yes" because he didn't know when, if ever, we'd be in that area again.  So I thought I'd include the photo below so you could see what Mt. Vernon would look like without the construction, because when we were there, the house was almost completely covered up with scaffolding. 

When we arrived at Mt Vernon it was still fairly early despite our late start so we found parking quite easily and not a lot of people around.  However, by mid-day it was getting a little busier.

We had ordered our tickets on-line but you can buy tickets at the site too.  Inside is this beautiful stained glass art which shows scenes from the life of President Washington.  There is also a slide show in the theater which shows slides of the all the rooms inside the Washington home that you won't be able to see due to construction plus a large model of the home.

The cost of Mt. Vernon is very reasonable, especially considering the large grounds and everything there is to do and see.  It costs $26 for adults for a "Grounds Pass" and $2.00 to tour the mansion.

When we first walked on the grounds, we headed towards the greenhouse, gardens, and slave quarters.  My hubby is standing at the end of one of the reconstructed slave quarters. 

I always love seeing old gardens from the past and learning how they grew their produce and what they grew.

The Upper Garden showcased George Washington's talent as a landscape designer:  He intentionally combined practical vegetable plants with the beauty of a flower garden.  Hey!  That's how I garden too.  I want my vegetable garden to look pretty, so I add a lot of hanging flower baskets!

This is the greenhouse with the slave quarter reconstruction on one side and other displays of interest (like a shoe maker repair shop) on the other.  These wings were built on the sites of the 18th century slave quarters. 

The original greenhouse was completed in 1787.  The greenhouse provided a winter refuge for tropical and semi-tropical plants and also to house enslaved workers .  The original greenhouse burned down in 1835.  The present structure was built in 1951 on the original foundation based on drawings of the original structure.  Fun fact:  The reconstruction incorporates bricks from the White House when it was renovated between 1948 and 1952.

In the greenhouse wings you can see displays of enslaved workers living conditions and read about their daily lives. 

You can also see displays of other jobs on the farm like shoe repair.

This is the blacksmith shop.  As early as 1755 there are records that George Washington always had a blacksmith on his property.  This building is a reconstruction completed in 2009 on the original site of the blacksmith shop.

You can watch and hear all about the various ways the blacksmith was used on the farm.

All the buildings on the estate are open for viewing.  I believe this one is the Overseer's Quarters. George Washington was regularly gone from his property and needed someone to oversee his estate while he was away.  He had his own cabin to live in and in 1779 the overseer earned $133 dollars a year plus room and board. 

This is the inside of the Overseer's Cabin.

The Spinning House.  The spinning house was used to produce basic textiles to be used on the estate. 

There were so buildings on the estate, I can't possible show them all to you.  They were all housed in these little white buildings with red roofs.  Below is the Salt House with the Overseer Cabin behind it.  The Salt House provided secure storage for all the salt Washington brought over from England, Portugal, and the Caribbean.  Salt was so important to preserve food in the days before refrigeration.

Other buildings on interest on the property were the Smokehouse, the Wash House, the Stable and Coach House, the Ice House, the Garden House, the Dung Repository (that's an interesting one! 😉), the Storehouse, the Gardener's House, the Kitchen, and the Servant's Hall.

The Ice House was not only super cute but had quite the nice view!

When you purchase a mansion tour ticket you are given an EXACT time to see the mansion, and they are so strict about that.  They would not let us in line one minute before our tour.  When our time finally came up, we got in the first line.  Here the guide starts to share a little bit about the home.  This is the side of the house that faces the property.  The other side faces the Potomac River.  Both sides were covered with construction stuff so I couldn't get a decent photo anywhere.

On one side of the mansion is the outdoor kitchen and the other little building currently being worked on is the Storehouse/Clerk quarters. 

The Servant's Hall is the second line they take you in while waiting to tour the mansion.  Here we went inside and learned all about how the servants of visitors to the mansion would wait here while their employers were visiting the Washingtons.  It is an original building. 

Do you notice the "stone" siding of the home?  It's actually not stone at all but wood  made to look like stone.  Paint was applied to pine and sand was then thrown onto the wet surface to create a stone-like texture. 

The mansion tour begins in what Washington called "The New Room".  It was the last addition to his house and the grandest space.  The original home was just the lower center portion, then a second story was added in 1759, and the wings were added in 1774 and 1776.

The New Room was used for several functions, but primarily as a receiving room for Washington's visitors. 

The ceiling is two stories high and has beautiful architectural features.

Gotta love these windows!

The room was intended to represent unpretentious beauty and fine craftsmanship, qualities Washington believed represented the new nations values.

Here you can see the extent of this construction.  They are adding heating and cooling to help preserve the life of the home.  They are also adding all new floor beams as the house seems to be falling apart, as evident by its crooked exterior.  Construction is scheduled to be completed by 2026, but could go longer.  It was depressing being there while it was all being reconstructed, but at the same time I totally understand as this home really needs it.

After touring the New Room they then take you outside to the front of the house where you can see this view of the Potomac River.  It is gorgeous! And wow, what a place to have a home.  Unfortunately the entire side of this house was covered in scaffolding so no photos!

The tour guide then takes you back into the house to show you George Washington's office but I didn't even bother getting the camera out because there was nothing there!  It was completely gutted to the studs. It was so disappointing.  I knew I wouldn't see much of his home, but I really thought I'd see more than that.  Oh well, at least I could say I stood in the home of  the father of our country!

Next, the tour guide takes you out of the mansion and into the outdoor kitchen.  It was interesting, but definitely not as interesting as seeing some other rooms of the mansion.  In those days the kitchens were often outdoors for safety and heating reasons.

This is the root cellar located just off the kitchen.  I could not believe the cool breeze coming out of the room, and it was a hot day too.

After our tour we were told we could walk on the grass in front of the mansion, so we did that so we could take some photos and soak up the beauty.

There are so many character reenactments going on at Mt. Vernon.  You really have to pick and choose which ones interest you the most.  We stopped in to hear Martha Washington talk about life on the farm.  She does interact with the audience too, and everyone is welcome to converse with her and ask questions. 

By now, we were starving.  There are two restaurants to eat at on the grounds.  One is a fancier dine-in restaurant where you can savor the flavors of early America.  The other is a food court where you can grab a wrap, pizza, or burger.  We chose the food court, which was actually very nice, because we wanted more time to explore the grounds.

Next, we went to the museum.  There are actually two museums on the property, but guess what?  Only one is open, the other is closed for renovations.  UGH!  Seriously, did they have to renovate both the mansion and the museum at the exact same time?  Well, we went to the museum that was open.  This one focused on the people who shaped Mount Vernon including the Washington and Curtis families, the enslaved and hired workers, and the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association which has owned and preserved Mt. Vernon since the 19th century. 

Inside this museum is the history of Mt. Vernon and many original artifacts of the mansion.

Well now it was time to go back outside and explore the rest of the estate.  We stopped at the gate where original visitors would have driven their horse drawn through.  What a magnificent view that must have been back in the day!

We said hello to some of the farm animals, like these bulls.  They also have sheep, pigs, chickens, and horses.

There was a loud teen tour group while we were there, so we decided to take a detour for some peace and quiet, and I was so glad we did.  It was so peaceful and beautiful going through the woods. This is called the "Forest Trail" and it leads to a slave cabin, a 16 sided barn, a farm, a boat shelter, and the wharf;  so it was a good detour!  Thanks loud teen group!

The sign below explains all about George Washington the farmer (click on photo to enlarge it).  We so often think of him as a politician, but he truly was a farmer at heart.

Pictured below is a reconstruction of the 16 side barn.  It was used to thresh wheat.  The original barn was built between 1792 and 1794 and demolished in 1875.

Across from the barn is a slave cabin.

Continuing on down the road past the farm lead us to the Potomac River wharf.  Here you can take a cruise of the river, but we arrived too late and the last boat for the day had already departed.  However, we did enjoy looking at the sheep grazing on grass and views of the water from the beach.

What is a visit to Mount Vernon without stopping by the grave site of George Washington to pay our respect to the founder of this beautiful country?  Located straight up from the beach one comes across his tomb where he, Martha, and other family members are buried.  George Washington stated in his will that he wanted to be buried at home at Mt. Vernon.  The one thing I gathered more than anything while visiting this place, was how much he truly his home. He put so much time, thought, and care into every inch of his property.  He was constantly redesigning, rethinking, renovating, etc.  I can really relate to that!  I've lived in my late 1800's home for over 27 years and the work never ends. I'm always redecorating, fixing things up, reconstructing the garden:   it is a labor of love.

Even though we missed out on so much of Mt. Vernon due to the renovations, I'm glad we went.  I was exhausted by the end of the day, if everything was open, I probably could not have seen it all in one day anyway.  I don't think I'll ever get back to Mt. Vernon in my lifetime, but I sure hope I do!

Next week:  Colonial Williamsburg!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!