Recently gifted this Colonial Williamsburg DVD/CD-ROM series: A Day in the Life: Eight Stories of Williamsburg residents on one day in May 1774, I am totally wowed!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Series of stories of residents of Williamsburg
Last week we watched the first DVD, comprised of the first four stories, and the other night we watched the second DVD, which includes the other four stories.
Each of those eight stories are highly entertaining while packed with information.
Each of the 18-minute segments tells about a day in the life of eight different people from different segments of 18th century society on the eve of the American Revolution, set in Williamsburg.
Taken from historical research, the lives of men and women who were slaves, free African Americans, gentry class, middling sort, and apprentices were effectively portrayed, while showing how people across the spectrum of social class interacted.
Through the interactions the customs/life situations for different social classes, politics, economics, and differing roles for men and women of the day were displayed.
My daughter’s favorite story: Prissy
My 16-year-old daughter’s favorite story was about a gentry girl named Prissy.
Her day consisted of the type of schooling she had, to train to one day be the wife of a gentry husband.
She learned how to supervise the household, practiced her French with a tutor, and took dancing lessons.
(My daughter is often asked by the townspeople of Colonial Williamsburg if she is training in such a way herself. Um, no….)
My son’s favorite story: Daniel and Percy
My 14 year old son’s favorite part had his favorite actor with all the contests (as my son put it).
This segment told the story of a young gentleman, named Daniel, who lived on a plantation near Williamsburg.
Daniel, the quintessential gentleman of his day, was discovered by his father and another gentleman (who were the focus of the previous segment about politics) while quoting romantic Shakespeare, substituting Juliet’s name for the young lady he was in love with.
Rather embarrassed at getting caught, he tells his friend, Percy, about it.
Percy, playing Daniel’s literary foil, unmercifully teased Daniel while pridefully challenging him to a series of contests, which included horse racing and fencing.
I could tell my son was experiencing these exciting activities vicariously through his favorite actor.
Despite my son’s previous research into fencing, this was his first time to see it in action.
While watching the fencing scene, my son called out the different moves and techniques.
Then surprise! We all had a lot of fun seeing who played the fencing master. Absolutely unpredictable!
Then my daughter’s favorite part was when everyone attended the ball.
Although corrigible Percy talked to one of the young ladies while dancing with her, which was common practice, we soon discovered romance was the last thing on Percy’s mind.
Instead, he was unmercifully teasing her about her romance with his friend Daniel.
Sigh…poor Percy. Perhaps he will become a gentleman when romance slips into his heart.
We laughed, we learned, we loved it all! I highly recommend this DVD set!
There is also a CD-ROM which includes a student role-playing game as well as excellent lesson plans and activities which we anticipate using.
For more photos from Colonial Williamsburg, check my Flickr set.
