Running into friends at Colonial Williamsburg on my daughter’s birthday last Friday, all the kids enjoyed the reunion.
However my daughter and I had a sewing class at the Costume Design Center the next morning, then we returned home.
So, we returned Tuesday for all the kids to have a couple days to hang out 18th century style together.
Milliner and Tailor Shop
After shopping for a holly tree at the colonial nursery, and meeting with some friends, we went to the milliner shop where we saw several lovely gowns.
That day the tailor was drafting bespoke patterns for a gentleman’s new winter coat.
A tailor makes his own patterns that are exclusively his property.
Therefore, I knew this was a privilege to get to see him using them.
Playbooth Theater
Then we went to the Playbooth Theater where the actors perform a variety of 18th century plays
The actors encouraged the guests to become an 18th century audience by booing scenes we don’t like, huzzahing scenes we do like, and yelling encore when we like a scene so much, we want to see it again.
And if we really like a scene, we can repeatedly ask for encores.
The usually quiet guests had no problem turning 18th century, when the actors presented Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.
There was plenty to boo, plenty to huzzah, and plenty to encore…repeatedly!
Afterwards we talked to one of the actors about all sorts of topics regarding Shakespearean plays.
Touring the Charlton Coffeehouse
Last November we attended the opening of the Chalton Coffeehouse, where we saw first saw the street theater scene of the 1765 Stamp Act Riot that occured on the front porch.
Although we toured the coffeehouse the evening of the Grand Opening with a modern guide, we took our first regular tour as a guest in January with an 18th century guide.
Waiting for the tour of the Charlton Coffeehouse while sitting on the front porch benches, we heard about the history of the Stamp Act Riot of 1765.
Once inside, we listened to the 18th century guide who worked at the Coffeehouse.
She explained that the coffeehouses in England were quite the rage in London.
She tried to play a card game with one of the guests, but a card was missing from the deck.
Because of the ongoing rebellion against the Stamp Act, there can be no purchases for playing cards, nor newspapers, or any other pieces of paper.
Then we went into the back office, which could be rented out to us if we had some coins to pay.
After that we went into the next room where we sat at tables with place settings of coffee cups, spoons, and saucers, with cream and sugar available.
The colonial waitstaff served us our choice of either coffee, tea, or historic chocolate!
I chose chocolate, which is darker, and not as sweet as we are used to. It also has some spices like cinnamon and nutmeg in it.
Meanwhile Mr. Charlton, the proprietor, spoke to us and explained that the painting over the fireplace was of William Pitt, who worked in Parliament in England. Amazingly Pitt supported the rights of the American colonies!
My son acted in the mob scene for the Stamp Act Riot of 1765
Chatting with some friends before the street theater began, one of the managers walked over to ask if my my son would like to be in the upcoming mob scene! Definitely! Can you spot him in the pictures?
After King George III imposed the Stamp Act on the colonies, cries of “No taxation without representation!” arose far and wide.
When George Mercer, stamp agent for the king, arrived in town to collect taxes, an angry mob dragged dragged him to the front porch of Charleton’s Coffeehouse.
Royal governor Fauquier who arrived earlier, quickly ended the mob, and escorted the stamp collector safely out of the way.
Shopping for a moveable horse magnet in the CW Shops
Later we were in one of the stores and my son excitedly showed me a magnet that shows this same exciting scene with the horse and rider galloping in front of Raleigh Tavern.
You can move the horse on the magnet as if he were galloping through town.
After I bought the magnet, he told us that every time we go into the kitchen, we need to advance the horse!
I never thought I’d have opportunity to say, “Make way for the horse in my kitchen!”
Afterwards we met up with our friends again.
Dancing
Then we went to the Raleigh Tavern for a dancing program!
The dancing teacher was good at keeping each of the family and friend groups all together.
For the first dance, I got to dance with my kids and their friends!
Military Review
In the afternoon we attended the Military Review, where the fife and drum corps plays while the militia shows off their drills.
Evening military program: In Defense of Liberty
On our recent visit to Colonial Williamsburg we attended an evening program, In Defense of Liberty, at the Magazine (where the weapons are stored).
Incidentally, we found out our friends had tickets to the same program!
My daughter was worried about this program because it is a 100% participation program that involves the firing of guns nearby.
After enlisting in the army, we go through boot camp with a tough as nails first sergeant.
So here I was in Colonial Williamsburg, enlisting as a soldier in the Continental Army for three years, giving up all my rights, learning to work as a unit, in patriotic duty to my country, while ready to endure hardship.
We had to conform to the army way, answer the army way, and move as a unit the army way.
The sergeant had everyone’s riveted attention. There was no joking around. We were all quiet and at attention.
Whenever he yelled out orders, we yelled, “Yes Sergeant!” in unison.
He explained the importance of banners on the battlefield so that soldiers could identify their units and leadership.
In the tumult of battle, things get messy and confusing.
Importance of Flag Bearer
Being the source of corps morale, the flag bearer has the most important job of keeping the flag flying high in the midst of gun shots and blasting cannons.
Even though confusion reigned, as long as the standard bearer kept the flag flying high, a unit could remain organized and motivated to keep fighting.
Furthermore, the flag bearer had a most perilous job, because one of the goals of the enemy was to seize the flag to bust morale and create confusion in the rank.
Most certainly a trophy of honor was to capture the enemy’s flag.
Then began our reenactment of a battle.
Quite quickly I was killed (a tap on the shoulder by someone from the opposing army meant we had to drop dead).
Hmmm…perhaps standard next to the standard bearer wasn’t such a good idea after all.
At the end, the first sergeant lightened up to do a third-person interpretation and give us some historical background from Joseph Plumb Martin, who wrote a firsthand account of his experience in George Washington’s army, in the book Private Yankee Doodle.
The first time we heard of the book was from my son’s favorite actor in reference to his infamous sword question.
As we walked to the vans, my daughter enthusiastically said that she had fun!
On previous vacations she endured cannon blasts at all the historical sights with her hands over her ears.
I gained a huge appreciation for the soldiers who give up their liberties so that we can have ours.
