Thankfully the rainy days of September had mostly dwindled down to a drizzle throughout our weekend in Colonial Williamsburg, allowing lots of umbrella strolls through the historic area.
Arriving Friday afternoon, we escaped the rain drops by enjoying an indoor evening program at the Capitol.
Evening Program: Revolutionary Points of View in the CW Capitol
Entering early due to the rain, we met a colonial gentleman distributing pieces of paper.
As I puzzled over who he was, he asked me whether I was the teacher of these kids (it was homeschool week) and I said yes.
Asking which one was the quickest and deepest thinker, I replied that would be my son.
With a sly little smile as he dug around his pieces of paper, he handed one to my son.
Then he said that surely my daughter tended to disagree with her brother all the time.
No, she doesn’t, which he had trouble believing.
After selecting a card for her, he looked for one for me. Did I notice another sly look?
Entering the chambers we took our seats and looked over our cards while waiting for the program to begin.
Mine had grammatical mistakes.
The sentence in question read, “In Scotland and England have had court Cases that have started to limit slavery.”
Puzzling the entire time over what that was supposed to say, I was in for a shock later.
Meanwhile I realized where I had met the gentleman before.
He was the mayor of Williamsburg at Prelude to Victory in 2009!
I’ve always enjoyed his programming, and knew I’d enjoy this evening too.
The setting was now May 1776.
The burgesses were debating an actual event that occurred in these chambers: the decision of whether the colony should separate from England to become the state of Virginia.
On each of our cards was the name of an actual man and the county he represented with a few sentences which encompassed his point of view.
When the floor opened for debate, we were to raise our hands to volunteer to either read our cards or create our own debate.
After each of us voiced our opinion, the burgess presiding over the debate either moved on or tossed in a bit of humor.
While most of us merely read from our cards, one person chose to create his own argument in the debate.
While simply reading from my card, I was so focused on trying to remember how I wanted to reword it, that I didn’t pay much attention to my final verdict until after I read it.
After reading the card I stood there in a bit of shock.
I had just argued that we remain loyal to the king???? Wait a minute!
I had to repress my argument about that and quietly take my seat as the burgess moved to another speaker.
After “Patrick Henry” read his card, the burgess said, “Mr. Henry, that was admirable! Not only were you NOT the first one to speak but you kept your typically long discourse down to a minute.” We were all laughing!
When my son read his card, he dramatically declared that he was James Madison!
What fun for Constitution Day!
After he sat down the burgess said he foresaw a promising future for him.
I think my daughter had a patriot card.
At the end we voted unanimously in favor of independence, because that is exactly what the burgesses did in May 1776.
The burgess said he was glad we finally came to an agreement on the matter at hand, though it was a bit bizarre to him that most of us read our opinions from cards in our hands. 😉
When we left, Mr. Burgess/Mayor of Williamsburg told my son he should apply for Princeton University and put on his college application that he had a part as James Madison!
As we left my son said, “Mom, I put too much exuberance into my interpretation of Madison. He was actually a quiet soft-spoken man.”
I think my son wants to try that again! Can I have a Patriot card next time?
RAINY JAMESTOWNE
Saturday morning, we began the day in rainy Jamestown, where we met with John Rolfe and later with Governor Berkeley, on the anniversary of Bacon’s Rebellion.
CARPENTERS
We found carpenters preparing shingles under a tent for the Anderson Armoury.
MILLINER SHOP
Escaping the drizzly chilly rain, I walked into the flurry of needles at the Milliner Shop.
I love this gown!
GENERALS WASHINGTON AND LAFAYETTE
The next day the rain mostly dried up, enabling us to see the public audience with Generals Washington and Lafayette.
GARDENS
Drippy gardens…
Moss from plenty of moisture…
CARPENTER
Standing in the Anderson Complex while taking the above garden photos, I noted the latest work of the carpenters, the construction of this shuttered window without solid walls, which I found humourous.
Thinking I gleaned a rather great picture with a story, I prepared to walk away, when someone started talking to us…
This picture is better than the first!
So glad he opened the window so we could chat face to face! 😉
MILLINER
The milliner was sewing a new petticoat to pair with the green striped gown hanging on the wall.
BINDERY
At the bindery where we had a great discussion about folios, octavos, and quartos!
I’m absolutely fascinated with the bookmaking process.
Here the binder showed us some layouts which I’ve read about recently in Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution it Inspired by Benson Bobrick: There the complete work was reprinted…in both octavo and quarto format…(p99)
STREET THEATER
Not only had the rain ended, the streets had dried up, allowing for the Constitution Day concert in Merchant Square to proceed!
CONSTITUTION DAY CONCERT
This annual concert with George Washington, James Madison, the Colonial Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps, and the local Air Force Band is quite patriotic and fun, and usually dry!
Starting out with a bang, rain start to spritz, then drizzle, then pitter patter…
Concerned it would rain more heavily, and/or the concert would be canceled, the show went on as everyone happily pulled out their umbrellas!
Thankfully, the rain never became too much more than a pitter patter…and the worst concern I think was for the drums.
Not sure how much longer the September monsoon will last, but funny how at home we stay inside, but at Colonial Williamsburg we enjoy the rain! 😉
