This would be my final day in the Washington, D.C. area. One of the reasons I wanted to visit this city so bad was to see the actual historical context of people who lived during those times. In doing so, I knew I had to visit Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown. In order to do that, I had to rent a car! It was the only time I would drive a car while on this trip!
Jamestown Settlement
My first stop would be Jamestown Settlement. This was first on my list because it represented the period in which people lived the most accurately through replication.
I paid for several site passes ($119). Although I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this, it worked for me. As a teacher, I wanted to bring back as much information as I could into my classes or my peers’ classes.
Walking in, they did a fabulous job with the replication of the buildings, jobs, and boats of the time. Everything was sized to the period. They dressed in the period of the 1600s and 1700s. They were extremely informative and included many hands-on activities.
Historic Jamestowne
Historic Jamestowne is the actual town in which settlement occurred. This was probably the best visit to date. Although much of the history is torn down, broken down, etc., archeologists were there digging and finding new artifacts. We were able to walk through original graves, original churches, homes, etc. It felt very surreal walking the same grounds as those from history books knowing the struggles they had during that period.
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg was probably one of the sites I was most excited about seeing, but it ended up being the most disappointing part of my visit. It was so disappointing that I left after just a couple sites. I do not recommend this site at all, which is why I do not recommend the big expensive site pass.
When I visit places like this, I expect to see history. When I arrived, they stated this was a real town built around a historical town. They supposedly had a ton of historical elements within the town. As I walked around though, almost nothing was historical. What was historical was replicated and not original. It was a bunch of people playing dress up while regurgitating information we learned in history class. I wanted to see artifacts. I wanted to see historical markers. Instead, I saw modern cars driving through town, hotels, and other modern things that took away from the love of history.
Overall, it was a nice visit, but I wouldn’t say Washington, D.C. was my favorite visit. Follow up for another posting for some reviews or tips if you plan to visit!
Angel Boucher 