Colonial Williamsburg

This week is/was Homeschoolers Week at Colonial Williamsburg.  This weeks activities focused on domestic life in Colonial times.  If you missed the event, not to worry there will be another held in September.  You can lean more about the upcoming event by going here.

Getting there is half the fun!  Snacks, blankets and sunglasses, what more could a kid ask for on a Monday morning?

The folks working in the shops had the best dispositions!  Some of them had us laughing out loud with their wit.  The guy working in the printing shop was by far the most entertaining!   He was also the most informative.  He spent a great deal of time explaining to the girls about the process of newspaper printing back in the day.  He let Lindsey check out some of the tiny print set (below right), and then graciously put both girls to work.  If you know anything at all about my kids, being put to work was the most endearing thing this guy could have done (short of giving them chocolate).

The wig maker was a scream!!   She pointed out that wigs were status symbols to the colonials, much like our SUV’s and expensive purses are now.    She enlightened us to the types of materials used for wig making…horse hair, flax, feathers (seriously) and stolen hair that was cut from corpses or from a “pick pocket” of sorts. The thief would distract a lady with long hair by bumping or jostling her on the street, then while “helping” her, her hair would be snipped off from behind.

Doesn’t every family need one of these at home, for “those” kinds of days?

While touring the courthouse someone asked how long a person would be sentenced to stand in the stocks.  The answer was usually 2-4 hours.  I didn’t think that was much of a punishment, until the gentleman pointed out that the person in the stocks also had their ears NAILED to the board.  Then upon completion of their sentence their ear lobes were cut off to free them.  This was a handy way of marking 1st time offenders…shudder.

Groups were allowed to tour the Benjamin Powell house.  While inside they were taught proper table etiquette for the period.   Lindsey was picked to be the lady of the household.  Her “husband” was 15 and humiliated to be married to someone her size.  That’s him sitting at this end of the table…you can see her beaming at him from across the baked chicken.

I won’t bore you with all the photos I took, but here are just a few more that made Olivia’s day.  Yeah, there are animals involved.

The girls desperately wanted to ride in the carriage.  However at $12.50 a person we decided that wasn’t a good plan for us…eating on the way home was more pressing in my book.  But there’s always the fall….