Mt Vernon April 24 early stop

Ann is shown with George and Martha Washington and Martha's grandchildren (George's step grandchildren). George Washington may have been the father of the country but he had no biological children.

His marriage to Martha was, by all accounts, a good one but one of the problems was that Martha's possessions, including slaves, were not common property. Thus, although George, by some accounts, wanted to free all the slaves in his lifetime, he was legally unable to do so (in  his will he freed what he could and Martha freed the rest a year after George's death.

Mt Vernon mansion from the front (Apr 24)

The mansion hasn't changed much since we saw it previously several decades ago.

What has changed is that there are more buildings open, more artifacts viewable, more interpretative displays and a cruise option (which we didn't take).

One of the oddities about GW is his teeth. He had 8 different sets of dentures. None of them was made of wood, notwithstanding the legend. Many of GW's teeth were stored at the U of Maryland Dental School Museum of Dentistry in Baltimore.

Yorktown Apr 24 PM

We drove to Yorktown from Mt Vernon and got there a bit before sunset.

Ann posed between General George Washington (left) and Admiral Francois DeGrasse (right). The Admiral brought the naval forces that defeated the British in a naval engagement on Sept 5, 1781 and effectively bottled up General Cornwallis in Yorktown. Actual records indicate that this meeting took place on DeGrasse's flagship Ville de Paris on September 17. Washington and General Rochambeau (a French General) then brought ground troops to Yorktown (from New Jersey) arriving on Sept 28 and Cornwallis surrendered on October 17, 1781.

sunset at yorktown april 24

We saw a nice sunset sitting on the dock at Yorktown. The boat in the image is the Schooner Alliance which offers sunset sails from the Yorktown pier.

I don't think they sailed at all that evening and in fact I don't think they sail until the 'season' arrives May 1 or so.

The image is taken from the Yorktown Romantic Sunset Cruises website.

Williamsburg April 25

We were one of the first people to arrive in the Historic District on April 25. This was a good thing as there was quite a bit to see. 

This is us in front of the Royal Governor's mansion. A district guide (I think he was a native of Germany who lived just west of Salzberg, Austria, across the Salzach River) who gave us an initial briefing, also took the image for us.

Back of the Gov's Mansion April 25

The back of the Governor's mansion is quite a bit better looking than the front. There is a gold shield with the seal of Queen Anne who reigned from 1702 to 1714 following the death of William III (husband of Anne's sister Mary).

The back of the mansion has lots of gardens of various kinds and large sculpted box woods.

We also were treated to a briefing circa June 12 1776 by an actor portraying Patrick Henry (the image comes from a post by a RW Daley of SC) who was very proud of the Declaration of Rights that was approved by vote that day (much of the language found its way into the Declaration of Independence and/or constitution) and made the point that the Republic was born that day in Virginia, not the next month in Philadelphia. The actor took questions (including those about women's rights and the issue of slavery) and nicely answered as Patrick Henry might have plausibly done so.

Duke of Gloucester Steet Williamsburg April 25

Ann was on Duke of Gloucester Street when a horse drawn carriage was coming by. Since it was also near an oak tree that is known to be over 300 years old, I took a picture.

There are a lot of horse drawn carriages in the Williamsburg historic district and by the end of the day, there is a lot of their waste. 

As it turns out, while the horse drawn carriages of this century frequently have large bags to catch horsewaste before it hits the streets, historic Williamsburg chooses the more historic method of letting it fall as it may (I presume they pick it up early each am or late at night).

Mock Trial in Williamsberg April 25

We were at a mock trial at the courthouse. They disposed of 3 cases fairly quickly: one was a girl apprenticing herself (the appearance in court was required since she was only 14), one was a tavern owner suing a man from NC who wanted to pay her with NC paper money instead of VA money or gold or silver (the judges ruled for the Tavern owner and admonished the N Carolinian with the words "welcome to Virginia" and one with a fellow complaining about the conditions of roads near his residence (he was appointed the new Road commissioner but at no salary - he would have to coerce his neighbors into helping fix the roads). The fellow pointing is the clerk of the court. The judges are gentry appointed by the Governor and they are advised on legal matters by the clerk.

The image is from a site created by a man named Richard Daley of SC. He has about two dozen nice images and some commentary on his visit to Williamsberg (but not much on any individual image). I didn't try to get an image in the court.

GWashington Reviews Troops April 25 pm

We saw a bit of 'reenactment' of a review of troops by General Washington. This would have been before the land siege of Yorktown in 1781. It is quite doubtful if such a review would have actually taken place as Washington had marched his forces from New Jersey and would have had little time for a side trip to Williamsburg before engaging at Yorktown. There is also no evidence that troops from Williamsburg participated in the siege of Yorktown.

FWIW, Washington's success at Yorktown is thought to have been, at least in part, because of a rouse. Washington produced a phony plan to attack the British in New York, built some phony siege stations, and arranged for the plan to fall into the hands of the British General Clinton. Clinton then decided not to reinforce Cornwallis at Yorktown.

The images are from RW Daley (of SC)'s website on Williamsburg.

Jamestown April 26

Jamestown was founded in 1607. 

Almost nothing was preserved from the first settlement which just barely survived the first three winters and did not prosper until several dozen years after its founding. 

No gold or silver was discovered and early efforts to grow silk and other cash crops failed. 

However, by 1630 tobacco was found to grown well, many settlements along the Chesapeake Bay were established and the fort at Jamestown became large enough to be imposing.

A statute of John Smith is in the park. Captain Smith kept the colony from breaking up some of the early years. He was injured in an accident and returned to England. His writing were important in reconstructing the history of the colony and also inspired the Plymouth Massachusetts landing in 1620.

These images are from a website built by Galen Fry Singer.

Ships at port in Jamestown april 26

Three reconstructed ships are docked at the landing in Jamestown. The largest is well over 100 feet long and the high mast is about 100 feet high.

These were the three ships that landed in  sailed from England in Dec 1606 and landed in what became Jamestown in May 1607 (they first sailed to the West Indies to get water and food before going north). 

As one might imagine, the living quarters are not great. They carried about 100 men (50 died within a year).

The image is from an aol travel site.