On May 5, the kids and I drove down to Colonial Williamsburg.  Although I seriously debated the practicality of driving 2.5 hours in rain, I needed a break from unpacking and painting.  Besides, there was a special Civil War presentation in the afternoon that would supplement my kids' recent history studies.  Off we went!

     While driving down the road, a horn honked and an elderly man drove by me with his right hand held up in a "Hook 'em Horns" sign!  I did a "Hook 'em Horns" sign back.  What a nice way to try to alleviate some of my homesickness.  =)

     By the time we arrived in CW, it was sprinkling.  We headed to the ticket office to try to reserve a space for the Bits and Bridle tour. sigh  Once again, booked.  One day...

     I asked if President Washington would be available?  Yes!  We got our tickets, had our address changed in the computer, received a lovely Virginia welcome, and went off to the Governor's Palace kitchen to watch the chocolate making process!  They were roasting the cacao nuts.  The actual pod the nuts come from is huge.    

This lady is shelling the nut after it is done roasting.

One of the guests was surprised by the  cayenne pepper on the table. Of course!  The nuts come from Mexico and the Aztecs were the first to develop this delicacy.  Of course chili peppers are a prime ingredient.  I was probably the only one there who was not surprised by this.  After all, I am Texan. (Hint:  My secret ingredients for black bean soup are cocoa and cayenne.  Shhhh, don't tell.) The cook went on to mention that it is Cinco de  Mayo and it is appropriate that chili powder be used.  Hmmmm,  I hadn't realized it was Cinco de Mayo.  That's celebrated a lot in San Antonio, although it's really a Mexican holiday that has nothing to do with Texas.  I was surprised the cook knew about it.  Interestingly, that was not going to be the last I was to hear about it in CW that day. 

Anyway the processing of chocolate is a ten step process and they were on about step 2 or 3.  We decided to come back later.

     We looked at all the gardens.  Here are some peonies.  I recently found out I have some next to my house.  Mine are only little buds since I'm further north.  I hope they are pink like this one since that is my favorite color. 

      Here is a peony in full bloom. It's bigger than my hand.  Isn't it gorgeous?  

     I'm guessing they might all be in full bloom in a couple of more weeks.  Perhaps my husband would like to come back for the Drummer's Call Weekend?

     I love the composition of gardens against colonial architecture.

Sometimes I like  to just sit and soak everything in...

     Other times I like to see what interesting angles I can capture...

     All of the flowers are in a different stage of bloom from the last time we were here, two weeks ago.

     Then we met with President George Washington. 

It is the end of his 8 years in office and he is sharing with us his opinions of the State of the Union and his future hopes for our country.  To stay in character, of course, he is extremely serious.  It is amazing to me how he can say something that makes us laugh yet he can remain stoic.  I was quite elated when my son quickly got a significant query of President Washington's correct. Someone asked a question about state rights and President Washington asked us which document protects state rights. My son immediately said, "The Bill of Rights."  Unfortunately, he said it softly so Washington did not hear him. But he said it before anyone else in the audience.  Also a lot of people in the audience were saying it was the Constitution and Washington had to redirect them.  I was so proud of my son!  He remembered what we learned earlier this school year!  He said it was easy. 

    Someone else asked Washington about freeing his slaves.  He explained to us that he definitely wanted to grant them manumission. However, according to the law of Virginia at that time, one could only do so through his will.  George Washington is the only Founding Father to have freed his slaves after his death.   

    Afterwards President Washington stepped down for quick renderings (photos) and questions.  We went down to listen to the Q&As and caught the end of the actor sharing his background of working at CW.  What?  I missed all that?  The questions and answers were wonderful. And we had fun seeing the actor smile a lot.  He does a wonderful job of portraying Washington, yet his own personality is completely different.  I had noticed that when we met him last summer too, and in seeing him in other roles. He shared some of his favorite books on Washington and how he prepares for different presentations.  Oh, great teacher material!  I'll be using this info with my kids for when they prepare their own first character interpretations for their unit studies!   

     Off to lunch.  Where to?  Cheese Shop? Or Raleigh Tavern Bakery?  I was going to pack our own lunch but with the rain and cold weather, I knew I'd want a warm drink.  My son opted for the bakery.  Oh but before that, I had the kids stand next to the flowers near the Cheese Shop while I called my husband.  He had wanted us to stand in front of all the web cams and wave to him while he was at work.  (I  never would have thought of this.) Feeling a little silly, we stood looking towards the camera in Merchant Square.  You can't see it, but we are on the computer end of the web cam all the time so we generally know where the camera is. My husband brought it up on his computer and showed us off to some of his colleagues. 

     While we had lunch at the Bakery, I called my husband and told him we were now at the Raleigh Tavern, standing behind a bunch of yellow jackets.  He just sort of laughed.  Then I told him we had stood next to a couple of redcoats earlier.  He laughed again.  When he brought up the web cam on the computer he said increduously, "There's a bunch of yellow jackets!" Did he not believe me?  Does he think I make this stuff up?  LOL  There was a group of kids all wearing yellow jackets.  Earlier there were a couple of moms in red coats  pushing baby strollers.  It was fun teasing him.  He told me when we got home that he had the best time watching us on the web cam.  Really?  We were a bit embarrased waving to the cameras, but I'm glad he enjoyed it. 

     We checked a few more gardens on the way back to the Palace kitchen to catch up with the chocolate making process. By now they were on about step 6, grinding the nuts. 

There is enough fat in the nuts, that grinding the powder turns it into gooey chocolate. It was smelling wonderful!  It is a very long process, that would not be complete until the next day.  Later the spices will be added. Last summer we were told that cooks often used the same grater for orange, nutmeg, chocolate, etc so the chocolate would pick up the flavor of the spices.  Although this chocolate cannot be sampled due to health codes, packaged chocolate can be purchased in the shops that is similar.

     Then we hurried back to Revolutionary City.  At Raleigh Tavern we were entertained with music...

There was also dancing that reminded me of a more elegant form of square dancing. Then we were told how to react to Revolutionary City. We were also taught our courtesies (we call them curtsies today).  Then we headed down the Duke of Gloucester Street for the Capital, for RC to begin.  Patrick Henry fell into step next to us!  Wow!  Then another 18th century gentlemen started walking with him, debating the issues of the Tea Act which the Burgesses were up in arms about.  That was incredible to be walking next to them and listening to their discussion. It made me feel as though I was a part of the times. 

     My son wanted to stand on the opposite side that we usually do.  When we got there, I saw an 18th century gentleman that looked familiar to me.  Hmmmm, I think I saw him as the British prisoner of war last summer...

 and I think I saw a Tar and Feather attempt made upon him a couple of weeks ago. This time he was cleaned up and properly dressed in coat and wig and hat.  As a prisoner and tar and feather victim, he was considerably rumpled. When he spoke I definitely recognized his voice. That was him!  He stood right behind me and was heckling everyone!  He introduced the Burgesses to us as they came out of the Capital Gate.  We got to see Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Washington (yes he was a Burgess too!) and the others.  As we booed the governor, the Heckler cheered.  As we cheered the Burgesses, the Heckler did what he did best, he heckled them.  Hmmmm, I think that heckling is what got him into trouble last time where he was almost tarred and feathered.  He even heckled us.  Especially agitated by the governor, we yelled, "Boooooooooo!" to which he sarcastically criticized, "You all sound like a bunch of cows."  That was a lot of fun.   

      As everyone was taking their places, we saw Thomas Jefferson arriving and hurriedly looking over his shoulder. The horse was coming. So were the raindrops. We learned last summer than when this horseman rides the horse, he is fast!  So a few weeks ago  when we did RC, I set my camera to action to help me capture the blur. However a different horseman came in, though not as fast, so my camera had no trouble.  My batteries were running low so I didn't even try this time. But my son did! This is my son's favorite actor/interpretor and he really wanted to get a great picture.  Later my son exclaimed, "He was going too fast!"  When I downloaded his pictures today, I was shocked at how many photos he took of George Washington and the horseman...nearly 50 each! It was a good thing, because only a few came out well.  He didn't quite capture the horseman here, but he did capture Thomas Jefferson getting out of the way!

The herald has announced the arrival of the Royal Governor Lord Dunmore.  Too bad this one didn't come out more clearly, but I liked the composition against the greenery and buildings.

     After the governor dissolves the House of Burgesses, news of Lexington and Concord arrives from the north.  (The actor/interpreters always do a great job playing more than one part.)

     Mann Page has arrived after a 100 mile ride from Fredericksburg, Virgnia with news that the men are ready to arm.

He is told to ride back and tell them to lay down their arms while the Virginia representatives work on a peaceful means with the governor, who had the colonists' gunpowder stolen by the British.

     After the Mann Page scene, it was time to head to the Civil War presentation at the museum. This was a slide show done by a historian.  He's worked at CW for over 27 years, but said he has more information on Williamsburg in the Civil War than he does of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington in Williamsburg.  The auditorium was nearly full and I think the kids and I were the youngest ones there. I was getting a little worried about how this would go.  We are not Civil War buffs.  However I thought it would be interesting to reinforce and supplement their Civil War studies with information particular to Williamsburg.  It was extremely interesting and we talked about it all the way home. 

     Incidentally, the day before my son had created his next unit celebration character based on the Civil War.  He knew he wanted to be an officer in the cavalry unit and he's already gotten appropriate patches at the nearby museum.  He had me google some key words and he narrowed it down to a New York regiment. I forget which one. Well the day after this presentation he was doing more research and discovered this same New York regiment fought and won at the Battle of Williamsburg! Now he's more excited than ever to do his own first person interpretation. 

     By the way, did you know that the American Revolution was a civil war?  The colonies basically seceeded from England.  A few months ago when we intensively studied the Civil War, we learned the South used that as precedent to seceed from the Union. Also they used some of the same American Revolution rhetoric, that they had been denied their rights, to justify cessation.    

     The historian mentioned Cinco de  Mayo, which is Spanish for May 5.  That is the day the Mexicans fought the French, May 5, 1862.  Incidentally the Battle of Williamsburg, the next major battle of the Civil War after the Battle of Manassas, was also fought May 5, 1862.  Isn't that interesting?

     Then he showed a picture and asked us who that was.  I am no Civil War buff, I was in a major move from Texas to Virginia and was busy looking at and trying to buy a house during our Civil War studies.  However I was thinking, "That's McClellan."  Then my son said McClellan, everyone else said McClellan and the historian said it was McClellan.  Well, McClellan led the Union armies. The Union capital, of course, was Washington DC. The Confederate Capital was in Richmond.  Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was in between.  McClellan decided to circumvent the path to Richmond by going by sea and attacking from the South, near Yorktown.  The only road to Richmond,  from the South, went straight through Williamsburg, down the Duke of Gloucester Street!

     The historian also talked about the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation on the area.  We had studied this document a few weeks ago.  We learned that it freed only those slaves in rebel areas.  Because  slave states like Maryland did not secceed, the Union wanted to preserve that barrier of defense around DC, among other things.  When the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, Williamsburg was under Union control, so those slaves were not emancipated until after the war. To complicate matters, the county line (York County and James County) goes through the Duke of Gloucester Street. York County is specifically mentioned in the Emancipation Proclamation that the slaves could not be freed. The ones in James County were freed. My daughter remarked later that she remembered reading "York County" when she studied the Emancipation Proclamation and had wondered about that.      

     Long story short, the Union actually won this battle and held their position in Williamsburg through the end of the war, into Reconstruction.  The historian showed us how the Colonial capital had changed over the years through photos.  The union troops put up telegraph poles down the Duke of Gloucester Street.  He also told some American stories. 

     To our surprise, the first was actually a Texan story.  One guy used to live in the Ludwell-Paradise House, a direct descendant of the Ludwells.  His name?  Brace yourself.  His parent's apparently had a statement to make using Latin... Decimus et Ultimus Barziza.  (I like Lafayette's full name better!)  The historian said he was the last of ten kids. He also said that he grew up and went to Texas to study with a Baylor. I looked at the kids and whispered, "Baylor University."  (That's in Waco, Texas.)  When the Civil War started, he joined the Texas army and fought at the Battle of Williamsburg.  After the war he returned to Texas and became a Texas Senator!  

     Next, the historian showed us a picture of Basset Hall where a young girl lived. (Few of these buildings in CW looked the same in the Civil War Era as they did in the Colonial Era.)  She and one of the wounded Confederate soldiers, from the Battle of Williamsburg, fell in love.  I think he was even tended for his wounds in her home.  He had been pulled off the battlefield by an old friend from West Point, a Union officer.  The historian put up a picture of these two men. Did we recognize the Union officer? Some did...it was George Custer, who later died at the Battle of Little Big Horn.  Custer, the Union officer,  visited his wounded Confederate friend quite often.  When he found out his friend was in love, he arranged for the marriage.  Custer was the best man! (We read lots of stories like this in our Civil War studies.)

     Then the historian showed us a picture of the Palmer House, across from the Capitol and Coffee house.  It was used as headquarters, first by the Confederates, and then by the Union.  This building was used as headquarters longer than any other building in the Civil War.

     Well, 5:30 came and the historian had lots more stories but was out of time.  He began to take questions.  The audience was definitely fascinated and could be there a long time. I whispered to my kids that we HAD to leave.  I felt bad that we interrupted the Q&A by our leaving. Thankfully we were sitting by the aisle. We had a 2.5 hour drive to get home.  I wanted to get home asap before it got too dark and I was hoping to beat the rain.  We did get hit with a deluge of rain in Richmond where I had to make 2 highway connections...all of which are new to me.  I am thankful that we managed safely and we got home before 9pm.  What a fascinating day!