First stop in Colonial Williamsburg is the governor’s palace. A popular activity there is to listen to a speech by one of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson or Patrick Henry. The fellow who plays Jefferson apparently looks like him… because he is a direct descendent of him!
On the crisp morning of my visit, the talk was by Patrick Henry. Other than his “give me liberty or give me death” speech, I didn’t know much about him. With the talk being 45 minutes, I didn’t expect to stay through the whole thing. The reenactor was so good, that I hung onto every word! I really would suggest not missing this if you go to Williamsburg.
(As point of reference, by this point, it was 11:30 and I had already been in Colonial Williamsburg two and a half hours!)
All the open buildings in Colonial Williamsburg have an English flag outside the entrance. The governor’s palace did not. It was just open for private school tours. But we could wander around the grounds.
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- You have to go through this little gateway in the wall to reach the gardens.
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- The gardens are full of these pathways.
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- The governor’s palace from the rear.
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- This crest was equisite.
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- This is a curious little building with a door on either side, a few steep steps leading from ground level down, and about 1 square foot of space. I found an interpreter who was able to tell me what this building was possibly used for.
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- Entrance to the cellar. Duck!
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- Hooch.
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- The cellar was quite dank and musty.
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- Pots of apricots.
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- The best the historians can come up with about the curious building is that the governor would stand in this building on a hot day and his servants would poor cold water on him!
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- This drain is supporting evidence of the building’s purpose.
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- Walled garden.
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- Garden gate with a weight to close it.
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- Go that way into the hedge? Huh?
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- Oh, it’s a maze. How do I get out of here again?!
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- Cute little door with a big lock.
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- Patrick Henry. This guy knew his stuff, fielding questions with aplomb! He made the context of Colonial Williamsburg very clear and also revealed a lot about the man. Do a search about Sarah Henry, his wife, for example. Tragic.
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- Cute little house off the palace green.
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- Interior of McKenzie’s where you can buy snacks.
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- You can buy cold drinks and snacks here.
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- The governor’s palace as seen from the palace green.
