Two hundred and Some Years Ago

It's been a good day and it's been Friday so I believe that it qualifies as Good Friday.

As I reported in the previous entry, we camped in a legitimate camping site last night, and I reported that it was raining as I wrote.  Today was clear and mildly warm; perfect as weather goes including no wind.

After the morning routine which included a shower, scrambled eggs and walking the dog, aka walking Charlie, after all he thinks he's more people than dog, we set our iPhone on the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center and aimed our covered wagon in that direction.  Like a deer in the headlights, even after reading all the literature on the place, we moved forward on faith.

There's really nothing at the Visitor Center other than a gift shop, restrooms, money takers and wise information booth volunteers.  Oh, and the start of a mile or more long hike to the attractions.  So we mounted the shuttle for the downtown colonial Williamsburg.  Our first stop after dismounting our trusty bus, was the millinary shop.  At that point we were the first and only visitors. (Our plan to beat the heat and the crowds was working.)  The seamstress, in her colonial role, was very informative and knowledgeable, as was the silversmith lady next door.

After a bit more wandering we noticed a crowd gathering by the Raleigh Tavern, so I purchased several cookies and we watched as colonists argued and discussed the events in Boston that year - seventeen and seventy-five (1775).  Some thought the British could do no wrong while the rebel rousing young feller felt the British were systematically slowly taking the freedoms from the colonists.  It all sounded too much like our current political discussions and the reports from Ukraine.

Now that it was near 11:30 and we'd been advised to watch out for the appearance of George and Martha Washington, we gathered appropriately with another gathering crowd.  George and Martha stepped out of history in the year 1769, if I recall it correctly.  They canme to say good-bye to their 650 closest friends gathered in the arena, but quickly slipped into a husband wife conversation about buying two new slaves.  She didn't think that they needed two but it finally came out that George didn't want the two teenaged brother slaves to be separated.  When asked after the scripted dialogue, what he thought about owning slaves he said that's the culture he grew up in but if you asked him 20 later he said he might have a different answer.  He said he was seeing human rights differently.  When asked if he thought about a political career, he said he's happy farmer.

Our old age caught up with us so we shuttled back to see Charlie and put our feet up before returning for an afternoon foray into blacksmithing, tin smithing, gardening, joinery and a bit of tailoring.  The most profound event of the afternoon was watching the horse draw carriages of tourists around the town.  They didn't need much guidance as they had done this probably hundreds of times.

Now we're up the road giving us a two-hour head start on our trek to Connecticut tomorrow.