Road trip to Virginia! - Day 5 & 6

November 11, 2013

Colonial Williamsburg, VA

Colonial Williamsburg’s Revolutionary City was our destination for the day. Tickets for adults were $41.95. There is free parking at the welcome center and a free shuttle service that drops you off at different parts of the city. Admission to the city also includes entrance to three art museums. The program guide changes weekly and only certain buildings are open each day so be sure to get the map and program guide when getting your ticket. We opted to walk to the city, which was not more than 10 minutes from the visitor center. There was a 40 minute video at the visitor center. It was a decent video, but dragged on a little.

We took the guided tours of the Governor’s Palace, Wetherburn’s Tavern, and the Capitol. Each tour lasted about 30 minutes. There were very short waits at each. Large groups go in at once. I would imagine in peak season the wait would have been much longer. We checked out the other buildings that were open as well as the art museums. The art museums are open after the other buildings close, so we checked them out last. Personally, in my option, the cost of admission is not really worth what you get to see.  It should be noted that multi-day passes are only about $8 more than single day passes, so that might be a good option if you wanted to check out the buildings that are closed one day but, open the next. 

Antietam National Battlefield

November 12, 2013

We packed up and headed out early to get home before it was too late in the evening, but I had planned one last site visit for the return trip -Antietam National Battlefield – the bloodiest one-day battle of the American Civil War.  Fees are charged ($4/person age 16 and over, or $6/family, or free with the America the Beautiful pass). There is a 26-minute orientation film for viewing- it played on the hour and half hour. Also available is an 8.5 mile driving tour with 11 stops. We checked out the video and the displays at the visitor center before venturing out to the driving tour. It was a really chilly and windy day; luckily, we could read the site signs from the car at most stops. Allow 2-3 hours for the visit.

Road Trip to Virginia! (Day 4)

October 14, 2012 (Sunday)

Richmond Capitol Building

After a hot breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the Capitol in downtown Richmond. The building dates back to 1788 and is the oldest legislature continuously operating in the Western Hemisphere. The capitol was designed by Thomas Jefferson and is the first public building in the New World that is Monumental Classical style.  The building is very grand with very nice gardens.  This capitol is a bit unlike most others that we have visited – the capitol building is actually open during the weekends enabling visitors to see the inside. Unfortunately for us, our timeline put us at the site a few hours before tours were offered.

We attempted to go to the Richmond National Battlefield Park, but an event made it too hard to get to the visitor center at the Tredegar Iron Works. There is also some other National Park sites in the Richmond area, that we will be planning to see on another visit.

Historic Jamestowne

Our next destination was Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. It is a bit confusing when you arrive – there are two different parks, one run by the state and the other is a National Historical Park. There is a $10 fee to enter the Historic Jamestowne - National Historical Park site (left when facing the split in the road) (valid for 7 days and good at Yorktown National Battlefield Site, free if under 15 or have a National Parks Pass), payable at the visitor center.

Historic Jamestowne was quite fascinating! Definitely plan to take the tour. The 45 minute guided tour is presented in a way that keeps you very interested. There is also an archaeology walking tour, which is only offered Monday-Friday.  The visitor center has a large museum area and a 15 minute film that provides you with information about the site. There is a building on-site that displays artifacts that have been recovered from the archaeology digs. Down the road from the visitor center, there is a glass blowing exhibit where you can see people create objects from glass. There is also a Glasshouse Gift Shop at the location. Kids would probably be interested in the glass works and maybe a little interested in hearing about Pocahontas.

Jamestown Settlement - Ship

 The Jamestown Settlement site, state owned site, was interesting also. The fees at this site, for 2012, are $15.50 for adults and $7.25 ages 6-12. There are also other ticket packages available. We decided to do the Combination ticket, which was $20 for entry into both Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center (for ages 6-12 the combo ticket is $10). There is a 24 minute film in the museum and then there are a bunch of galleries that share the events and environment of the 17^th century.

Outside of the museum is a re-created Powhatan Indian Village, replicas of the Jamestown Settlement Ships (Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery), and a re-created fort. The outdoor activities are all hands on – games and costumes for kids. There are also Kids’ Museum Guides, to keep kids busy indoors.

The road driving to the parks have scenic pullouts that are very nice. We saw bald eagles to two different areas.

Scenic Pullout

We stopped in Colonial Williamsburg to check out the sites. It was after 5pm thus it was not very busy. Tickets are pricy ($40 minimum) and there are many options. We did not have time to spend an entire day there so we did not buy any tickets. You are free to walk about the area for free, but you need the ticket to get into the buildings.

We stayed at a place called Greensprings Plantation in Williamsburg. It was really nice! There is a full kitchen, tennis courts, indoor pool, and much more.