Williamsburg, VA continued
Apr. 14, 2019 - Apr. 20, 2019
I spent Sunday getting some sewing in. I found a tutorial on Pinterest that shows how to turn your crew neck t-shirts into v-necks. So easy, and that small change makes the t-shirt much more comfortable. I also completed the Savannah block for my travel log quilt. The block is a foundation paper pieced block and it seems to take forever to complete. I have the fabric for the next two blocks but not the time to put them together. I needed to get a walk in and decided to do some eagle watching too. I determined that there are at least two juvenile and one adult bald eagle living here near this lake. I almost got myself in trouble on my walk. I decided to take the hiking trail around the small lake but did not realize how rigorous it was! I made it back to the coach fine but man I was tired.
We spent Monday and Tuesday touring Jamestown and Yorktown. We went to both the National Parks and the State Parks. Jamestown had reproductions of the ships that were used by the colonists to make the journey 400 years ago now. It is wild to really think about the challenges that faced them. What a difference a few centuries make right. They also had a working glass blowing demonstration going on based on the glass works they unearthed in the area. Yorktown was cool too, the museum there does a good job of covering the revolution and final major battle here in Yorktown. Then we did the battlefield drive. Both days were beautiful.
Wednesday we did scenic drive number 109, James River Plantations. It was a beautiful day for a drive and a walk. The temperature was perfect and sunny all day. We started at the Sherwood Forest Plantation, begun in 1660, the current home was built on top of the origian foundations in 1720, with additions made in the early 1800s. It was the home of our 10th president John Tyler. It is the longest frame house in America, 300 feet long. The Tyler family still lives there so you have to have an appointment to view the house but you can walk the grounds for a small fee.
Next was Westover, built in 1730. They have a beautiful view of the river and a huge walled garden. It was built by William Byrd II one of the founders of Richmond. The descendants still live here too, and you have to schedule a tour to see the inside. As we were walking up there was a bald eagle flying around and landed in a tree just upriver from the house. So cool. We strolled around property, and their nice garden. There was a tour exiting the home as we were headed to the garden so we got to hear a little about the family. As we walked back to the car we saw the eagle was still sitting there. So we got as close as we could before he took flight. I was surprised by how close he let us get.
Just up river a bit was Berkeley Plantation, the site of the real first Thanksgiving. They have documentation to back up this claim. This home was built by the Harrison's and hosted nearly all the founding fathers at some point. Benjamin Harrison was a signer of the constitution, and 7 of the first 10 presidents were entertained here, and the 9th president, William Harrison was born here. The grounds served as a camp for both the Union and Confederate armies. So we trod the same ground as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, etc.
Our tour guides were awesome. Oh and Taps was written here too, during the civil war. We strolled down to the river and the site of the first Thanksgiving but by this time my feet were worn out and we skipped the the Taps memorial.
The last plantation on our tour was the Shirley Plantation, relatives of Robert E. Lee still live here. We only toured the outside here as well. Once we finished here we headed to Richmond since we were only about 20 miles away. We drove down Monument Avenue to see the monuments installed there and have dinner. We went to Julep's, good food and good mint juleps!
The rest of the week was spent just chilling in the motorhome, grocery shopping and getting our teeth cleaned. We found a great dental office here, Norge Dental. They are rockstars there, if we were moving here they would definitely be our dentists.
Make Life an Adventure!