Charlie Bottita's Adventures: History Tour Day 5

The forecast for today was for 95 deg and 75% humidity. The weather guy said it would feel like 109 deg. Mary had picked up a Frog Togg Cooling towel for our trip. It looked like a good idea, so we went to the store to get a few more. They worked great. We headed to Colonial Williamsburg and planned on spending most of the day there.

Here is how Wikipedia explains it.

Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting part of a historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. Colonial Williamsburg's 301-acre (122 ha) Historic Area includes buildings from the eighteenth century (during part of which the city was the capital of Colonial Virginia), as well as 17th-century, 19th-century, Colonial Revival structures and more recent reconstructions. The Historic Area is an interpretation of a colonial American city, with exhibits of dozens of restored or re-created buildings related to its colonial and tangential American Revolutionary War history.

The weather man was right. It felt 109 deg today. Luckily many of the buildings had air conditioning. so it was a relief The cool towels really helped. We started the tour at the Governors Palace. http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/do/revolutionary-city/tour-the-city/governors-palace/ The weapons on display when we entered the main entry are amazing. They were placed there for decoration. There are several buildings that are on the palace grounds. We passed by the smoke house and there was meat hanging from the rafters. Smoke house is a working one. So all the meat was real and edible. The cook house had people in it preparing meals. We watched for a moment, but there was no A/C and they had hot flames burning. We made our way through town and we popped in different buildings to learn some of the history of it. The County Court House was interesting. It was used for any county law cases. Not anything more than misdemeanors. The tour guide said that someone would be cited because their horse and buggy was traveling faster than a man could walk. Also folks were cited for not attending church at least once a month. Was interesting to hear some of the odd reasons. We made our way to the Capitol. The capitol had burned down several times. The one standing today is a replica, as it was not rebuilt following it's last fire. The capitol had moved and there was no need to rebuild. It was rebuilt as part of the restoration of Williamsburg. http://www.history.org/almanack/places/hb/hbcap.cfm . We stopped into a wig shop. It was fascinating to learn how wigs were made. Also, who wore them. The wigs were warn as a sign of wealth. Woman and men would have to shave their heads. When they were not wearing a wig, they wore a hat. But that was only at home. Men would have 4 or more wigs and wear a different one for different occasions. The whole day was very educational. The kids were seeing how this country freed itself from Britain and the kings. How it relates to modern day times. Such as no taxation without representation. How the Virginia Declaration of Rights https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Virginia_Declaration_of_Rights items made it into our current Bill of Rights and Constitution. I read on Tripadvisor that folks said they could spend all week here. I can see maybe two days, but we were done in one day. There are some things we did not see. But that is ok.