During our trip to Virginia the central stop was Colonial Williamsburg. We stayed in a bed and breakfast just 4 blocks from the Colonial center and were able to visit the colonial houses during the day and take a ghost tour in the evening. The day we visited was the hottest day during our whole vacation so we didn’t see as much as we might have liked to. I wanted to share a couple of the interesting historical things I learned while there.
While we were on the ghost tour we stopped at the cemetery in Colonial Williamsburg at the Bruton Parish Church. Among other things, the tour guide made a side mention that the first husband of Martha Washington and two of her children had been buried there. So of course I had to stop by in daylight to seek out the gravesite. They don’t look like much in the pictures because the inscriptions were so worn down by time and weather but I found the graves of both Frances Custis and Daniel Parke Custis Jr. (Martha’s two children that didn’t survive childhood). I am pretty sure that the grave beyond the children’s belongs to her husband, Daniel Park Custis. The Custis family spent a lot of time in Williamsburg as their home was nearby and Martha’s family lived there.
To speak of another prominent name, upon the entrance to the area there is a bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson writing a draft of the Declaration of Independence. Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia for many years and Jefferson was the Governor for a period of time. He spent much time here prior to becoming Governor and a year at Williamsburg after becoming governor before he moved the capitol to Richmond. We were able to take a tour of the Governor’s mansion and there is quite the impressive display of guns and arms. Check it out!!!
We visited Williamsburg on Memorial Day and were treated to a show by the Colonial Marching Band. I’m sure if you were to visit for the Fourth of July you would be able to see a show like this as well! Happy Fourth of July!
Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court
Egads! You were in Williamsburg? I live in Va Beach, only a smite of a little over an hour away. Williamsburg is great, isn't it? The history there is phenomenal, I'm going to have to visit again soon, it's been much too long!
ReplyDeleteIt really is a beautiful place. It would be great to be able to visit in small doses because otherwise there is just too much to see and do all at once! I thought you lived down near there!
DeleteI live in Portsmouth! A ho, skip and a jump from Williamsburg and Virginia beach. We could have had a party :D I'm so glad you enjoyed your visit. I'm going on the ghost tour sometime this month.
ReplyDeleteAww man! We did one of the ghost tours and it was pretty cool. They took us around the William and Mary campus as well as through Colonial Williamsburg.
DeleteI would love to go there! I will...someday. I love old gravestones. We have quite a few historic graveyards here in Tennessee. The Buchanan log house (the Buchanan family were early settlers in Davidson County, Tennessee) is right down the street from me. You can walk to it from my mom's house. They have a cemetery across the street where James and Lucinda Buchanan and all of their relatives/ancestors are buried. Here's the website, if you want to check it out: http://www.buchananloghouse.com/buchanan-log-house-history I'm planning on visiting this summer. I want to visit that cemetery that I've driven by a million times!
ReplyDeleteIt would be so cool to visit some of Jefferson's old stomping grounds. You naughty girl...giving him a smooch. lol! I'm glad you had a good time, even if it was hot.
I too love old cemeteries. The way they would lay out the plots and the look of the old stones can be very pretty. Thanks for the link - I will have to check it out. My boyfriend and I have casually discussed visiting Tennessee on one of our next long vacations. I should point out that I was goaded into that picture by my boyfriend no less!
DeleteWilliamsburg!!! Been there a few times but never saw the parade of people. Always stinking when I went too :)
ReplyDeleteWe didn't plan on actually going on Memorial Day, it was sort of an after thought once we had already arrived. But it was a spectacle to see. My boyfriend was the one who ran ahead of them and took the photos.
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