May 2009 Archives

After we left the Jamestown Settlement, we travelled the long and tranquil Colonial Highway. The Colonial Highway connects Jamestown Settlement to Yorktown, with Colonial Williamsburg betwixt the two. It is the scenic route and is 23 miles long. If you visit the Historic Triangle, please take the time to travel the Colonial Highway. It is worth the time. I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take a single photo.

After getting some lunch, we made it to Yorktown. It's a tiny, tiny village and looked as though some people still live there. We were there for the battlefield area so we skipped the quaint antique shops and tea houses.

Yorktown had fewer visitors than Jamestown Settlement. There was a Late Colonial village.

Here is S trying not to chase a Helmeted Guineahen.

This is one part of the inside of a Late Colonial house.

And this is the other side of the house.

After making our way through a great museum on the American Revolution, we came upon a re-creation of an American camp in the Revolution.

This is the inside of an officer's tent.

All of these people are looking at the star of the show -

a cannon!

The young lady on the left was telling all about the cannon.

And here the cannon goes, "Kaboom!" The sound wave was so strong that it shook my camera.

Thus concludes our first vacation day.

My favorite part of the Jamestown Settlement was the Powhatan Village area.

D & S got a chance to dig out a canoe the Indian way. A fire smolders in the log and burnt areas are scraped out with shells. This young woman was very nice. She said this was the largest canoe yet made at the living museum. I believe she said it had taken many months to get this far in the progress. We had to drag the kids away from this.

This young woman had an audience and she explained all about Powhatan cooking. She also mentioned that many many people prefer to cook with bear fat. I believe she was cooking corn cakes.

Here are two wigwams - no teepees for the Powhatan.

Here is a view inside a wigwam. Gourds and tobacco hang from the rafters. A bed is on the bottom right. A fire area is on the bottom left. In the background, are shelves of pots and firewood. The left wall (not seen) of this wigwam had bows, arrows, and baskets. 

Here is S holding a shell to be used to scrape the fur off the deer skin. Several skins were stretched in this manner around the Powhatan area and we were encouraged to help clean them.

After the Powhatan Village, we entered the visitor center where there is a great museum on Jamestown. Unfortunately, we could not linger in the museum because we were hungry and had tickets for another area of the Historic Triangle.

Thanks to this blog and this book, D & S have been crafting Medieval costumes.

Here's D battle ready:

She is wearing a green cloak of flannel, a green Liripipe hood, Mulberry-colored pants, and a linen surcoat.She also has a real metal Norman helmet which she made herself from hammered scrap metal. Her sword is wood, but the blade was spray painted silver. Her sword is named "Rhindon". Her costume is not yet complete. She hopes to add chainmail, more armor, and a coat of arms of a rearing black stallion to her surcoat.

Here is a back view of her Liripipe hood. The tail is also used a bag for coins.

Here is S wearing a linen surcoat. He has borrowed his sister's sword for this photo. His own sword is named "Brisingr" and is also wooden with a silver-painted blade. He is wearing metal and silver-painted cardboard bracers. His helmet was crafted of metal, silver duct tape, and cardboard by his sister. His shield is battle-hardened and was purchased from Vision Forum. He hopes to soon add a coat of arms  - two red and crossed battle axes - to his surcoat. He also hopes to soon craft greaves and a breastplate.

You can view more photos of their Medieval costumes at Flickr.

Today is the 58th National Day of Prayer, a day set aside for Americans to pray for our country and leaders. Though President Obama has decided not to participate in the National Day of Prayer, I hope you will take at least a few moments today to raise our country to the Lord in prayer.

For Our Country.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favour and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honourable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogancy, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

A Prayer for Congress.

MOST gracious God, we humbly beseech thee, as for the people of these United States in general, so especially for their Senate and Representatives in Congress assembled; that thou wouldest be pleased to direct and prosper all their consultations, to the advancement of thy glory, the good of thy Church, the safety, honour, and welfare of thy people; that all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours, upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be establish among us for all generations. These and all other necessaries, for them, for us, and thy whole Church, we humbly beg in the Name and mediation of Jesus Christ, our most blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

For Courts of Justice.

ALMIGHTY God, who sittest in the throne judging right; We humbly beseech thee to bless the courts of justice and the magistrates in all this land; and give unto them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, that they. may discern the truth and impartially administer the law in the fear of thee alone; through him who shall come to be our judge, thy Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

These prayers are from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and though I am not Episcopal I think they are suitable prayers for any Christian on this day - or any other day.

This is the view as you leave the replica James Fort at Jamestown Settlement. Crops are being grown to the left and you can see the replica ships in the distance.

The ships are the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery.

Here are the children up on a ship.

Here they are in front of another ship.

On the dock, a very patient gentleman taught us all about ship navigation. Unfortunately, I think he concluded we were all dunces, as we knew little of navigating.

Here is D on a ship, with the fort in the background.

Here is the deck of the Susan Constant. The sailor you see gave an authentic portrayal of a 17th Century lack of manners by picking and blowing his nose as he talked to us. I'm still a bit grossed out.

A look inside a ship cabin.

This nice young lady told about ship steering.

The ships tied up.

Next stop: the Powhatan village at Jamestown Settlement.

After all day on the road, we finally arrived at our first destination: Williamsburg, VA. Our plan was to spend the next day somewhere in the Historic Triangle. I was given the task of choosing between Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, and Yorktown. After much debate I concluded we would probably enjoy Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown the most. Before driving to Jamestown, however, took a drive around the College of William and Mary. It's a lovely school and I remarked that I didn't know why anyone would want to attend any other college. To which my husband replied, "Money and snow." Oh. Right.

We spent the rest of the morning at Jamestown Settlement, travelled the Colonial Highway, and then spent the afternoon at Yorktown. You can buy joint tickets to Jamestown and Yorktown.

Here are some of our photos from the fort area of Jamestown Settlement:

This is a tower erected in 1957 to mark 350 years since the founding of Jamestown.

Here is S as he leads us into the fort:

I was really quite surprised at how large the James Fort was.

I did not expect that the colonists would be able to construct such a sizeable fort.

There were many wonderful living history reenactors at Jamestown Settlement. Everyone kindly answered all of our silly questions, such as why every board in the fort was covered in Roman numerals.

This patriotic gentleman gave a wonderful demonstration with his weapon.

The children were allowed to try on "real" armour.

We went into the colony's church.

We also watched nails being made in the forge and spotted some Latin on the wall. Click the picture for my poor translations.

Jamestown Settlement is so large that I am dividing it into three parts. The next part will be the ships.