Colonial Williamsburg, VA Day Trip; The Cure for Refractory and Magazine Left an Impression

We decided to include a day trip to Williamsburg, VA, when we went to Richmond to see NASCAR races. We used our timeshare points through the RCI exchange program and found a timeshare resort in Williamsburg, VA. Vacationing in that location was central enough for us to also take a day trip to Virginia Beach one day, and Washington, DC the next.

We had been warned by the timeshare representative who sold us our tickets, to wear comfortable shoes, so we donned our sneakers, and headed off for our mid July visit to the Colonial Williamsburg Historic Area.

We found a quaint community that had been preserved and was now catering to a booming tourist industry. According to their website, Williamsburg.com, over 4,000,000 people visit the Williamsburg area every year. We were handed a program and a map for our self-guided tour.

There are actors and tour guides dressed in costumes situated throughout the town that give tourists a real life vision of what life must have been like for our ancestors of these parts. In each building, a host tells the story of the history of that building or activity during the late 1600, early 1700 hundreds. We learned about the civil war and how Maryland was largely for the King of England at that time.

I particularly enjoyed the impressive view of the "Cure for the Refractory". In a manufacturing sense, the term refractory means that metals retain their strength at high temperatures. The medical definition means that someone is not responding to a "stubborn infection" And according to glossary terms of astronomy, the opposite of refractory is volatile.

I also enjoyed the seeing the wigs of yesteryear. It was hot enough for me, walking around the town. I gave the employees of the town, dressed in their full colonial regalia, including topcoats, wigs and hat my utmost respect as it was hot.

We learned about early government and the rivalry amongst some of our founding fathers. We saw collections of art and paintings. One of the more interesting areas to me was learning about early American weaponry. The Colonial Williamsburg Magazine is a building wear the colony stored and allocated its weapons. The building was used at one time to store over 3500 muskets and 34 tons of gunpowder!

The building has three floors and has a circular staircase running through its center. From the road, it is shaped as an octagon and is on a hill. There is a look out tower at its peak and our tour guide told us that there were a lot of misconceptions about the Civil war. The way the weapons were most effective was for the soldiers to line up, opposing sides just basically shooting at each other. Many have heard of the battle at Valley Forge. Soldiers' lost their lives not just to the battle, but to the harsh elements and starvation.

By the time we were ready to go, I was tired and I had learned a lot about the Williamsburg Colony in Virginia, and its colonial settlers. It's worth the trip, even on the hottest of days.

References:

http://www.history.org/media/podcasts/111207/outfittinganArmy.cfm

http://www.history.org./History/teaching/groupTours/geninformation/hints.cfm