The Holmes Family: Colonial Williamsburg

We found the perfect time to visit Williamsburg this fall: Homeschool days.

We took the shuttle from the Visitor's Center and made a stop at the second stop. Brad and the girls pulled out the map and made a plan of action for the day.

We first visited the Capitol building.

Jillian is posing in front of a portrait of King George III of England.

"For 80 years, Williamsburg was the political center of Virginia, one of England’s largest, wealthiest, and most populous colonies. Here laws and justice were made and administered on behalf of all colonial Virginians. At the Capitol, the General Assembly debated and framed legislation and the courts dispensed justice."

At the court room, Brad was a lawyer in the case.

The court system was very different than what we know today. If you were found guilty of a crime, you were hung. There was no room for long-term prisoners in the jail. One time in your life you could plead mercy for a crime and if it was granted to you, you would have a a letter branded on your hand ("T" for thief). There would be no mercy shown the next time. The decision always had to be unanimous and there were never any "hung juries".

My friend Micki made these gorgeous dresses for the girls for our trip to Williamsburg. It made our time even more fun and enjoyable.

"Colonial people" and visitors alike gushed over the girls beautiful dresses! I felt like we were at Disney World, everyone was so friendly. Jillian said to me at one point, "I have lost count of how many people have told us how much they love our dresses."

It was a beautiful, picturesque day in the former capitol of the colony of Virginia!

After we went to the Capitol, we went to explore the jail.

We learned that Blackbeard's pirates were held in these jail cells.

We heard Patrick Henry give a speech.

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take;

but as for me, Give me Liberty, or Give me Death."

After the speech, we went to the colonial bakery and got some of their famous gingerbread cookies.

Then, we visited the Apothecary and learned how medicines/ cures were created in colonial times.

Afterwards, we went to the Milliner's Shop.

We learned about how colonists created patterns on dresses with stamps of paint and the beetles they used to create red dyes for cloth.

Read an article about red dye in your food here: http://www.livescience.com/36292-red-food-dye-bugs-cochineal-carmine.html

Then we learned a little about what women wore as an undergarment in colonial times. I found this great description of stays on the Colonial Williamsburg web-site:

"Through the 18th century stays covered the body with their conical form, lifting and supporting the bosom. In the 19th century corsets created a curvelinear body, minimizing the waist and accentuating the bosom. The stays of the 18th century, therefore, did much more to support the body and remind one of good posture than they did to cinch the waist. Women of the gentry and middling sorts wore stays most of the time. Children of these classes also wore stays to learn proper carriage. While fashionable ladies' stays were wanted for a good shape, working women needed them for good support. All women were admonished by their contemporaries to not tightly lace or "straight" lace their stays out of concern

for possible injury. Those who did so out of vanity were mocked by the satirical print to the right, entitled, 'Tight Lacing or Fashion before Ease.' "

The boning in the stay was typically made by using baleen of a whale. Instead of teeth, baleen whales use baleen plates as a feeding-filter system. Whaling has become much less common and commercial whaling has actually been banned by the International Whaling Commision (IWC). However, the Inuit Indians in Canada are still able to hunt 50 whales a year and that is where Colonial Williamsburg buys its baleen to create stays for their colonial ladies.

Who would have thought all that goes into creating clothes for the colonial people? It was absolutely fascinating, I felt like I could have stayed in that shop all day.

At the shop next door, Faith discovered some of Felicity mysteries!

Then we went to the printer's office. He was a very engaging interpretor and we learned about the printing process, as well as about the "f" pronounced as an "s" in colonial writing.

"Inking the type in the coffin was done with two wood-handled, wool-stuffed, leather-covered ink balls that spread the mixture evenly on the type." They were heavy, you could get a work-out by being a printer in colonial times.

http://www.ehow.com/info_8471293_tools-needed-printer-colonial-times.html

My grandfather who passed away in December of last year owned his own printing business in Houston, Texas. He was a man of integrity in his business, as well as in his personal life. He loved his Lord and his family deeply.

This December will be Brad's and my 10th wedding anniversary. My grandfather printed all of our invitations as a wedding present to Brad and me. I remember sitting on the couch in my grandparents' living room look at the selection. It was special for me to visit the past at a printing office.