Williamsburg

This past weekend, Lacey and I drove down to southern Virginia for the 400th anniversary of Jamestown. We started out on Saturday morning, and we reached Richmond around noon-thirty. Our first stop was Shirley Plantation, about 20 minutes outside of Richmond. It's the oldest plantation in Virginia (a fact that our tour guide neglected to mention...I read it on the internets). The fascinating thing about this place is that the descendants of the original owners still live in the house! And it's still a working plantation.

Going up the drive...

...to the Big House.

It was so muggy, y'all. Luckily you can't tell how sweaty I am in this picture.

This is the view of the James River from the back porch.

The gardens.

Some of the outbuildings.

Keeping watch.

We then drove onto Williamsburg to check into our hotel. Our next stop was the Williamsburg Winery, which is the largest winery in Virginia (also not mentioned by the guide). We got a tour of the whole facility, which was really interesting. It had the feel of an old French farmhouse.

They had a large collection of antique wine bottles.

After tasting many fabulous wines, we headed over to Colonial Williamsburg to walk around before dinner. And look what I found in a candy store!!!

It's a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II made up entirely of jelly beans! Isn't she gorgeous?

The Governor's Palace (the colonial governor - not the current one).

Colonial gentlefolk.

Duke of Gloucester Street (the main thoroughfare).

We had dinner at an old-timey tavern called Shield's.They were having an all-you-can-eat feast. And I wish I could have eaten more, because it was delish!

The waitress first brought us a "pot o' beef."

We also had ham and turkey with all the fixin's.

Dessert was bread pudding and apple cobbler. Lacey can't wait to dig into hers.

After dinner we walked down to historic Bruton Parish Church for a candlelight concert. (No photography was allowed, but it was a beautiful church.) We finally crashed at the hotel around 9:30. Whew! That was a long day!

I'll post later about the next day's festivities at Jamestown.