Day 7 - Jamestown & Yorktown

Jamestown

 

Indian village - We toured a few on the teepees, saw women molding and shaping clay into pots. We could try our hand at scraping the fur off of stretched hides to be used in baskets for harvesting food or containing water for drinking/cooking. We also got to see some men making a canoe (right) from a large tree. They were actually burning the tree little by little and scraping out the ash to carve out a place for the men to sit.

The colonists - They did a musket demonstration and had weapons and armor to see and touch. They explained the challenges of arriving in a new country and the battles between the colonists and the Indians. We saw a man making fire using carbon rich cotton to ignite the spark made from striking two rock together. He used this fire to bake bread that some of us were able to taste.

The picture (left) shows the colonists homes consisted of stacked lumber and the cracks were filled with a combination of mud and straw to keep the extreme temperatures out.




The Ships - the colonists arrived on three different ship when entering the place that is now Jamestown. The Susan Constant (right): 71 Passenger, Discovery: 12 Passengers 9 Crew and the God Speed which still sails today for some of the local schools when they go on field trips.

Yorktown

A typical colonial period farm -When the colonists first arrived from England they were given 200 acres of land of which 30/40 were farmed. The colonists lived off of the land, it was the man's job to farm the land along with any slaves that they had. It was a woman's job to preserve the harvest, dry the meat by adding a bunch of salt and smoke the meat(left). They would soak the dried meat for up to a week for cooking preparation. After each day they would taste the water the meat soaking in and when the water was no longer too salty, it was ready to cook.

The largest and best meal of the day was typically lunch and you would eat variations of the same meal for supper (reheated leftovers) and sometimes breakfast the next morning, up to a week of left overs. There were no cold storage options at that time so you would have to really plan what you were going to be eating. Salted and smoked meat could be stored for upwards of one year!

The photo (left) is a wheel and pulley system used to turn the meat while it was on the spit.



Military Encampment - There were over a dozen small tents, each tent was meant to sleep six men. (Just like tents now, if it says "sleeps 6" its really meant to sleep two or three comfortably.) Inside the encampment they had a weapons display and musket demonstration (right). We saw everything from the holes that were dug with spikes pointing upward, flintlock pistols and the cannon used to demolished enemy forces.

Stephen's favorite part of the military encampment was the surgeon's tent where he got to play with revolutionary era medical supplies. We saw the hand held, hand turned drill they used to cut open peoples skulls! The braces they used for broken bones and the belts used as tourniquets and even their travel pharmacy. None of the surgical instruments were sharp and the most worn piece was the one a man would bite on while surgery was being performed! OUCH!! This part was very interesting but really grossed me out, I'm not a fan of blood and I have a vivid imagination...
(left: the surgeon's medical kit)





Huzzah! Restaurant for dinner, lots of yummy food and probably the least expensive of the whole trip! We shared some pizza and the brisket meal. (we aren't sure if it was Huzzah! that caused it but we both experienced the revenge of something we ate the next day...)

Tavern Ghost Walk - We heard stories of the ghosts that are said to haunt Williamsburg still to this day. From ghost showing up in the Randolph house a terrifying the maid, to appearing in windows far too high for any man to stand in, the witch trail and ghosts causing mischief in the local taverns. They were fun stories but we were never very scared because the William and Mary College was having a concert the same night and it's hard to get into the story when you can hear YMCA playing in the background. :)

Drinks and Games at Chownings - Our ghost walk ended in front of Chownings Tavern and they had just started seating for the evening of drinks and games so we decided to partake. We met a lovely couple, Karl & Ellen from Michigan and we all enjoyed great conversation, playing games, making our way through a basket of peanuts and few drinks.