So, I've finally got day three of my trip to Washington D.C. ready to post! The rest of the days should be out soon!
On the third day of my trip, I went to Jamestown and Yorktown in Virginia. Jamestown was the site of the first English settlers in the New World who were chartered by the Virginia company to come look for gold and riches. Instead, they were met with hardships such as disease, malnutrition and fatigue. The site of Jamestown today has four main areas for visitors to browse: an indoor museum, a replication of the Native America village, replication of the English settlement, and the port where the ships landed. Jamestown was amazing to walk through, and it was very interactive and kid-friendly. You were able to walk through the building and touch the things they had set out. In the Native American village, I was able to grind corn, sit in a hand-carved wooden canoe and scrap the fur off of an animal hide with a shell. In the English settlement, I was able to try on some of the armor people might have worn back then (and it was heavy!) and stand in the high pulpit of the church.
Yorktown was the location of the Battle of Yorktown during the Revolutionary war where General George Washington defeated General Charles Cornwallis which started the end of the war. I didn't get to stay very long in Yorktown, but they had a museum that you could walk through and few videos you could watch in a theater. Their outside grounds were small, but they were interesting. There were a bunch of tents set up, a few buildings and a real garden that you could go see. I was also lucky enough to see a musket and cannon demonstration where kids from the crowd where able to load the cannon! They weren't able to actually fire it, but they could prepare it.
Although I don't have any pictures of this, I also stopped in Williamsburg to eat lunch. We were going to attempt to stop at a tavern for lunch, but unfortunately we just missed them before they closed. Still, we walked around the town for a bit and saw all these old fashioned shops that had a certain charm to them.
So that's about sums up day three! Here's some pictures of some of my adventures!
Jamestown
A view of a few of the wigwams of the Native Americans in Jamestown.
Another view of the Native American village.
It's hard to tell, but this is actually a hand-carved wooden canoe. It's hard to imagine actually being able to paddle in one of these!
A model of a Native American campfire.
The inside view of a wigwam. There were lots of handwoven baskets and animal furs.
We had to walk along a little path to get to the English portion of Jamestown. The main settlement was surrounded by a wooden fence like this one.
An overview of the English settlement.
Another view of some of the settlement. I think that the houses are so quaint!
This is hard to see, but the little lump on the loft is a chicken. This was part of the schoolhouse and when I walked in there was a loud sound and a fluttering of feathers, and I was shocked to find some real live chickens in the schoolhouse! I can't imagine trying to learn with them wandering the place!
Another view of some of the structures.
This is the inside of the church. The pews had high, straight backs that looked uncomfortable, but the pew seating was actually really comfortable! On the right you can see the pulpit that I was later able to go stand on! It's quite the view!
This is one of the ships at the port. There were two ships there: a larger one and a smaller one. We were able to walk on and explore both ships. If I have anything to say about them, it's that they have some tight, narrow quarters!
The flag and mast on the larger ship.
Yorktown
One of the gardens in Yorktown.
A more green and live garden then the one above.
A building in Yorktown with some white army tents in the background.
A first view of Yorktown
This was the man who demonstrated the musket firing - uniform and all!
This is the inside of one of the little buildings in Yorktown.
Finally, here is a hat that hung on a nail inside the building above. Liberty or death? This statement was based on the quote by Patrick Henry, "Give me liberty or give me death!"
That concludes day three of my trip to Washington D.C. I'm hoping and trying really hard to get the rest of the days up soon!
~Emily Silverwing
