Colonial Williamsburg

Back in November we spent a long weekend exploring America’s Historic Triangle…Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. In the first of a three-part blog post, below you can read about our day in Colonial Williamsburg.

Planning

We decided to make use of some days off from school in early November to take an educational road trip. Our older daughters are learning Virginia history in social studies so a trip to Colonial Williamsburg seemed like a great way to enjoy some family time. We found this to be a nice time to visit as it wasn’t crowded and temperatures were comfortable in the 60s and 70s.

We booked a room at the Hampton Inn on Capitol Landing Road. The hotel is located just a short distance from Colonial Williamsburg. It was definitely one of the older hotels we’ve stayed in. It smelled older but was still fairly clean. We took advantage of the free breakfast twice, which gave us extra money to spend on dinners. I’m sure you can find nicer lodging options in the area, but this wasn’t a priority for us.

Dining Options

Have you ever made Disney dining reservations before? It’s crazy, right? Do you know I almost had just as hard of a time making reservations for dinner in one of Colonial Williamsburg’s historic taverns? I did my research ahead of time and decided on Christiana Campbell’s Tavern for our “fancy” dinner out. The best reservation, based on our travel plans, was at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Since we were driving down Saturday afternoon we had just enough time to check-in at the hotel, change our clothes, and head over for our dinner reservation. Christiana Campbell’s Tavern is located close to the Capitol in historic Williamsburg. There is ample parking located behind the restaurant. Keep in mind Colonial Williamsburg has a bus stop directly across the street so the tavern is easy to access if you don’t have your car.

I know I mentioned Disney earlier, but this is seriously like a character meal. The staff is dressed in period clothing and the restaurant is furnished to resemble what it would have been like in the 18th century.

Kris ordered stuffed flounder, and I had the fried chicken. Both meals were delicious! The meal started off with dinner rolls, sweet potato muffins and homemade butter. A young woman pretending to be Christiana Campbell’s daughter came around to our table towards the end of our meal. She asked where we were from. Kris said, “The D.C. area” and the girl looked puzzled. She replied, “Is that near Maryland?” Ah…I see. Going for authenticity here. So she proceeds to ask if the girls can have a “sweet” and hands them some dum dums. Haha. I don’t think they had those back then.

On our first full day in Colonial Williamsburg we had lunch at Retro’s Good Eats. It was definitely harder than I expected to find a place for lunch. We stopped in a few places before settling on Retro’s. It’s located between the College of William & Mary and Colonial Williamsburg making it popular with college students and visitors. The food was tasty and reasonably priced. However, seating is limited.

On our last day in the area we stopped at Capitol Pancake House for breakfast. I highly recommend stopping here for breakfast if you have a chance. Everyone loved their food, especially the omelettes. I’ve never seen so much bacon in an omelette before. Yum! Look for the coupon in the Williamsburg visitor guide.

Colonial Williamsburg

On Sunday, our first full day in the area, we drove to the Visitor Center and arrived shortly after opening. We bought the America’s Historic Triangle tickets which included admission (seven consecutive days) to Colonial Williamsburg, Historic Jamestowne, Jamestown Settlement, American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, and Yorktown Battlefield. Depending on what you’re interesting in doing, other ticket options are available.

Colonial Williamsburg consists of three areas. They are the Palace Green, Market Square and Capitol. You can explore historic sites and trades in each area and all have options for shopping and dining. Our favorite places to visit were the Governor’s Palace, Capitol, gunsmith shop, and tailor. The costumed staff and guides in those areas were fascinating to listen to. I can’t say the same for some of the other costumed staff.

Open buildings will have a flag out front, and an admission ticket is required to enter. Refer back to your map and guide as you’re visiting. Not all areas have the same operating hours. Complimentary bus service is available from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Right before lunch we decided to take a carriage ride. Tickets for this can be purchased at the main visitor center, but we waited and purchased them at the William Pitt store. I recommend purchasing tickets as soon as possible to ensure rides are available. This was Hannah’s favorite part of the entire trip. Since there are five of us, the only option was the wagon which accommodates nine passengers. This means there is a chance you may be with other people. Rides in the wagon last 30 minutes as compared to 15 minutes in the smaller carriages, though the price is the same. A 30 minute ride costs us $75.

Honestly, I thought we would need more than one day here. But in the end one day was perfect for us. I have to admit, while I love history and most trips like this, I was bored by the end of the day. I hate saying this because I remember going here as a kid and thinking it was pretty cool. You’ll do a lot of walking so make sure to wear comfortable footwear.

I’m always thinking of new places to bring family when they come to visit. Colonial Williamsburg is extremely low on my list of places to re-visit. I do think it is a great place to visit if you have school-aged children learning about the American Revolution. That is the main reason we chose to visit when we did. While we enjoyed the guided tour of the Palace and Capitol, the other buildings just didn’t interest us as much.

I’m still glad we chose to visit because I know the girls, especially the twins, had a lot to share when they returned to school. We definitely enjoyed Jamestown and Yorktown much more. You can read about those places in parts two and three of this blog post series.

What to Remember

• Complimentary bus service around the historic area is included in the ticket cost.
• Plan for lots of walking.
• Reservations are highly recommended to dine in one of the taverns.