The last two days have been pretty good! On Wednesday we went to Jamestown, which is the site of the first permanent settlement in North America. There are two different places to go there and with our flex ticket we got entrance into both. First we went to Jamestown Island and Historic Jamestown. This is actual location of the original Jamestown settlement. They are still doing archeology work here and they will be doing it for at least a few more years. We were very lucky that we got there just in time to get a tour lead by one of the archeologists. They also do tour-guide led tours throughout the day, but this one was very good. The guy was able to really tell us what they are doing and finding. It turns out that he is basically the number 2 guy there, so that made it even better. We saw the walls of the fort and they have discovered the location of the first church building (where Pocahontas would have been married). It was all very interesting. There is a museum there where they display the finds and we took a quick look before heading back to the car to get lunch.
After lunch, on the way out of Jamestown Island, you can see the ruins of the first attempt at industry in Jamestown which was glass blowing. They have recreated what the furnace might have looked like and they are doing glass blowing there today. Then we went to Jamestown Settlement which is a museum where they have recreated the fort, a Powhaten Indian village, and the ships that came over from England. The kids liked the ships but by this time were getting a bit tired. We then headed back to the resort for pool time and dinner.
Yesterday we went to Yorktown which is the site of the last major battle of the Revolutionary war. The battlefield is run by the National Parks Service and we had a ranger led tour of the battlefield which great! The ranger was really animated and even had the kids’ attention for a while. Avi and Noam also sat through the video inside the visitor’s center, so I can tell that they really learned something. We to get the audio car tour of the battlefield. For this the kids were split between the two cars and it was really great. I know that Avi (in our car) was playing on electronics, but he was also listening and asked a couple of questions. My mother in law told me that Noam (in their car) also was attentive. We really got a great overview of this battle. It is interesting that the settlement at Jamestown marked the beginning of the British rule in North America and just 25 miles away in Yorktown, the battle marked the end of British rule.
There is also a site called the Yorktown Victory Center, but everyone was done, so we went back again for pool time. Marsha and I got our night out alone and we went out for Sushi and topped it off with some great Haagen Dazs!
Today, we are going for a half a day back to Colonial Williamsburg before we come back and get ready for Shabbat.
For the last trivia question, one signer of the Declaration from Virginia is easy, Thomas Jefferson. Others are Richard Henry Lee, Carter Braxton, Francis Lightfoot Lee, Benjamin Harrison, George Wythe and Thomas Nelson, Jr. Today’s question is what kind of plane do you see in the bottom picture below?
Avi and Shayna with Pocahontas Shayna getting ready for battle!
Shayna is on some VERY real bedding in an Indian hut
Avi trying to pick up the Yorktown Victory monument
A plane from the nearby Naval Base that just happened to fly by.