Yorktown and home

 

George Washington was there to greet us. Kate is off to school now, so her Nana is finishing her blog posts about Yorktown.

 

Militia training was the main event when we visited Yorktown. Kate signed up for the militia because she was very willing to be trained. She had heard about the training from her sisters who had trained in years past.

 

There were tents to learn to put up and cannons to learn to fire. Rifle practice and marching in straight lines were part of the day's events. Kate even had to fill her own cartridges.

Commands are shouted and spoken quickly.

 

In another area we found the punishment signs.

We found out the punishment for various behaviors were well-advertised as to what you do wrong. We used all that were available. Do you qualify for any of these signs?

The cooks were within each unit. They took turns cooking for each other. Our guide told us that the biscuits which are also known as hardtack were used at each meal. The meals were a pound of meat, vegetables and water. The meat had been stored in salt so no salt needed to be added, but the men got to be used to salty food, so if they were eating fresh meat, they would want to add salt.

 

Breakfast was the leftovers from the night before with the congealed fat floating on top. Next to the pot is a grill for cooking large slabs of meat.

Each unit had their own opening in the mound for their fire and the opening for the fire's heat to rise to heat the pot.

The leftover biscuits were stored and brought out of storage in the War of 1812. Mmmm, tasty!

A very large Daddy Long-legs was crawling up the officer's tent.

The officer's tent is very large so meetings could be held there.

Kate helped prepare camp by assisting in the raising of the tents and filling the floor with straw. Six men would share a very small tent. The floor space of the tent seemed no wider than a full-sized mattress.

 

Textiles

We watched a woman spin wool and prepare flax for weaving. The flax was beaten and then brought through a block with large nails. When the flax as softened to feel like hair, it is called tow. This is where the term tow-headed comes from with its soft yellow color. Who in this picture is tow-headed?

This woman is preparing a duck for roasting. The roasting took place in the building behind Kate.

We found out that cannons are not only loud and heavy, but very hot when you are firing them. The soldiers who worked with the munitions were more important than the cannons and were told to save their lives and not to worry about the cannons when the enemy appeared to prevail. Before they were to abandon the cannon, the practice was to put a metal spike into it so it could not be used by the enemy.

Looking at the medical tools made us very glad we are living now. The tooth pulling instruments would be used with out pain killers. The scalpels did not look very sharp either. The drill for the skull was never sanitized as well as the other instruments. At that time, no one knew of the necessity of doing that type of cleaning.

 

We have gratitude to all of the volunteers who made this event possible for us to enjoy. It gives us the understanding of how challenging life was for our ancestors.

This was the last event of our Colonial Trip. It ends at the celebration of the anniversary of the surrender at Yorktown.

We flew home and landed safely. It was lots of fun and very educational!

Kate would put something clever here, but we will just bid you farewell and God bless!

 

 

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Willamsburg: Day 2: Coming back: To see more stuff

 

Our magical tags of Williamsburg are here. We visited places we couldn't see yesterday.

 

 

In the blacksmith shop we saw them warming up while making nails for the building of the New Market House to be finished by 2015. Our guide is a blacksmith. She has apprenticed and is a full-fledged blacksmith. She decided she wanted to do this when she was in high school. There was a historical center nearby and so she could receive the training she needed. The blacksmiths are responsible to make all of the materials made from iron and steel thoughout all of Colonial Williamsburg.

 

 

As we watched the printer clamp down the paper onto the inked letters, we realized why it is called the press. "Watching your ps and ques" have to do with typesetting. He told us the "demons" were b, p, q and d. We saw the little metal piece with a tiny o on it. There were over 1800 letters on the page he was printing with the most used letter being e. The letters are kept in cases. The most used letters have larger compartments and are on the lowest level. The upper cases have the capital letters.

 

 

Next, we went to the person who makes barrels, mugs, buckets and other rounded wood products. His profession is called Cooper. There were several buckets made of different woods. Some were heavier than others. Thinking of carrying them full of water. I think plastic is my preference, because of the weight.

He had tools that were very sharp and as he used them, it looked easy. It probably wasn't. Professionals make things look easy until you try to do it.

 

Here I am in the Governor's backyard. It was big and full of well-trimmed greenery. My favorite is the arbor. There is one on each side of the garden. A little further away is a formal maze made of trimmed hedges. Chase and I cheated in getting through the maze. We were not the only ones, since the hedges had been broken by others before our visit.

 

Decorating with weapons shows a sign of power and strength. The English Governor is trying to show this by putting the display in the entry hall of the home. There were huge numbers of weapons, swords, muskets, rifles, pistols and any other weapon one can think of that was invented in the 1700s.

 

The Bookbinder's shop was interesting. We were told of the fact that the red color comes from crushing certain beetles. You can see the book cover is being made by painting the color on the paper and using a comb-like tool to make the waves on the paper. Afterward the paper is hung to dry.

Where the trimmed pieces of paper are kept in a basket, a squirrel has made a nest and been given a name. The name has fled from my memory. ;)

 

 

The Old Coffee House is the next stop. We had a tour and mostly an explanation about the fact that women and children did not go there. The men would have added to their coffee alcoholic beverages. They would play games with gambling. We were given a sample of coffee, tea or chocolate. This chocolate was not at all sweet. I added lots of sugar. Cream was another option to add, but I didn't add it.

 

 

Our last stop was at the Wig-maker's shop. Wigs are made of human hair, goat, yak, and horsehair. Price is determined by how much hair will be used. The making of the wig starts by shaving the head of the person buying the wig. A form of wood is made to the shape of the person's head. I call it a block head!

About three hairs are tied to the main string which is attached to a net-type covering. Then the hair is styled in the selected fashion. The wigs were washed by the wig-maker when needed and re-styled. The wealthy folk were the only ones who could afford to have wigs.

 

2nd to last day!

-Kate

 

Tomorrow's edition:

Yorktown!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Willamsburg: Day 2: Coming back: To see more stuff

 

Our magical tags of Williamsburg are here. We visited places we couldn't see yesterday.

 

 

In the blacksmith shop we saw them warming up while making nails for the building of the New Market House to be finished by 2015. Our guide is a blacksmith. She has apprentised and is a full-fledged blacksmith. She decided she wanted to do this when she was in high school. There was a historical center nearby and so she could receive the training she needed. The blacksmiths are responsible to make all of the materials made from iron and steel thoughout all of Colonial Williamsburg.

 

 

As we watched the printer clamp down the paper onto the inked letters, we realized why it is called the press. "Watching your ps and ques" have to do with typesetting. He told us the "demons" were b, p, q and d. We saw the little metal piece with a tiny o on it. There were over 1800 letters on the page he was printing with the most used letter being e. The letters are kept in cases. The most used letters have larger compartments and are on the lowest level. The upper cases have the capital letters.

 

 

Next, we went to the person who makes barrels, mugs, buckets and other rounded wood products. His profession is called Cooper. There were several buckets made of different woods. Some were heavier than others. Thinking of carrying them full of water. I think plastic is my preference, because of the weight.

He had tools that were very sharp and as he used them, it looked easy. It probably wasn't. Professionals make things look easy until you try to do it.

 

Here I am in the Governo's backyard. It was big and full of well-trimmed greenery. My favorite is the arbor. There is one on each side of the garden. A little further away is a formal maze made of trimmed hedges. Chase and I cheated in getting through the maze. We were not the only ones, since the hedges had been broken by others before our visit.

 

Decorating with weapons shows a sign of power and strength. The English Governor is trying to show this by putting the display in the entry hall of the home. There were huge numbers of weapons, swords, muskets, rifles, pistols and any other weapon one can think of that was invented in the 1700s.

 

The Bookbinder's shop was interesting. We were told of the fact that the red color comes from crushing certain beetles. You can see the book cover is being made by painting the color on the paper and using a comb-like tool to make the waves on the paper. Afterward the paper is hung to dry.

Where the trimmed pieces of paper are kept in a basket, a squirrel has made a nest and been given a name. The name has fled from my memory. ;)

 

 

The Old Coffee House is the next stop. We had a tour and mostly an explanation about the fact that women and children did not go there. The men would have added to their coffee alcoholic beverages. They would play games with gambling. We were given a sample of coffee, tea or chocolate. This chocolate was not at all sweet. I added lots of sugar. Cream was another option to add, but I didn't add it.

 

 

Our last stop was at the Wig-maker's shop. Wigs are made of human hair, goat, yak, and horsehair. Price is determined by how much hair will be used. The making of the wig starts by shaving the head of the person buying the wig. A form of wood is made to the shape of the person's head. I call it a block head!

About three hairs are tied to the main string which is attached to a net-type covering. Then the hair is styled in the selected fashion. The wigs were washed by the wig-maker when needed and re-styled. The wealthy folk were the only ones who could afford to have wigs.

 

2nd to last day!

-Kate

 

Tomorrow's edition:

Yorktown!

 

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Williamsburg: Day 1

Betcha can't guess where we were today. Stop reading and think. OK, done thinking? We were in Colonial Williamsburg!

 

There were British flags everywhere to make it seem more realistic, since Williamsburg was originally a British Colony.

 

There was a re-enacment in the town square. Munitions were taken from the city munitions magazine in the middle of the night. One of the town ministers was upset that the munitions may have been stolen or improperly removed by the Governor. Tempers flared and some townsfolk listened to him while others voiced their opinion that the Governor was chosen and should be able to take the munitions from the magazine.

 

 

We watched some court issues and one of them involved my grandfather. The judge is in the red coat. He was very interesting. The judge educated Pop on dropping the complaint about the needed road repair, so the judge could make Pop the one responsible for the repair. They explained how a lawyer could "pass the bar" by passing the exams to allow them to go through the gate to where the court officials are allowed to sit.

 

 

Here I am in the Supreme Court. We went on the tour of the Capitol Building of Virginia. The shape of the building from a bird's eye view looks like a capital H. Our tour guide was most interesting. She was one who knew what would go on in the future, but also lived in the 1700s. She was enthusiastic about the information she was sharing.

 

 

When we started in the Visitor's Center, we found out about a map where if we matched 7 items to 7 places, we could earn a pin. One of the places was the Apothecary Shop. We were happy to earn the pin.

 

The went to the county jail (which is spelled, "Gaol" in the old days). There was "indoor plumbing" that is called the "Throne" because you have to go up two steps so the waste would go down into the septic tank. There was one in each cell. The outside bricks on part of the building are over 300 years old. This building was used as a county jail until the 1980s.

 

 

The final event of the day was the Fife and Drum Corps led us to the village green for a demonstration of guns and cannons used by the militia. It was loud, smoky but exciting. It was a good way to end the day. It was easy tell they have practiced a lot.

Today was fun, but tomorrow will be even more fun!

-Kate

 

 

Tomorrow's edition:

Williamsburg: Day 2

 

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Jamestown!!!!!!!!

Today we went to Jamestown!

 

First we went to the glass shop. The visitor's center wasn't open yet, so we were told to visit the glass shop. It was really interesting!

 

 

First, the glass was heated up to 2,400 degrees and turned orange because it was so hot. The natural color of glass is green. To make colored glass, you have to add other minerals. After working with the glass it takes two whole days to cool!

By the time we finished watching the glass-making, the visitor's center was open. We immediately collected our Jr. Ranger booklets. This would be our 3rd badge!

We saw lots of statues. Including the Pocohantas statue.

 

We had a very interesting tour guide! He always looked like he was enjoying himself! Him being happy made me be happy. The tour guide told us many new things.

 

At the Jamestown Festival Park, we learned about how live was back then. We visited an Indian village, went into a wigwam-type building with animal skins on the cots, and a hole in the ceiling for release of smoke and to let light into the building.

We scraped skins, helped to dig out canoes, smelled the venison soup being made by an interpreter. I used think my chores were hard until I saw this place. We played with some of the games children would have used. They all taught skills that would help them be more independent in getting food as an adult.

 

 

The Susan Constant replica is a pretty big ship. The interpreter below deck was a very passionate person about how challenging life was as they crossed the Atlantic on that type of ship. They were on the ship for 4 1/2 months with nothing to do but read, play board games, write, or throw-up depending on the weather conditions.

 

 

 

 

The Fort was very interesting with several buildings, including homes and workshops. We watched a carpenter and a metalsmith who made armor. We tried on the armor and found out how heavy it is!

 

We had a lot of fun today. I have decided that I am glad we don't live in the 1600s. It was really hard to live back then.

 

Ever so thankful for modern technology!

-Kate

 

 

Tomorrow's edition:

Williamsburg Day 1 of 2

 

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