Jamestowne

Today, it was to be Jamestowne and Yorktown, but that would be biting off more than we could do. So we spent most of the day exploring Jamestown Settlement - a rich recreation of an English fort, a Native American village, and the ships used to sail to the new world. We then explored the National Historic Park site at Historic Jamestowne. This is the suspected site of the actual fort and settler's buildings as well as the early capital of the Virginia Colony. We had a long discussion with one of the Archeologists charged with uncovering the old site. It has proven very difficult since part of the site was destroyed during construction of Confederate civil war battlements.

One of the small ships that frequented early Jamestowne Colony.


Scenes from within the reconstruction fort. This reconstruction simulates life around the time period of early Jamestowne.

This is the suspected location of the actual first fort, based on extensive archeological investigations. The process is long and arduous and fraught with dead ends. First the Confederate soldiers stripped the site to provide fill for battlements. This destroyed the integrity of any artifacts. Then there was an old church built nearby and many bodies are buried here. Are they settlers, or later period bodies? Through this long process, enough information will emerge to perhaps be able to reconstruct much of the actual first settlement. Not all - for river erosion has removed a lot of the site, but certainly parts of it.

More Patrick Henry Square

As I promised, here are some views I've never seen before of Patrick Henry Square. As I mentioned before, the new facility where owners stay, is also a Bluegreen preview center.

This is the view shown in the binder images because it is the main access to the new facility. The rooms with the nicest views (as well as the quietest rooms) are on this side of the building.

In this image you can see the over-all view with the entrance to the preview center (on the right). This whole complex is across the parking lot from the older Patrick Henry Inn, where Bluegreen houses visitors who are coming for a preview visit as well as off-the-street guests (like a motel.) I suppose anyone could stay in the older section if you really wanted, but why?


One does not really want to stay on the back side of the Patrick Henry Square. The view from backside rooms is of the parking lot and this fence. On the other side of the fence is a set of train tracks where long trains hauling coal go through every so often.

The tracks are less than 100 feet behind the fence and the train is loud - like a helicopter landing in the parking lot. So when reserving units, ask for the street side, which is very quiet.

Today it was Yankee Candle Company

The Yankee Candle Company in Williamsburg is one of 2 "flagship stores". As such, it is like a small village inside, with each department presented as if it were a separate store around a village green. We have been planning for over a year to visit this store, so the shopping list was long! Even so, we found more stuff to purchase than we had planned. With the Bluegreen cash card from the owner update, and with a second card from a previous excursion, we reduced the bill quite a bit. Following are some of the images from this excursion -




And then just to remind everyone that we are on the short side of the half-way mark on our way to Christmas....

We're Pooped!

Not a great image, but this shows the whole palace promenade. Today we walked from the visitor center to the north end of the palace grounds, around the gardens and through the palace. That's an amazing testimony to opulence and waste.

Above are some of the Governor's guns and cutlery collections. No such thing as gun control back then!

The volunteers use real food products to cook various items which are left on display for days. Just imagine - no refrigeration for raw materials or finished products. My guess is there was lots of sick folks over the years.

The palace gardens are awsum. There are beautiful walkways, English formal flower and herb gardens, boxwood hedges and topiary, water features, etc.

After touring the Palace, we took the shuttle back to the van and we did lunch and rested up. In the afternoon we went back to the Market Square area and walked some more. All in all, the many miles walking, and the intense heat (over 100 degrees F. on the thermometer today!) really did us in. Tomorrow we're looking for a less intense day.

Views around Patrick Henry Inn

The Patrick Henry Square Resort is actually two adjacent properties. The Check-in, pool, breakfast dining area, etc. are all in the older Patrick Henry Inn. Owners stay in the newer Patrick Henry Square across the parking lot. The preview center for prospective owners is located in the newer building as well. Following are some images I made this morning around the Inn building.

The pool is on the back parking lot side of the older building. It's small, but similar to pools at many other Bluegreen properties.


There is an advertised "play area" for the children. Here it is


The barbeque areas are very small and are actually tucked into a couple "bump outs" of the back parking lot. They appear as if they were after thoughts and the grills are not well maintained - at least I wouldn't use them. This is one of the designated smoking areas.




In the next entry, I'll do a walk around for the Owner building - Patrick Henry Square.

Williamsburg

The Williamsburg visitor's center is the starting point for exploring the old city. This is where you get your passes (we purchased annual passes as we plan to spend several days exploring.



After a day exploring, driving around, shopping, etc. We went for dinner at Seasons in Market Square.


Horseradish pork and crab cakes.

Posted from my iPhone 4

Duke of Gloucester Street

This is a neat twentieth century add-on development just west of the old town.



- Posted from my iPhone 4