We started the morning at Honey Butter's. Below are pictures of our delicious brunch:
biscuits with honey butter to start:
Jason's corned beef hash:
And my scrambled eggs, garlic potatoes, and rye bread.
After breakfast, we drove to Colonial Williamsburg--big surprise, I know! We walked up and down the streets a while. We popped into a market that sold soaps, pickled vegetables, candles, baskets, chocolate, and more. They also sold toys from the 18th century, games, and outfits for kids. It was really cute. Below are two pictures from the market:
Many nights in Colonial Williamsburg we have lost our way back to the visitor center. It's also very very dark with only 18th century style lighting at night, making it even harder to figure out. We always eventually find our way, but today we purposefully made a point to figure out how to get the hell out of here. We finally realized the way back was across from this market place. We should be good to get back tonight now. Almost time to leave and that's when we get the hang of this place... figures! Haha!
After looking at the market, we popped into the post office we visited a few days earlier. It's an actual post office that was there from the 18th century that now continues to be a working post office. You can have your letters mailed out from this location. Jason and I purchased two post cards a few days earlier so we could write letters to ourselves and mail them home from here. Jason also purchased a feather quill with ink, which we used to write the letters. Today we mailed them to us by dropping them in the little outgoing basket on the post office counter. She said they would go out today. Super excited!
After browsing the store, we decided to walk up and down the streets to see what we might have missed in days prior. We didn't get too far before something caught our eye-- right beside the post office was a sign that said "This way to the printing press." We showed a woman our pass and walked behind the shop, which lead us to the lower part of the building. We found this:
This is their printing press. We're pretty sure they are actually printing things here that they sell in Colonial Williamsburg. They sell little pamphlets or newspapers from the 18th century--this must be where they make them. The man in the picture below was very funny and charming. He showed us how each step worked and was really good with the kids that walked in. He also passed around the ink paddles and let us hold them. He asked the kids "What's this got on it" and one kid said "Ink!" It was pretty funny because he was referring to what it was made out of--leather.
After seeing the printing press, we went into an old shop that sold fancy china. A man behind the counter was explaining how their bookkeeping and money worked back in those days. He said they would cut a piece silver into 8ths (or 5hths... we can't remember now) to purchase things. While explaining the bookkeeping system, he asked the five of us in the room what they would do if someone purchased something on credit and never paid it back. The room was silent and then Jason said, "You'd cut 'em!" There was a pause and then the guy said, "You'd take them to court! You don't do what that gentleman just said. You don't do that. You take them to court!" We all laughed really hard. Then he looked at me and said, "And you're with him, madam! You didn't even flinch!" It was hilarious! He finished telling us about the store and then showed us where to go next. As Jason and I left he told Jason he liked him and his answer. He laughed really hard--I guess he's never gotten that one before!
After that, we walked into the apothecary building. Below are pictures:
Shortly after that, we visited the coffee shop, which had a tour you could do. We waited a few minutes in the warm heat as they set up for the tour. While waiting, a woman came up to the employee sitting near us. She asked about the tour and was being friendly, asking lots of questions. Then, she asked the wrong question-- "How long have you worked here--are you a student?" The woman was visibly offended and said, 'No, I'm not a student. This is my full-time job." We felt so bad for the other lady. She clearly hadn't meant to insult her, but she also clearly did. She just sort of walked off and avoided the coffee shop after that. Awkward.
Once the tour began, we were shown into the house seen in the picture below:
We were seated at a round table with other guests and were soon asked to decide between coffee or tea. We both picked tea and were given a small cup and saucer. As we drank, a woman dressed in the Colonial style began chit chatting with all of us. She introduced herself and began to gossip about the people in town during the Colonial time. She specifically began talking about an upcoming trial of a rich guy in town. I guess that's really what would have been discussed in a coffee shop back then. It was more of a skit than a tour, but still good. After she finished talking, we were shown two other rooms of the coffee shop and told what their functions were. Then we left. Pretty interesting.
After that, we made our way to the Governor's Palace. Apparently it was actually burned down years and years ago, but they built a replica in it's place. There were many pieces original to the palace (piano's and paintings and what have you). We started exploring the gardens and eventually were led into a room where we met our tour guide. Below are pictures of this beautiful palace and it's gardens:
This was outside, in the gardens. It's a marker for the revolutionary war cemetery that they found there. Pretty cool!
After meeting our tour guide, he showed us the inside of the palace. We started with the entry way. Quite an intimidating greeting--guns and swords lined the walls. Apparently the weapons were actually pulled down for use during the French and Indian War.
below is a sitting room to the right of the main entrance:
The china room, to the left of the main entrance:
The fireplace in the china room:
A room upstairs that was used by the Governor and his family. It showed how rich they were--the walls were lined with red fabric, which was very expensive back then. Below are pictures:
Then we went downstairs to the ballroom. It also had a heating device, which I thought was pretty neat:
The paintings in this room were of Kind George and Queen Charlotte. They were actual originals and they were massive!
We were then shown to another room right off of the ballroom. During balls, this room was used for displaying the food. Below are pictures:
We were given a few tidbits about the Governors before the end our tour, which was pretty interesting. Our guide told us about the two Governors that lived here. One was very disliked and fled for his life (although most thought he was overreacting). The other was very loved and died here. The latter was also found to have a large closet filled with copious amounts of chocolate upon his death. He also had a barrel of tongues in the kitchen, which was a rather large amount as well. Guess he likes chocolate and tongue. . . I get the chocolate part. Haha!
We were then shown back outside to the gardens, which was fine with us because it was so beautiful. We were also told there was a garden maze that we could do. We set out to find it.
The maze:
Jason in the maze:
In no time we finished the maze and made our way out of the palace. We stumbled upon this little fellow:
You may not notice it, but there is a little squirrel that is in that picture. He kept crawling through the plant and occasionally he would pop his head up out of it. It was adorable!
After saying hi to that little creature, we popped into a place for some water and a gingerbread cookie (as seen below):
We then walked across the palace green and joined the Punch and Judy show:
In all honesty, we got bored with Punch and Judy and left. It was kind of funny but not great. We expected more Punch from the play, but seeing as we are not in the Colonial time period, they probably aren't allowed to have a play that has so much domestic violence in it. . . yikes!
Below is a picture of the horse and carriage that we've seen all week. They take people on rides up and down the streets:
Soon, it was time for us to leave. We had a four O'clock reservation at Silver Hand for a honey and mead tasting. We were super excited. Below is are picture:
The tour was pretty awesome--I loved how passionate the owner is about bees, honey, and mead. He clearly loves what he does. He even showed us his bee keeping honeycomb and how to tell if it's honey, wax, or nectar. Pretty cool.
After the tour, we went back to the hotel to drop off our belongings. We rested a bit and then went to dinner. We had reservations at King's Arms at 7:15. We got back to Colonial Williamsburg a bit early, so we decided to walk to the candy shop to purchase some sweets for after dinner. We bought 2-4 pieces of each type of chocolate covered candy we wanted. These were the ones we purchased: chocolate covered berries, cherries, caramel, sea salt caramel, toffee, cognac cordial, rum cordial, caramel apple, amaretto cordial, and fall spice.
After making our purchase, we left for the Kind's Arms. We walked through a sea of small kids. The streets were filled with kids (pre-teens) wearing glow in the dark hats. They were all on a ghost tour. Probably 50 kids running around. Jason said he overheard a mother walking near us say, "Ugh these kids..." to her son. He replied, "So immature." They laughed together. It was pretty great. Soon we reached our destination. We were actually 15 minute early but they didn't mind. Below is a picture of the restaurant:
The entire room was lit only by candlelight. We were, again, given a table cloth for a napkin. We just put it in our lap this time, however. Our waiter greeted us and took our orders. I let him know early on that we had a ghost tour shortly after dinner and were wondering if we could get the check when the food came so we wouldn't be late. He thanked me for letting him know and said he would. Below are pictures of our food:
Jason:
Our peanut soup with sippits (sippits were used to soak up the soup, as they did not have easy access to spoons):
Our condiments: pickled watermelon rind, pickled red peppers, and pickled corn. The watermelon rind was amazing!!
Our half Cornish hen, wild rice, and veggies:
Our chocolate ice cream:
During dinner, Jason kept making funny faces at me. I tried to catch them on camera but he's quicker than my phone. I only go this picture... his other faces were hilarious!
After dinner, we walked down to the meeting spot for our ghost tour! It was perfect! We were exactly 5 minutes early. We met a woman wearing a red cloak and holding a candlelit lantern. She introduced herself to us, told us to throw away any gum and food, and to turn off our phones entirely. I almost just silenced mine, but I realized amber alerts still go off, so I shut it down, too. Glad I did--I actually had an amber alert during the tour! How terrifying would that have been to have it go off in the middle of it.
Our first stop was at the store we visited earlier in the day--the one where Jason said "You'd cut 'em" if they didn't pay you back. They led us into the second room we visited. There were only a small number of seats available, so they did the seating the colonial way--women sit and men stand. I didn't want to leave Jason, so I waited to be the last woman in so I could hopefully stand with him. Unfortunately, there was another girl who didn't want to leave her partner either. She actually looked frightened, so I went in first. Unfortunately, there was just one seat left and I had to take it. It just so happened to be the seat front and center--figures! I sat directly in front of a woman wearing a colonial gown. It happened to be the same woman from the coffee shop we visited earlier, too! She was going to do a monologue about a real life person and what happened to her.
Basically, the girl fell in love in England with a guy who said he would follow her to the Colonies to be married. The father found out and was pissed. He sent the guy away and he was never allowed to see her again. The daughter fell into a deep depression and refused to eat. They thought she was dead after a while (she wasn't eating, looked sick, and stopped moving). So they buried her. Unfortunately, they buried her alive. Grave robbers came to collect her jewelry one night. They couldn't get her rings off, so they cut her finger with a hunting knife. That's when she jumped up,because she was still alive. They ran off. She then walked to her father's house and scratched on the door but he didn't let her in. She died outside the door in a blizzard.
The actress got one good jump out of all of us. It was a very quiet room with only light from a candle. At one point she got quiet and then she slammed her food down on the wood flooring, making a really startling sound. It got me, that's for sure. The whole room jumped. She also had no regard for personal space. She would get right in your face, just a foot away and would star right at you. Again, figures I would be in the front row! It was pretty good. Our tour guide said this is a real story from a family that lives in Gloucester, VA. The girl's name was Elizabeth Throckmorton. She apparently has a friend who lives in the house where this story was said to occur. They say they still feel weird spirits right before snow in the winter.... ooooooo!
After that story, they led us to the Governor's palace. We went into the same room where we met our tour guide earlier in the day. This time we met an actor with a great Scottish accent. He gave us the option to hear three stories. We picked the french one. He then told us about a guy who got lost in a blizzard in France and was going to die in the snow on new years eve. Luckily, he found a cottage and knocked on the door. A man let him in and allowed him to stay warm and sit by the fire. He noticed the man was very hot and had eyes of coal. He asked how he didn't know him or his cottage, since he's lived there his whole life and knows everyone. The man said he used to live here a long time ago. Apparently, long ago on another new years eve, he sat in his cottage and ignored a knock on his door that night. Said he was really rich and was worried it was just a thief who wanted his money. The next morning after that blizzard settled, he found a man dead outside the door... he just needed shelter. The rich owner eventually died himself and landed himself in purgatory. Because the rich man let this guy into his cottage, he can die in peace finally. The rich man turned to ashes after completing his story. The the next thing our traveler knows, he's back at home in his slay safe and sound. He was also covered up with the animal skins that were on the bed of the rich man's cottage. Moral of the story, open your door to people so you don't go to hell or purgatory.
After this story we moved to another part of the palace and met another actress. She told us a story of Sawney Bean and his family. Apparently they were cannibals in Scotland. They would hide in the woods and kill travelers and eat them. One day they killed one traveler but couldn't kill her companion. He told the king and everyone what happened. They then went looking for Sawney Bean and his whole family and found the cave where they kept the meat from the people they killed. They then arrested him, his wife, his kids, and his grand kids--all of whom were murderous cannibals. Our story teller said her mother liked to frighten her sometimes. She would said, "What if they didn't catch all of Sawney Beans grand kids. What if one of them was hiding in that pile of laundry and they got away. What.... if.... what.... if..." She kept saying that as she inched closer and closer to one woman in the audience. It got really quiet and Jason and I were having a hard time not laughing. She was staring right at this woman and got inches from her face just saying, "What... if..." Suddenly, she jumped toward her with a growl. The woman yelled, "Jesus!!" and her husband actually punched the woman in her chest. She walked back to the front and said, "he actually struck me!" The whole room busted out laughing. Eventually she turned the mood back to serious and then indicated that her mother couldn't say anything anymore. She then pulled out some jerky from her pocket and warned us all to leave now and not stay for dinner. It was really great! As we were leaving, we saw the guy who punched her apologize. He wanted to make sure she was okay. It was hilarious!
Jason and I then walked back to the visitor center laughing the whole time. We were surprised to find the visitor center was closed. We slightly panicked, wondering how we were going to get to our car. Jason found some stairs though and we made it back no problems. We then returned to the hotel and ate our candy:
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