Colonial Williamsburg, Part 2

Hello dear friends!  I'm sorry I have lost touch; I really didn't mean to take such a long break from blogging.  I've been working on some things here around the house, and sometimes I just have to focus on one thing at a time.      I hope you're all doing well and having a good summer.  Today I want to share with you some more about our trip to Williamsburg back in April.    We really enjoyed strolling around the historic area every day, and we also had some good meals while we were there.  I will warn you, though, if you're thinking of visiting Williamsburg and you haven't been before, be prepared for the prices.  We didn't have to pay for our lodging, but souvenirs and food were quite pricey.  I thought our lunch the first day was very expensive for what it was -- two, pre-made, deli sandwiches from the refrigerated compartment in the Raleigh Bakery.  I found out why the price seemed so high a few days later.  We were in the DeWitt Wallace Museum, and we went down to the cafe in the museum to get something to drink.  The lady in front of us was questioning her total at the register, and the cashier told her that there was a 14 percent sales tax on the food.  Yikes!!  I almost choked on my colonial, King's Arms ginger ale.  😲  The cashier said the sales tax differed from city to city in Virginia.  Hal and I decided that Williamsburg is imposing a soak-the-tourists tax.  😏  I mean no offense to those of you who live in Virginia; we love to visit Virginia, but had no idea the sales tax was so high in certain areas.  It won't stop us from visiting again, though.     Would you care to see some of the shops in colonial Williamsburg?         

   I have to tell you that I get such a kick out of old documents (and signs) where they've used an "f" instead of an "s".       

   If you look closely, you can see the jeweller sign reads, "Engraving, Watch-Making, Done in the beft manner."  😁  So of course, me being me, I had to have a little fun with this.  For example, a dinner menu might read:  "Roaft beef and faufages, prepared in the beft manner."  As you can see, I'm easily entertained.  😏  Actually, I Googled why an "f" was used in place of an "s" and I learned that what looks like an "f" to us was really a long, medial, or descending "s" --  an archaic form of the lower case letter "s".  You can read more about this here.    

  

   

   Just a few pictures inside the jeweller's shop.     

   Then there was this cute shop --    

       

  

   I loved the Colonial bonnets with the long ribbons.   

  

The cobbler's shop is charming.

      

    

     

  

  

We visited the millinery shop to find out about the clothing of the day.  We were told about the cloth and fabrics used for clothing, how ladies wore their dresses and coats, and about how much these articles of clothing would have cost.  I thought the green and red bonnet above was interesting -- quite fancy.

  

  

    

   

  I was fascinated by the apothecary shop.

    

    

  

Just look at all these gorgeous Delft containers they used for herbal distillations (the medicines of the time period).  Williamsburg is the place to see if you love blue and white porcelain as much as I do.

  

    

 Notice the containers on the second shelf have spouts for pouring. 

      

  

The room behind the shop was the apothecary's office.

  

  

  

Love the colonial tricorn.

  

   

  

I'll finish this post by sharing some of the wonderful signs used on the shops, taverns, and other establishments.  These are so clever; I kind of wish we still used signs like this today.

  

  

    

 This is the Raleigh Tavern.  Hal and I enjoyed seeing this because our capitol city in North Carolina is named for Sir Walter Raleigh. 

    

The Raleigh Tavern no longer operates as a tavern, but is currently housing an exhibit on slavery in Williamsburg during colonial times.

  

 M. Dubois Grocer

  

Poft Office and Printing Office

  

  

The Red Lion sign and the M. Dubois Grocer sign were both made of metal. 

  

Chownings Tavern -- pronounced "Chew-nings".  

John(?) Greenhow

The shop above is where Hal and I got our souvenirs from Williamsburg.  I'll share those with you soon.

  

       

         

         

This sign didn't have a name on it, so I wondered if it stands for the White Hart and Pear, or maybe the Stag and Pear Tree.  I'll have to ask about it when we visit again.

That's it for today, folks.  I hope you enjoyed your visit, and thanks so much for stopping by.  Tomorrow, I'll be showing some pictures from our master bedroom; this is my latest work in progress.  I've already written the post, just waiting to publish it tomorrow morning.

      

       

Thanks so much to all of you who read House at Forest Manor; I apologize for posting so sporadically these days.  I'm glad you stopped by, and have a wonderful weekend!