The Pilgrims of Plimoth Plantation led simple lives. Their main interest was staying alive.
But there’s another living museum. It’s about 600 miles and more than 100 years away from Plimoth. Here visitors can see a later, more comfortable Colonial America.
This is Colonial Williamsburg. It was once the capital of Virginia. It was also the largest colony in America. In Colonial Williamsburg, rich women in stylish clothes and gentlemen in powdered wigs took tea in the late afternoon. They also went to fancy dances at night. Meanwhile, slaves did the work that made this easy life possible.
Colonial Williamsburg was built in the early 1700s. This was after a fire had destroyed the first capital of Virginia, Jamestown. By the mid-1700s, Williamsburg was the new capital. But when war broke out between Britain and her colonies, Virginia’s capital was again moved. This time it went to Richmond.
For the next 147 years, Williamsburg was just another small town. But early in the twentieth century, Reverend William Goodwin had an idea. He wanted to bring Williamsburg back to its colonial glory. In 1926 he got money from millionaire John D. Rockefeller Jr. In the following years, 720 modern buildings were knocked down. Eighty-eight original colonial buildings were restored. More than 400 houses and stores were rebuilt. By 1934 the restored town was ready for visitors. If you go there now, you’ll see what life was like in Colonial Williamsburg.
