caracolina

It was still raining as we got up. Since our Days Inn was situated right next to a Waffle House we mosied right over for a breakfast of pork chops, waffles, and hash browns. The itinerary didn’t give any detailed instructions for the drive to Richmond, so we decided to avoid the freeway and stay on country roads, and good thing we did because a few miles south we saw signs to the “Stonewall Jackson Shrine” and decided to follow them. A five-mile detour later we stood in front of the house with the very bed in which this famous confederate commander died from pneumonia after being wounded by friendly fire. Who knew! I have been vaguely interested in the civil war for years, but knowing it is such a deep subject, haven’t given it much more attention than watching the PBS documentary.

It kept raining all throughout the day but that didn’t bother us. We kept meandering through small town after small town in the direction of Richmond, briefly stopping to take a look at the historic courthouse of Hanover (my mother used to live in Hannover, Germany, for years so this was an amusing coincidence). Shortly thereafter we joined the freeway to bypass Richmond and found our road to the James River Plantations. The itinerary suggested checking a couple of them out. After visiting plantation homes in Louisiana we’re kind of spoiled, though, and it seemed that the price that was asked for visting only the grounds in one case, or only part of the house in another was just too high, so we skipped them and drove on to Jamestowne, the National Historic Site (not Jamestowne Settlement which is a living history park).

It was still raining and got rather cold, making for an atmosphere suitably miserable for imagining the plight of the early settlers. The museum with the artifacts found in the digs was particularly interesting and we spent a lot of time there. From Jamestowne we drove on to Williamsburg where we had dinner reservations at the King’s Arms. Basically, this is fine dining, period style. There were only candles to supplement the fading daylight and the servers tie huge napkins around the patron’s necks. We tried soup, entrees and desserts and it was all good, but the peanut soup and the pickles that were served between courses were my favorites. After dinner we headed to one of the stores down the street which was the meeting point for our lanthorn (=lantern) tour.

Joy, our guide in period clothing, led us through several of the town shops illuminated only by several candle lanterns and told us about the artisans working at the shop, how things were done in the old days, explained different techniques and had the group marveling with her at the craftmanship displayed. It was great. After the tour we drove to our hotel to throw the bags into our room, then returned to the old capitol to attend a harpsichord concert which was held in a pitch dark room lit only by candles, which we also greatly enjoyed.