Colonial Williamsburg in the Commonwealth of Virginia is the crown jewel of America’s Historic Triangle which includes Jamestown and Yorktown. The College of William and Mary anchors the western approach to the old city’s main thoroughfare. While Cooper and I amble down the storied streets and sidewalks, sleepy late spring moods and modicum of tourists belie the hustle and bustle of summer throngs in days to come. Sights and sounds conjure days of old and lead to rumination about American Colonial and Revolution days.
Rhetoric of revolution still echoes in whispers of spring breeze under the refreshing shade of tree-lined streets. I pause my stroll at a pasture tucked between trees and a weatherworn split rail enclosure. The indomitable spirit and passion for liberty of our forbears lingers in the play of sunlight across the meadow of wildflowers.
Unexpectedly a yoke of oxen hitched to a creaky cart and urged forward by commands of a bullwhacker interrupts the serenity. The telltale tread of cloven hooves on Duke of Gloucester Street stirs musings of olden days when American Milking Devons are valued for meat, milk and as easily trained draft animals. Nearly extinct in the 1970s this triple purpose cattle breed first appears in New World annals from the Plymouth Colony in 1623. Capable of pulling several tons of supplies when hitched to wagons or ox carts, they are the tractors and trucks of days gone by. They disappear down a tree-draped expanse of lawn dubbed Palace Green towards the prominent governor’s residence.
Near the Governor's Palace a horse drawn carriage, clippety-clop of hooves on cobblestones and actors in colonial period garb fill mind’s eye with romance of yesteryears. In 1781 while the Battle of Yorktown rages, fire lays waste the erstwhile residence for Royal Governors in the Colony of Virginia while in use as a hospital for wounded soldiers. Reconstruction minds surviving plans, drawings and a 1740 copperplate rendering of the the exterior.
I leave the ancient byway exhilarated by its beauty, yet pensive. Colonial Williamsburg has grown my understanding of a remote time and inspires reflection about our roots and ideals as a People—Americans.
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| Spring Reverie |
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| Days Of Yore |
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| Bullwhacker |
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| Palace Green |
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| Cottage Garden |
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| Romance Of Yesteryear (Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia USA) |
