Colonial Williamsburg

Governor's Palace at Williamsburg
To complete my colonial weekend in Virginia, I moved eastward to the colonial capital of Williamsburg (and the historical village that has been set up to re-enacted the 1770s.) Although a little expensive ($42), Colonial Williamsburg provided a full-day of entertainment (though there was a bit too much walking in the hot Virginia sun...)

Colonial Garden
Williamsburg proved to be a good mixture of colonial capital, average town, and multitude of actors. The larger structures (the Governor's Palace and the Colonial Capitol) were the main tourist stops, I actually found the smaller shops with the typical workers far more interesting.

Woman weaving cloth in a traditional manner
The smaller shops included silversmiths, cobblers, weavers, basket-makers, a wig-maker, and many more. At each shop, the actor was working his or her craft while explaining the process and history behind it. Of all the shops, I found the weaver's shop to be the most interesting (though that was perhaps because I had the most knowledge about yarn and the dying process.) I would have purchased some of their hand-spun and hand-dyed yarn, but it was $25/skein!

Benedict Arnold in front of the Capitol Building
In addition to all the wonderful buildings and shopkeepers, there were also a number of historic re-enactments throughout the day. Some were more interesting than the others; however, the highlight was an afternoon production that involved the British storming the capital and placing Benedict Arnold in charge of the city. It was interesting - though Benedict Arnold proved very difficult to photograph since he was overly dramatic in his role. However, it made a good ending to a day in the 1700s.

Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex

Poe House (built 1897)

I was rather excited this weekend when I read in the paper that the Museum of the Cape Fear was hosting an exhibit on the 1898 Wilmington Race Riots (I had just finished reading a children's book about this event, so I was excited to learn more.) However, since this was my first visit to the museum, I decided to explore all the museum complex had to offer.

I began my excursion with a 45-minute tour of the Poe House, the home of a well-to-do merchant from the late 19th century. Built in 1898, the house was filled with the family's original furniture and supplies from that time period. It was very interesting seeing how difficult life was during that time period (especially the original coal stove!)

Foundation stones from the Fayetteville Arsenal

After seeing the Poe House, I enjoyed a nice walk across the complex to the a park, which was originally a Arsenal for the US government. Sadly, the entire arsenal was destroyed by the Union army during the Civil War; today, there are merely foundation stones and a reconstructed "ghost" tower that recreates one of the original four look-out towers.

Reconstructed "tower" from the Arsenal

After touring the Poe House and Arsenal Park, I entered the actual museum building. The museum space itself was nothing all that impressive - pretty much just a small local history museum. Sadly, the Wilmington Race Riot exhibit which originally drew me to the museum ended up being the low-point of the museum. The exhibit was little more than a short documentary and a few photographs of the integrated state legislature of the time. (Perhaps this speaks more highly of the book I'd read, but I learned nothing new about the event from this exhibit.)

Museum of History

North Carolina History Exhibit

Early this afternoon, I made the hour-long drive north to Raleigh so that i could visit the North Carolina Museum of History. Located in the heart of the capital city, the museum's main exhibit (and entire first floor) is dedicated to the state's history. I was actually surprised at how many historic items could be found so close to home; the museum's collection had a large number of items from the state's colonial days.

After viewing the main exhibit, I continued upstairs to the traveling exhibits, which change every few months. The current attraction is a collection of memorabilia from the movie Gone with the Wind. This extremely popular exhibit included costumes, the original score, Academy Awards, and much more. It was a nice display, though I was a little disappointed by the display of the costumes (you would think they could have gotten real mannequins; fortunately, the interesting screen tests (from a variety of Hollywood stars) made it worth the trip.

Besides the Gone with the Wind exhibit, there were also small exhibits on the Girl Scouts and North Carolina's military history (though I wasn't really interested in either of those exhibits.) After my time at the Museum of History, I considered visiting the Museum of Natural Science - but decided to return home early instead. Still, it was enjoyable first trip to Raleigh.

Vivien Leigh's dress from Gone with the Wind