Williamsburg

[ScoutTN]

With an 8 year old and 10 year old. How many days should we plan to stay? What were your family's favorite parts? I haven't been there since I was a kid....a long time ago!

[rwjx2khsmj]

We spent a day in Williamsburg, a day in Jamestown, and a day in Yorktown. If you go to group sales at Williamsburg there is a homeschool discount.

[momto10blessings]

If your kids are into the military, make sure you check out the free Army Transportation museum in Fort Eustis.

 

Colonial Williamsburg has homeschool week twice a year, I believe. Super cheap.

[happypamama]

At least two days for Williamsburg itself, plus another day for Jamestown and one for Yorktown, if you can. My family's favorite parts of Williamsburg: the courthouse, the gaol, eighty gazillion trips to the milliner's shop (okay, that was for my DD), taking a carriage ride, touring the governor's mansion, a meal at the King's Arms Tavern (pricey, but delicious), the evening dance program at the courthouse (I stayed with the boy; DD and DH attended that), Great Hopes plantation, and I can't even remember what all else. Oh, the Rockefeller museum and house are both pretty cool. Two days will give you a better shot at touring everything that you want to see, since some things are only open in the morning or afternoon, or are closed certain days.

 

If you can, look into letting the kids dress up -- mine got a ton of compliments. (And my crowning achievement as a parent still remains that I created drop-front breeches with no pattern for my then-four-year-old son, because his sister, then seven, researched a ton and insisted that both of them be authentically dressed.)

 

We did not go to the Yorktown Battlefield, but the other Yorktown stuff was cool. We liked the Jamestowne ruins, as well as the other Jamestown site, which has HUGE galleries of stuff to see, a recreation of the town, ships, and a Powhatan village.

[Ellie]

You must also have one meal at the Old Chickahominy House. It only serves breakfast and lunch; I prefer breakfast. :-)

 

Also, totally unrelated to things Colonial is the Yankee Candle flagship store. :001_wub:

[QueenCat]

Eat at the Kings Arms Tavern! Actors dressed in period clothing will sit and talk to you while you eat......... and the food is really good.

[Farrar]

I would say two days to really do Williamsburg (definitely do the big Revolutionary War puzzle game thing - it's so fun - we've done it twice now), a day for Yorktown and a day for Jamestown.

 

The homeschool days are worth planning for.  There's a nice "we're all homeschoolers" vibe everywhere and the discounts are significant, plus there are classes you can sign up for.

 

We have stayed at Great Wolf, which also does good discounts for homeschoolers during homeschool days.  I feel like that makes the perfect combo for a trip - complete blow off at the indoor water park and educational stuff in the town.

[Laurie4b]

You must also have one meal at the Old Chickahominy House. It only serves breakfast and lunch; I prefer breakfast. :-)

 

 

 

I second Old Chickhominy House. We only went for lunch so I'll let Ellie speak to breakfast. There are no prices on the online menu, but don't let that scare you. It is very, very reasonable. You'll have a delicious meal served in a colonial era home. Homemade pie every day! It's located either right on the road between Jamestown and Williamsburg or not very far off that route (or at least the route we took).

[Laurie4b]

If the price of a meal at one of the historic Jamestown restaurants is beyond your budget, you can still buy gingerbread at one of the historic stores. Sorry I don't recall which one, but my recollection is that it is near the bottom of the hill. My kids liked the re-enactments (you can get a schedule of when these happened) but not so much the lectures offered by people in character such as George Washington.

 

The Cheese Shop is just outside of the historic boundaries in Merchant's Square, up towards William and Mary. You can get an excellent lunch there (sandwich variety) and it's reasonable.

 

The replicas of the ships, etc. at Jamestown were very cool to visit and the kids liked those. We skipped Yorktown (didn't have time).

 

If you need a great place to stay, check out vrbo and see if there are townhouses available at the Powhatan Resort. For roughly the price of a hotel, you'll get a full home: kitchen, living/dining area, two bathrooms, two bedrooms, and hot tub. We loved the space to relax after a long day of sight-seeing and liked the ability to prepare homecooked meals and save the $$ of dining out every meal. There are very nice pools on site as well. They will ask you to attend a sales pitch. We just said no and they didn't push it.  It's about a 10 min drive into Williamsburg and no hassle at all getting parking right in the historic area. We went during homeschool days one September.

[ThisIsTheDay]

I wouldn't do all three during one trip. We haven't been to Yorktown, but my kids greatly preferred Jamestown to Williamsburg.  None of us would have wanted a second day at Williamsburg. I was expecting so much more, and it was a huge letdown. 

 

If possible, I would add in a visit to the Mariner's Museum, 30 mins. away in Newport News.  That was the biggest surprise museum, the best we've ever visited (including several Smithsonians).

[bettyandbob]

Part of this depends on your kids. I have one kid who could spend hours discussing various topics with every single docent in the historic area. I'd plan 2 relaxed days in the historic area. Look at the calendar, check out all the various street gatherings, see if your dc want to join the militia. Lots of little reenactment activities all over. You can do Jamestown settlement and Yorktown Victory center in one day with lunch between. If you want to visit the National park sites that will take a little longer. 

 

I'd plan a minimum of 3 days for the historic sites. 

[Chris in VA]

There are two Jamestown areas--one is the actual site, and it has an active archeological dig, as well as a fairly new museum. I would go there, and just skip the other Jamestown because it's too much like Williamsburg.

 

We liked the place in Williamsburg where they give you hot chocolate! A tavern, maybe?

 

And you could stay in the cottage at Peace Hill Farm and be close--here's a link--maybe you could meet SWB! lol

[Ali in OR]

We came from across the country, so we stayed for awhile. There is a one-week Historic Triangle pass that is good for Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. We did multiple days at Williamsburg and found one day each to be plenty for Yorktown and Jamestown. Loved both the re-creation and the archeological dig at Jamestown. We really liked being able to "come and go" at Williamsburg which we could do with our passes. We did many visits of several hours each instead of trying to do everything in a day. I think it took us a day or two just to realize how much was there and what was worth seeing. The brochure guide that they give you is important--read through everything going on and do go to some of the re-enactments.

 

In our week we also did a quick day-trip to D.C. (not enough time but better than nothing--we mostly did the mall) and another day touring civil war battle sites--Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania I think. That was a great day. But we're all history buffs here.

[SebastianCat]

We were in D.C. last October when the government shut down and were planning to go to Williamsburg from there, so we extended our Williamsburg stay and ended up being there 1/2 day, then a full day, then 1/2 day the following day (a total of two full days broken up).   I'd definitely recommend two days in Williamsburg, and try to make one of those on a weekend because certain things (like the military camp, which was fun) are only open on weekends.

 

We loved the King's Arm Tavern and all of the stores.  The shopkeepers loved talking to the kids about the different things for sale.   My kids were 11 (DS) and 9 (DD) and they liked different things, but both loved it.   It was a fabulous vacation (even though our plans changed because of the government shutdown).   We stayed at the Williamsburg Woodlands hotel, which was very reasonably priced, included free breakfast, and free shuttle bus to the city.

 

I'll give you a helpful hint - DD had a Colonial dress from a costume company that I had bought her the year prior.  It probably cost no more than $20.   She wore it, and brought her American Girl doll with her one day, wearing a matching dress.   She had the BEST time walking around the city looking "colonial" and buying the costume cost a fraction of what you would pay to rent costumes through the Williamsburg visitor center.   If your DD is like mine, definitely buy something ahead of time.

[happypamama]

Powhatan is a nice resort. We have stayed there a couple of times and have been very pleased. Really nice to have the kitchen and laundry facilities. The pool is very nice too.

 

The Christiana Campbell tavern (if I have the name right) was good for lunch. Oh, and if you go to Jamestown (the ruins, I think), go down the little road to see the glassblowers -- they were really cool!