A friend and I recently decided to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to one of my favorite places in the world: Colonial Williamsburg. It was clearly a very popular idea; CW was about as crowded as I’ve ever seen it. So we honed a few hacks for dodging the crowds and getting the most out of… Read More How to Beat the Crowds at Colonial Williamsburg
“I’m glad we’re in the Jeep,” I told my travel companion as we drove up a long narrow gravel road lined with green trees in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. I joked that maybe there was no opposing traffic because no one ever emerged from the slightly spooky area alive. We reached a narrow wooden bridge. “I… Read More Wines and Walks in Shenandoah
Patrick Henry stood in front of Virginia’s capitol building and read aloud the Declaration of Independence, reminding the gathered crowd of the litany of abuses committed by George III as catalogued by fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson: … He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by… Read More Two Days in Williamsburg (and a Night in Jamestown)
Say “Fredericksburg” and most people think of Civil War history. That’s understandable. The Virginia town was home to one of that conflict’s bloody battles. And the Confederates’ victory probably lengthened the War. But first settled in 1607, Fredericksburg’s history goes far further back. After the Battle of Yorktown, George Washington held a “great reception” at his brother Charles’… Read More Fredericksburg: From Revolution to Civil War