November 2. Needing a much needed break from reality, we drove to Williamsburg to immerse ourselves in Colonial days. We stayed at the Williamsburg Lodge, which is within the historic area so we could walk everywhere. The place struck me as a bit stuffy. It all seemed so very fox hunt and country clubish.
Matt kept obsessing about a beer called Old Stitch that they serve at Chownings Tavern. So on the first night, we ate there. We had a bit of Welsh Rarebit, with the most awesome cheddar cheese and pickled water melon rind with our fried chicken. What a pairing! And we had the Old Stitch. Now I know why he was obsessing. Even though it was dark, this has to have been the most drinkable, refreshing beer I have ever tasted. Oh, Old Stitch how we love you. Alas, there was no way to buy it to take home. We tried. We searched, we asked. You can only drink it on tap at Chownings. Honestly, it is worth the trip.
November 3. The next day we immersed ourselves in the Colony of Williamsburg. First, we went to see Thomas Jefferson, the Republican. The audience wanted an answer--was not Jefferson against Federalism? Did he not want to stick with the Articles of Confederation, which had stronger states rights? Yes. And so everyone in the audience got the clarification.
I will explain it here and now so listen up. Sorry but Federalism does NOT mean states rights. In fact, it is just the contrary. Federalism, as championed by Alexander Hamilton, Adams, John Jay, Washington and others means a strong central government with weaker states. The experiment in strong states rights was the Articles of Confederation and that did not work. On some weird Orwellian twist the "Federalist" Society, that group of conservatives who favor states rights, adopted that name in honor of James Madison. Madison was a staunch Federalist who drafted the Constitution. But by the time he became President he had been turned by Jefferson into a devout Republican. Let us also be clear as to what we mean here because this gets confused too. Over time the parties swapped names and core beliefs. The Democrats used to be the state's rights group--Andrew Jackson was the typical Democrat; Southern by birth and a believer in small government not interfering with the State's rights to most notably have slaves. Abraham Lincoln, the father of the Republican Party was a strong federalist who believed that only a strong central government could keep the country together. He believed in national investment in infrastructure and a strong central bank. That is a completely Hamiltonian view. Democrats were the party of the South until this century when President Johnson began advocating for civil rights. All of those Dixiecrats ran to the Republican Party, took it over, and here we are.
But I digress. Upon repeated questioning Jefferson agreed with all that I outlined above. Federalism is a strong central government, a national bank, a core control of commerce and land out West.
Once we got that problem solved, we headed to the coffee shop for sustenance until we could participate in the living theater that is The Revolution, a play. Reenactors give us scenes of what led to the Revolution as it occurred in Williamsburg. The stamp tax, lack of representation, and ultimately, the failure of the British to listen to the colonies. Matt refused to be drafted into the Colonial army.
The Tax Collector was nearly tarred and feathered in vigilante justice (here is the hanging post) but cooler heads prevailed.
The finale was the reading of the Declaration and the firing of muskets and cannons. I love a good cannon firing.
That evening we ate at the Williamsburg Inn. If the Williamsburg Lodge was stuffy, this was a time warp back to the 50's. The place was virtually empty. It was us and three older couples. Waiters in tuxedos stiffly bowed to us as we were seated. We whispered to each other because if we spoke in a normal voice, everyone was going to hear us. We are loud people and I have a big laugh, which I had to suppress. An elderly gentleman entertained us on the piano and by that I mean he helped us to not fall asleep from boredom. We were getting close to slumping over our plates, so I went up and asked him to play My Blue Heaven. Well, that got the place jumping. A couple from another table took to the deserted dance floor for a swing dance and we joined them because well, there was no other option. And then the party was over. The music slowed back down and we all got bored again. The food was good, not great. But it made us realize how used we have become to fine restaurants that have a lighter party atmosphere. A place where the food is excellent but you don't feel like you have starch in your shorts. That was not the Williamsburg Inn.
The Wigmaker. Today we spent our time focusing on the tours of the buildings. By far the wig maker was our favorite stop although the gaol was not far behind. Actually, it was all good. The re-enactors were really very good and knew their stuff. We learned a lot. Ladies, I am not sure if you knew this but the rich women shaved their heads and wore wigs. I always knew they wore wigs but I had no idea they had bald heads underneath them Only the poorer women had hair. The wigs were fashioned from the virgin hair of Northern Europeans. Young girls grew their hair, tending to it carefully and then at the right age, they sold it to a trader for gold jewelry or something useful. (that is a block head)
At the gaol we learned all about the lack of police in America. There were no police until the 1850s. Until then the local people took care of justice. There was one jail and if you committed a serious crime you were transported to the court and held in the jail until the trial. There was no option for prison. Punishment was meted out, death or leniency and that was it.
We went to the tavern and had some chocolate and talked about trade with the locals. It was an extremely brisk and windy day so it was appreciated. That evening we did the ghost tour, hearing stories about modern ghosts that are said to haunt the buildings. Dinner was at the Blue Talon, a French bistro in Williamsburg proper, next to William & Mary. We shared salt cod dip with truffle oil and frogs legs. I had pigs feet that were to die for. Roasted and then mixed with a sauce, it was like a very rich barbecue. It was delicious. Matt had a French sausage platter. We left there pretty stuffed.
But we found time and space in our bellies to go back to Chownings for more Old Stitch. After 9 they have gambols where everyone gets to play games, sing songs and generally drink beer just like they did in the old Colonial taverns. We had played a game and chatted with our table mates, and drank as much Old Stitch as we could after that big meal.
November 5. Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. It was time to leave Williamsburg. Our first stop, Williamsburg Alewerks to see if we could buy Old Stitch. Sorry, no luck. We bought some other beer including a growler of their lighter ale.
Then we headed off for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. I have never been across it and we were so close. The Bay Bridge Tunnel connects Norfolk with the southern tip of Virginia and Maryland across the Chesapeake Bay. Is is quite an engineering feet, a series of bridges and tunnels crossing thirteen miles across the Bay. Normally, you would drive through Southern Maryland to get back to DC but I determined that it was actually faster to cross the bride tunnel, then turn around and go back to Norfolk to catch 95 home.
There are a series of "islands" along the way, that hold the tunnel entrances and exits. The purpose of the tunnels is to allow ship traffic to pass freely through two deep water channels without having to go under a bridge. Instead we go under the water. We stopped at the island to look around. The wind felt like it was hurricane force. We could barely walk and we certainly could not get out the pier. Even with that weather, there were guys fishing. I truly thought they were idiotic. It was cold and the wind was almost unbearable. After some picture taking, we hopped into the restaurant/gift shop that also occupies the island. No surprise that there was not much going on there.
(Container ship going through the deep waster channel and over a tunnel.)
We continued on our journey across, reached the other side, turned around and headed home.
My sister Michele and her husband John own a house there and we visited for Thanksgiving. The place was empty of course since it is not season. I did not remember much of it. It certainly does not look anything like it did when I lived there.
