#Gates50States

Spring Break 2025 and we wanted to make it a drivable destination. Our original plan was to visit Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, but the more we looked into Delaware, the more we found our interests lied in the north of the state, adding a lot more driving to an already full week. We decided to push off Delaware and combine it with New Jersey, and take more time, or at least less rushed time in Virginia and Maryland.

We hopped in the car as soon as possible after Lincoln’s tennis practice and hit the road for Virginia. After about 6 hours of seemingly half interstate and half very curvy back roads with names like Cumberland Highway and signs like “falling rocks,” we overnighted in a hotel (you know that’s not #Gates50States’ preference) so we could enjoy a shorter drive to our destinations on Saturday. Absolutely worth it.

Chamber of Commerce weather descended upon the central Virginia region and gave us a beautiful day at Monticello. I’ve had mixed feelings about Thomas Jefferson based upon my high school and college education and then from readings from McCullough’s Adams and Chernow’s Hamilton. He was clearly brilliant, but also a seeming blatant walking contradiction. When our tour guide described him as our nation’s greatest enigma, that absolutely resonated.

If you’ve been to Monticello, you’ll be interested to learn all 40+ of their tour guides write their own material. Each tour is unique in its own way. And Thomas Jefferson was just a unique and interesting man; he must be considered with an open mind. His wide range of hobbies, made manifest in the number of contraptions in his home, and his desire to prompt conversation amongst his guests through portraits and architecture not only certainly achieved his goals in his day, they prompted good conversations amongst the five of us during our visit and afterward.

I couldn’t get an action photo/video of Bill Barker, the man who does a wonderful Jefferson impersonation, first at Williamsburg for 30 years and now at Monticello. After our tour of the home, Mr. Barker was scheduled to give the first of his presentations that day a short walk from the back door. We were so impressed with his portrayal as Jefferson and his answering any and all of the guests’ questions as Jefferson likely would have.

As I sat in our VRBO composing this portion of the post the next morning, I looked for video of him to share with you and somewhat recount our experience. Holy cow! I found a whole bunch of YouTube content of him, and it hit me… we were pretty fortunate to have seen him in person. Here are two samplings for you to enjoy…

After only a few minutes of listening to him, it seemed as though we’d been transported back in time, particularly as he quoted “his” own writings and those of “his” contemporaries, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, etc. Mr. Barker knew his material forward and backward, he virtually became Thomas Jefferson, and he gave us an historically accurate early Virginia experience.

One of the more clever restaurants we’ve ever been to is Food For Thought in Williamsburg. Our meals were very good, but beyond the good food is the environment the place fosters. It is very family friendly, which is a great start for the decor, because the decor is all about honoring the world’s great thinkers. From posters of the great scientists like Pasteur and Einstein and inventors like Edison and Tesla, to quotes from our founding fathers and other thought-provoking world leaders. Definitely check it out when you’re in the area.

In the evening, after we’d completed our drive to Williamsburg, we attended a live performance and participatory event at City Hall in Colonial Williamsburg, “To Hang a Pirate.” Lit only by candles and with actors in period dress and speech, we witnessed a reenactment of a real event, the trial of Israel Hands for acts of piracy in the aftermath of Blackbeard’s death. (If you recognize the name from Treasure Island, you’re correct, as Stevenson used the historical name in his work of fiction.) Such a cool experience to feel like we were in the early 1700’s! I won’t spoil the verdict for you, but it wasn’t what we expected because of reasons we hadn’t considered. 🙂

“I regret not scheduling a ghost tour before we arrived. The evening programming is limited, and fills up quickly. I wasn’t sure what the weather was going to be like, but I should have scheduled something and at least reserved something. The kids really liked “To Hang a Pirate” and I know they would have had a lot of fun on a ghost tour of the place.” — Jenn

Colonial Williamsburg is just plain cool, and we were all extremely into it. Of course it didn’t hurt that Virginia had ordered up another beautiful day for us.

If you’re traveling with your teenage kids to visit Colonial Williamsburg, you may wonder if you can fill a day there. “Won’t my kids get bored?” you may ask yourself. “I don’t think my kids will be entertained by period living and early America history for a whole day,” you may say to yourself. The answer to the first is a resounding, “No,” and the response to the second is, “Your kids will leave at the end of the day expressing their regret for something they wanted to see but missed.”

We started by visiting a tailor, and he not only told us about the project he was presently working on, but through conversation prompted us to think about what clothes meant to the colonials, how they needed their clothes to function, and the affordability of clothing at that time compared with today. In our first fifteen minutes, we’d received a legitimate history lesson. All of our visits with the tradesmen and women followed suit, from the blacksmith to the apothecary, from the engraver to the silversmith, and from the gunsmith to the book binder. We were led to consider our ancestors through their own lenses.

The tradesmen didn’t pretend to be anything other than authentic practitioners of their trades. They spoke of life and work in the 1700s just as easily as they told us about where they were in their processes of apprenticeship. Some of them had achieved journeyman status. Just like all groups of people, some were more personable than others, but all of them lit up when we asked them about their own personal projects, that which they needed to complete to achieve their goals during their initial commitment to Colonial Williamsburg. This as much as anything fascinated us about what all happens here on a day to day basis.

We watched a two-man stage show where an old and dying Patrick Henry reflected on his most memorable speech while a younger Patrick Henry enacted that speech before the Second Virginia Convention. Picturing ourselves before this man at the time of these two points in his life was poignant, and their Q&A afterward was also very well done. They made a good faith attempt to portray the character of Patrick Henry of his day.

Would our day be complete without witnessing a Revolutionary War-era canon blast? No, no it wouldn’t. And so we did.

Dinner at the Amber Ox filled our bellies, and dessert at Kilwins nearly put us into a diabetic coma. Both were very walkable from Colonial Williamsburg.

Wherever you’re staying in the Williamsburg area (we stayed at Powhatan Resort), grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and convenient stores are all around. Anything you need is within a mile.

Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain a tour at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, and we needed a day that wasn’t wall-to-wall attention-demanding, so we took Monday slow, got in some activities on the resort grounds, and then took in some other Williamsburg things, such as…

My interest in all things apiary over the past couple of years and Jenn’s interest in wine led us to the Silver Hand Meadery right there in Williamsburg. What a fun experience! While the kids couldn’t participate in the mead tasting, they received the feel of a wine/mead/whiskey tasting through Silver Hand’s honey tasting! Oh, my!!!

Soooooo many honeys! And all of them are entirely from the work of the bees. No flavors added to these honeys. (The whipped honeys were another story with added flavors such as cinnamon, lemon, or hot pepper, and all very good, as well.)

Orange blossom honey tasted like the usual honey in grocery stores packaged in the little plastic bears. The others, though, came with complexity of flavors ranging from mesquite blossom (Jenn picked up on hints of Whiskey Del Bac’s Dorado) to avocado blossom which tasted like straight molasses. The kids enjoyed the blackberry blossom, blueberry blossom, Appalachian wildflower, and others, though they distinctly did not enjoy the molasses-tasting avocado or the lighter molasses-like buckwheat… which is exactly why tastings are so important and so much fun. Good job, SHM!

We stuck with it and got a taste of Yorktown in the late afternoon when we had time to kill between the meadery and dinner time. A detour took us around the original Colonial Parkway <sadface>, and led us to the battlefield after about 20 minutes. Because the National Park Service operates Yorktown Battlefield, your America The Beautiful pass gives you entry into the museum. And while it doesn’t look like much on the outside, you could spend a lot of time working your way through the wonderful interpretive exhibits. The 22-minute film portraying the importance of the siege and Battle of Yorktown ought not be missed. As it came to its conclusion, Henry turned to me and said, “I wish we had more time to spend here.” We’ve adopted P.T. Barnum’s, “Always leave them wanting more,” as a guiding philosophy of #gates50states. Of the many places along our journeys that I’d like to revisit, Yorktown is near the top.

Colonial Williamsburg has a magnetism to it around this area, and our dinner plans led us back to Merchant’s Square for dinner at Berret’s Seafood Restaurant where the inside was full with reservations, but the outside Taphouse Grill patio was available. We’ve enjoyed three very good meals during our stay in the area, and it’s really hard to pick a favorite… but this was our favorite.

As much as possible, we’ve taken a, “When in Rome,” approach to our journeys, so we ordered frog legs and oysters for our appetizer. Henry sat this one out. 🙂 Our main courses were simply fantastic, too. These Midwesterners sure enjoy the Southeast coast’s cuisine!

And then Chincoteague Island. The drive there was a little depressing, and there wasn’t a whole lot to look at, but you never know what the kids might find interesting to photograph from the window on the Sienna…

Once we arrived on the island, the Wildlife Refuge & National Seashore walk was a good way to stretch our legs and see some wildlife.

And just like our visit to the Nā Pali Coast and to some extent Pictured Rocks, seeing the land from the water makes for an interesting and beautiful perspective. Daisey’s Island Cruises has a really cool set-up, with large boats for larger groups, and smaller pontoon boats for families like ours. The small boats can get closer to the action. 🙂

Fred, a school teacher on the island, captained our vessel, and he knew all the spots to show us a good Chincoteague/Assateague evening. He told stories of the Saltwater Cowboys, of rescuing a foal swimming toward a boat, and of the original bridge from Chincoteague to Assateague. The horses were on full display, along with some bird life, and a pretty sunset. If you’re visiting outside the summer months, bring layers, coats, vests, blankets, etc., because it is cold out on the water!

And Jenn found us a place with a great view: Comfort Suites Chichoteague Island Bayfront Resort. So much of the island is closed at this time of year so selection is thin, but we had a good dinner at Bill’s Prime and some really good ice cream at Island Creamery. (Get the Salt Marsh ice cream at the Creamery. You can thank me later.)

The time came for us to leave for our next stop, and it proved to be a curveball!