A Colonial Thanksgiving

In the stocks at Williamsburg...

In my opinion, Thanksgiving could quite possibly be America’s greatest achievement. I mean, an entire day devoted to good food, good company and watching TV! In New Zealand, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. We know “of” the concept of Thanksgiving. We know it has to do with pilgrims and native americans, turkey and giving thanks, but that’s about all. Most of us couldn’t tell you when Thanksgiving actually is, or what the average American actually does for Thanksgiving. What’s more, when I first heard of “Black Friday” I thought it sounded like some kind of medieval execution day. I had an image in my mind of an axe-wielding executioner at the Tower of London ready to lop of the heads of beggars and theives or something, but figured it had to be a more American version of that… perhaps involving an electric chair or Alcatraz or something. But no, it turns out it’s a day of massive sales in shops. It’s kind of like our Boxing Day sales in New Zealand, only on a bigger, more American scale. It’s FANTASTIC! (oh and by the way, for our non-American readers, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, which always falls on the last Thursday of November… I think).

And so, it was with great excitement that Liz and I went back to the US for Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. This was my second American Thanksgiving, and just as delicious.

While we were there, we also managed to take a trip to Colonial Williamsburg. This is a town (or part of a town) which is maintained in colonial (18^th century) style, with actors/guides going about their everyday 18^th Century lives, dressed in period clothing. It was fantastic! Such a great experience. There is so much to see and do there, that I’m sure we didn’t get it all done, but we managed to fit in a whole heap of stuff. We saw basket-weaving, harpsicord-making, the printing press, blacksmiths, silversmiths, tailors, cooks, slaves, and barmaids. We toured the inside of the courthouse, the Capitol, the Governer’s Palace and wealthy people’s houses. We entered the old gaol cells that actually housed Blackbeard the Pirate and his men!! We saw people getting around by horse and cart; watched how bricks were made; got lost in the garden maze at the governor’s palace; ate a colonial lunch at an 18^th Century tavern, and even managed to try a beer brewed to a colonial recipe… umm… not the best beer ever but I was very glad to try it! We did and saw so much, and best of all, the autumn leaves were really pretty all around the town. There were squirrels darting around everywhere getting ready for winter, and on the second day the town started putting up Christmas decorations. It was such a fantastic exerience.

Below are some pictures

Traditional basket-weaving.

Blackbeard's prison cell

We also walked outside of the historic area of Williamsburg into this very pretty little shopping area. It was great! We even managed to find a German restaurant to have dinner at.

On the way to Williamsburg we also managed to stop off at Yorktown and Jamestown. Yorktown was the site of a pivotal battle during the War of Independence. The battlefield is preserved there, and you can see canons and imagine what it must have been like for the British as the Americans broke through defense after defense.

Jamestown was the first settlement and was where John Smith set up camp, and met Pocahontas. You know the story, right? Such an interesting place to visit.

Statue of Pocahontas at Jamestown

Statue of John Smith in Jamestown, and 17th Century church behind