Jamestown and Williamsburg – Colonial America

I still remember visiting Jamestown and Williamsburg as a young child with my family on a summer vacation. In those days our family drove a Country Squire station wagon and towed a pop-up tent trailer. My visual of Jamestown is the spiked timbers making up the outside wall of the fort. As for Williamsburg, it was a bustling town with lots of folks in period costumes demonstrating what life in colonial America might have looked like. I also remember how stinking hot it was!

Today we rode bikes from Chickhominy campground to Jamestown on a continuation of the Capital Trail that we rode yesterday. After exploring Jamestown, we ate lunch at Billsburg Brewery before riding on to Williamsburg. Took some of us a little longer than others to figure out the play on “Williams” -> “Bills”. Must be too much sun….

There were lots of cyclists but the path was plenty wide and easy to navigate safely. Both days we were on the trail saw heavy bike traffic. I’m guessing that was largely because we happened to be riding the trail on the weekend. It was fantastic to see so many people riding and being active outside!

There weren’t so many people at the Jamestown Island (fort) exhibit or in Williamsburg. Not sure why, but I’m guessing the COVID-19 pandemic has something to do with it. The streets of Williamsburg seemed deserted and many of the buildings were either empty or closed. The outline was exactly as I remembered it, but there was no hustle and bustle — it was rather depressing!

Here are a few shots from Jamestown.

Crossing a bridge on Jamestown Island, we stopped to watch a snake slither in the mud and realized that there were a ton of turtles submerged in the mud. The turtles would surface and move along a ‘turtle path’ for a bit then disappear into the mud again. Fascinating.