The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Earned Media Coverage

June 5, 2014

Before the Mayflower: ‘America’s Birthplace’

By Annie Fitzsimmons May 29, 2014

A statue of Captain John Smith, leader of the Virginia Colony (based at Jamestown) from 1608 to 1609, at Historic Jamestowne in Virginia. (Photograph by National Geographic Image Collection, Alamy)

“Is it real or is it fake?” is a frequent query of travelers exploring historic sites around the world. Of course, “real” is far more intriguing than a reproduction–being able to stare at ruins and picture the

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vitality they once played host to. I felt this way at Angkor Wat, in Jordan, at Machu Picchu, and, surprisingly, at Historic Jamestowne, walking the same ground as Captain John Smith and Pocahontas.

Part of the reason the site is so astounding is that the grounds of the fort, where the first English settlers landed in 1607 to form what became America’s first permanent English settlement, were thought to have washed away in the James River. For hundreds of years, Jamestown Island was sleepy farmland–except, ironically, for brief periods during the American Revolution and Civil War when it was utilized for military purposes.

But in 1994, Dr. William Kelso and his team at the Jamestown Rediscovery Project realized that it had not completely disappeared, mostly thanks to a protective sea wall added in 1901. At this point in their research, the team–which uses a mix of historical record, archaeology, and science to piece together the story–has determined that only about 13 percent of the original fort has been lost to time.

Archaeologists Mary Anna Richardson and Dave Givens stand in a dig site at Historic Jamestowne. (Photograph by Annie Fitzsimmons)

Usually archaeologists are far removed from the public eye, working in roped-off areas in remote places. But here, anyone can get close to the fort’s remains–and to the team that’s responsible for making some of the great discoveries of our time.

You can go beyond the ropes and into the foundations of the fort with Dr. Kelso himself on an “In The Trenches” tour, offered twice a month at $40 a pop. But don’t count out the daily tours included in the price of admission, with archaeologists like Mary Anna Richardson and Dave Givens revealing the behind-the-scenes scoop about the latest learnings.

“Things in your past can define you, but people don’t generally wear them on their sleeve,” Givens told me. “We try to tell a story through artifacts, and we’re in a very unique position compared to other sites. Archaeology allows you to go back and step into people’s lives as opposed to just reading a document.”

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The Archaearium at Historic Jamestowne is all about reality, warts and all. Some of the museum’s exhibits feature relics that shed light on the darkest moments of the settlement’s early days–including the skeletal remains of “Jane,” which many believe proved that the colonists resorted to cannibalism in the winter of 1609. After viewing the skull, which had been found, discarded carelessly in a cellar, in 2013, I was told it was “clear from the beginning that she was processed to be eaten.”

The bones may be a grisly reminder of a heartbreaking time in early American history, but what we’ve learned from studying them represents a moving example of how modern technology and archaeology can come together to reveal secrets from the past. Through cutting-edge scientific testing, they were able to determine which region of England she came from, that she had wheat in her diet, and what she probably looked like. She’s young, despondent, and beautiful.

The Archaearium was built on the remains of Jamestowne’s statehouse, which can be viewed through the floor. (Photograph by joeshlabotnik, Flickr)

A five-minute drive away from the authentic fort is the Jamestown Settlement, where you’ll find a reconstructed version of the fort and colonial life, along with scale models of the English ships that brought the colonists across the Atlantic (which are especially great if you have younger kids). Both sites are worth visiting, but Historic Jamestowne is exhilarating brain food, especially if you join one of the tours.

After the statehouse at Jamestowne burned for the second time (you can see the foundation ruins through glass in the Archaearium) during Bacon’s Rebellion in the late 1600s, the Virginia Colony moved its capital moved to Williamsburg, then called Middle Plantation. Jamestown was eventually abandoned and the site where it once stood reverted to unsuspecting farmland.

In stark contrast to the grim realities on display at Historic Jamestowne, Colonial Williamsburg pays peaceful homage to 18th-century hustle and bustle. It’s clear that painstaking attention has been paid to detail in the homes and businesses in Merchant’s Square; the goods being sold there are even based on real estate records and diaries in an effort to stay as true to history as possible.

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With 88 original structures, and yes, people dressed in period garb, the colonial district is both enchanting and enlightening. One couple I met said they visit in order to unwind. “The word that kept crossing our mind was relaxing,” they said. “It’s just such a relaxing place to be.”

While the right tour guide can make history come alive, you’ll find the most relaxing way to go back in time at The Spa at Colonial Williamsburg. Here is where I didn’t want the history part of what they termed a “historical spa treatment” taken too literally, attached, as I am, to running water and modern medicine. This spa delivers with beautiful facilities and a slate of offerings that incorporate healing techniques from the 17th to the 21st centuries. I figured “When in Rome,” and opted for an 18th-century treatment featuring orange and ginger, elements used to relax tense muscles and and increase blood flow at the time (hey, they were ahead of their time).

During the self-indulgent hours I spent at the spa, I started thinking about just how much we take for granted in modern times. I also felt a sense of gratitude to the scientists and academics working to uncover the real Jamestowne, a physical reminder of a lost time, and made it into the accessible and very alive place it is today.

http://intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com/blog/urban-insider/

How to Experience Colonial Williamsburg With Kids

By Traci Suppa

May 29, 2014

Colonial Williamsburg Courthouse

The world’s largest living history museum, Colonial Williamsburg, has lured us to Virginia twice before. We now know two things with certainty. A) There’s not a lot of shade on a hot day. B) Despite that, there is a lot of entertaining and educational fun to be had by all ages.

If you’re planning a trip this summer, there are a few highlights I would strongly recommend to maximize your experience, especially if you’re only there for one day. It’s best to have a plan of attack at a place this big — Colonial Williamsburg includes more than 400 restored or reconstructed original buildings, museums, lodging, and restaurants, retail stores and gardens.

Start your day at the Visitor Center. The map includes a weekly program guide, with kid-friendly programs highlighted. If you haven’t done so before your trip, make reservations for on-site meals, and purchase additional passes for special programs or tours not included in the general pass. You can even rent costumes for everyone in your family to wear so you can blend in with the colonists.

Walking through the streets is partly about watching, and also about participating. You can stop by the blacksmith shop or the bindery to observe these artisans in their trades, march along with the Fife and

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Drum crew, or stop into the Courthouse to hear a case before the judge. Make sure you hit the Kids Corner at the Gateway, where they taught our kids games like Whirligig.

A lot tougher than it looks!

When it’s time for some air conditioning, take the tour of the Governor’s Palace, or visit the Folk Art Museum. At the Governor’s Palace, your tour guide–in character and period dress–will lead you through a moment in time in the life of Lord Dunmore and his staff. The Folk Art Museum has antique toys on display, gives special children’s tours, and offers craft sessions. Our kids loved the audio tour!

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum

Play RevQuest, especially if you and your kids are tech fiends! This is a text-message based alternative reality game, where texts help players navigate through Revolutionary City in search of secret meeting spots and hidden messages to locate an ally critical to saving the American Revolution. The game is free with your admission.

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RevQuest. Photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg

Make sure you’re “downtown” in the late afternoon for the Revolutionary City programs, which are like 18th century flash mobs. You’re a bystander on the street while costumed re-enactors play a series of emotionally-charged scenes, such as two enslaved Virginians considering leaving their familiar lives for potential freedom in the North.

Have an early dinner in a tavern; just make sure you’ve made reservations, especially in the high summer season. There are four to choose from, and all offer kids’ menus with items like “Chicken, Fife ‘n’ Drumstix,” and “Thomas Jefferson’s Macaroni and Cheese.” This is an experience worth the expense, because your servers will be dressed in colonial clothing, and strolling musicians will visit your table, with instruments like the hurdy gurdy! Each tavern now provides a distinctive experience, whether it’s the 18th century alehouse atmosphere at Chownings, the chophouse feel of Kings Arms Tavern, or the entertainment hub at Shields Tavern.

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Shields Tavern has air conditioning!

If you still have steam after the attractions close at 5:00PM, try one of the evening programs. Some are best suited for adults (like the witch trials and ghost tours), but others are fine for all ages. We joined an 18th century dance lesson lead by costumed gentry. First, we learned to curtsy and bow. The Boy took part in a country dance called the First of April, and I danced a cotillion with a guy in a wig.

NOTE: There’s a summer 2014 family promotion that might interest you if you’re planning to go this year; the Kids Stay, Play & Eat FREE offer. Kids ages 12 and under, accompanied by a paying adult, stay free for a minimum of three nights at the Williamsburg Woodlands Hotel & Suites or the Williamsburg Lodge.

Hey YOU! Go BIG! Colonial Williamsburg Williamsburg, Virginia 855-756-9516

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Requisite stockade shot

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Williamsburg, P/K Lifestyles harken to global theme

Home & Textiles Today Staff June 2, 2014

Williamsburg, Va. – Williamsburg and licensee P/K Lifestyles have developed a new collection that is centered around multicultural designs of the 18th Century.

Launched yesterday for the kickoff of the Showtime decorative fabric show in High Point, NC, the Williamsburg Classics IV collection encompasses printed linens and wovens that draw on Chinese, Indian and British decorative motifs taken from the archives of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Update colorways and designs translate the old-world inspiration for the modern home.

The collection’s prints feature Chinese foo dogs, Chinoiserie toiles, and patterns inspired by antique Chinese wallpaper. The “Dunmore Dragons” linen takes its print from a delft bowl in the Colonial Williamsburg collection, and is characterized by dragon-like tigers in arresting colors like cinnabar and rich turquoise. The geometric “Lamerie Lattice” echoes a 1740s English silver wicker-work fruit basket with an interwoven fretwork pattern.

Woven fabrics include Kashmiri-inspired matelassé, Georgian geometric patterns, classic moiré, and bold baroque embroidery. “Goa Garden” is a subtle neutral matelassé woven in patterns of 17th Century Indian textiles and mixes effortlessly with a variety of décor styles. “Hampton Scroll,” a herringbone twill linen with a bold embroidered pattern, is reminiscent of the wrought iron gates at the Governor’s Palace in Colonial Williamsburg’s Revolutionary City.

The printed fabrics are 100% linen and retail for $30-$35 per yard. Woven and embroidered textiles retail for $60-$75 per yard.

“The inspiration drawn from Colonial Williamsburg is like a treasure chest of exotic jewels,” said Pam Maffei-Toolan, P/K Lifestyles’ vp of design. “Each pattern is unique in design, color, and fabrication.”

Added Liza Gusler, Williamsburg licensing manager: “P/K Lifestyles’ extraordinary design team channels exciting inspiration from around the world when they develop textiles inspired by Colonial Williamsburg’s amazing design archive.”

The collection will be available this summer through Robert Allen and specialty retailers across the country.

http://www.homeandtextilestoday.com/article/488648-williamsburg-pk-lifestyles-harken-global-theme

Chinoiserie Chic and Vintage Asian-Inspired Patterns Come to Showtime with WILLIAMSBURG and P/K

Lifestyles Textile Introduction

May 30, 2014

Dramatic multicultural design themes of the 18th century are carried into trend meets tradition looks with the launch of the WILLIAMSBURG Classics IV collection from WILLIAMSBURG and licensee P/K Lifestyles. The introduction at Showtime will feature a line of striking printed linens and sophisticated wovens that draw on Chinese, Indian and British decorative motifs taken from the archives of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Fresh colors and on-trend designs translate the old-world inspiration for the modern home.

The collection’s prints feature vivid Chinese foo dogs, chinoiserie toiles, and patterns inspired by antique Chinese wallpaper. The ‘Dunmore Dragons’ linen takes its print from a delft bowl in the Colonial Williamsburg collection, and is characterized by dragon-like tigers in arresting colors like cinnabar and rich turquoise. The geometric ‘Lamerie Lattice’ echoes a 1740s English silver ‘wickerwork’ fruit basket with an interwoven fretwork pattern.

Woven fabrics include Kashmiri-inspired matelassé, Georgian geometric patterns, classic moiré, and bold baroque embroidery. ‘Goa Garden’ is a subtle neutral matelassé woven in patterns of 17th-century Indian textiles and mixes effortlessly with a variety of décor styles. ‘Hampton Scroll,’ a herringbone twill linen with a bold embroidered pattern, is reminiscent of the wrought iron gates at the Governor’s Palace in Colonial Williamsburg’s Revolutionary City.

“The inspiration drawn from Colonial Williamsburg is like a treasure chest of exotic jewels,” Pam Maffei-Toolan, P/K Lifestyles’ Vice President of Design, said. “Each pattern is unique in design, color, and fabrication.”

“P/K Lifestyles’ extraordinary design team channels exciting inspiration from around the world when they develop textiles inspired by Colonial Williamsburg’s amazing design archive,” WILLIAMSBURG Licensing Manager Liza Gusler said.

The collection will be available this summer through Robert Allen and specialty retailers across the country. The printed fabrics are 100% linen and retail for $30-$35 per yard. Woven and embroidered textiles retail for $60-$75 per yard.

About WILLIAMSBURG The WILLIAMSBURG® brand offers fresh, spirited designs in all categories of home and gift. With products inspired by the 18th century and designed for today’s lifestyle, WILLIAMSBURG is the preeminent leader of American style. The Colonial Williamsburg Products Program includes 40 licensees

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producing more than 7,000 products under the WILLIAMSBURG and WILLIAMSBURG Reserve brands. It operates 20 retail stores and website, www.WilliamsburgMarketplace.com. Sales of WILLIAMSBURG products support the preservation, research and educational programs of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the not-for-profit center for history and citizenship that oversees the restored colonial capital in Williamsburg, Virginia.

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The Best Of GolfThe Best Of Golf

Carmel • Williamsburg • Portland • Waterville • La CostaPLUS: Ben Wright & The Beatles, Jim Dodson on Pinehurst

Pinehurst & St. Andrews

The similarities and connections are striking

SUMMER 2014$5.00/$7.25 in Canada

LINKSMagazine.com

changes, and challenge every kind of golf-

er from any of the five tee-box options.

It’s been a regular on best-course lists

forever, yet unlike most resort courses, the

Gold has a private-club feel, its low-key

atmosphere as revolutionary as anything

across the street.

Just up the hill is the Green Course,

which Rees designed in 1991, giving Gold-

en Horseshoe the distinction of being one

of golf’s few father-son co-productions.

Built on ground similar to the Gold, the

Green is more modern in design and

stretches a little longer. There’s also a

Stay & Play COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG

26 LINKSMAGAZINE.COM SUMMER 2014

CONGRESS SHOULD PASS A LAW that every American

school child—and probably most adults, as well—visit

Colonial Williamsburg. The capital of the Virginia Colony,

restored with stunning accuracy to how it was just before

the Revolution, is a living, breathing museum bursting with

the latest technology circa 1770. Tinsmiths, scullery maids,

apothecaries, peruke makers, printers, tavern keepers, and

politicians—loyalists as well as rebels—do their thing exactly

as it was done some 250 years ago in the Tidewater region

of southeastern Virginia, a few hours south of what is now

but wasn’t yet then the nation’s capital.

“The Birthplace of America” offers a very different, and

thoroughly enjoyable, type of family entertainment. Instead

of cartoon characters it has “real” characters, like Thomas

Jefferson and Patrick Henry. And rather than thrill rides

there is the thrill of storming the Governor’s Palace or

hearing the Declaration of Independence read for the first

time. As for interactivity, it’s possible to have a public audience with George

Washington, serve on a jury in a witch trial, and learn how to do drop-spindle

spinning. Plus dress up in period costume, ride in horse-drawn carriages, and

talk to ghosts and pirates.

And play golf. The Golden Horseshoe Golf Club—which is under the aegis

of the same non-profit foundation that runs the village, museums, hotels, and

everything else—has its own place in history. The famed Gold Course, designed

by Robert Trent Jones and renovated by his son Rees in 1998, just celebrated its

50th anniversary. Old man Jones brilliantly used the thick stands of trees and

rolling terrain to create angled fairways and greens, incorporate sharp elevation

Make Your Own HistoryFROM FAIRWAYS TO FOUNDRIES, DOGLEGS TO DEMOCRACY, GOLF AND EARLY AMERICA GO TOGETHER LIKE FIFE AND DRUM

Top: Hole 16 ofthe Gold Course

Above: A fife-and-drum parade

Make Your Own HistoryFROM FAIRWAYS TO FOUNDRIES, DOGLEGS TO DEMOCRACY, GOLF AND EARLY AMERICA GO TOGETHER LIKE FIFE AND DRUM

nine-hole course, called Spotswood after the

Colonial governor who is responsible for the

legend of the “Golden Horseshoe” (part of the

fun of Williamsburg is uncovering the stories

behind many of the attractions); the short

course is a good warm-up for the bigger ones

and perfect for family golf.

Speaking of uncovering history, ask some-

one in the Gold Course pro shop why there’s a

replica of the Ryder Cup displayed among the

shirts and sweaters. Hint: It has nothing to do

with the matches but is about the trophy itself.

Another historic fact: Colonial Williams-

burg began its revived life in the 1920s thanks

to the generosity of the Rockefeller family.

The restored town got so popular that lodg-

ing was required, and

in 1937, the Williams-

burg Inn was opened.

The most elegant of

the property’s hotels,

the Inn was built to John D. Rockefeller’s

high standards of “comfort, convenience, and

charm.” It was renovated in 2001 and the

number of rooms actually reduced so the 62

that remain are large and lovely, filled with

period touches married to modern luxury.

The Regency Room restaurant in the Inn is

an elegant dining experience, while the Gold

Course is right out back.

The village offers other lodging and eating

options for any taste or budget—six hotels

and 11 restaurants along with indoor and out-

door pools, tennis courts, even lawn bowling.

The newest addition is The Spa of Colonial

Williamsburg, which opened in 2006. While

the outside is a building of Georgian Revival

style, the inside has all the latest spa and fit-

ness amenities, such as a range of treatments,

hair and makeup salons, a fully stocked gym,

and a restaurant serving spa cuisine.

The wonder of Williamsburg is the easy

interplay of old and new. It somehow makes

perfect sense to watch a blacksmith pound

a glowing bar of iron into a delicate serving

fork, then work out on an elliptical trainer.

Or discuss with the village doctor the use of

Peruvian tree bark to treat fever before treat-

ing yourself to a gourmet repast.

Golf fits in, too, of course, because the

game has its own rich history. Just don’t forget

that we Colonials need to thank the British for

bringing the game to our shores just before

we decided to cut the empirical shackles. We

won that match, too. —James A. Frank

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Booking HistoryColonial Williamsburg features:

• 6 hotels with more than 1,000 rooms total

• 11 restaurants, gourmet to grilles, historic taverns, and cafes

• History comes alive on 300 acres with 88 original buildings, 225 period rooms, 500 reconstructed buildings

• 3 museums with 67,000 pieces of American and British antiques and art, 5,000 examples of folk art

• Ongoing tours and programs, as well as educational programs on history and citizenship for students and teachers

• 20,000-square-foot spa

The Williamsburg Inn, built by JohnD. Rockefeller

Left: Governor’s Palace Below: A cab ride and some street music, Williamsburg style

Chowning's in Williamsburg updates its menu with tasty lunch items June 3, 2014

Food Find: Vegetable Flatbread at Chowning's Tavern (David Nicholson/Daily Press / June 3, 2014)

Tasty discovery: Vegetable Flat Bread

Price: $11

Destination: Chowning's Tavern, 109 E. Duke of Gloucester St., Williamsburg. 757-229-2141 or 855-296-6627. Colonialwilliamsburg.com.

Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. daily. Gambol's, featuring 18th century games, music and sing-alongs, takes over after 9 p.m.

One of my favorite lines by the humorist Garrison Keillor goes like this: "This program is brought to you by Grandma's quiches and croissants, which tastes just like Grandma would have made if she'd known about them."

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I thought of that quip while perusing the menu at Chowning's Tavern, one of the historic eateries on Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg. Along with the tavern's recent renovation, the menu has been tweaked to include some items Grandma may not have known about.

I wasn't sure if Mildred's Garden Vegetable Flat Bread was a colonial favorite. But I ordered it anyway, and was glad I did. It's a great summer dish that starts with a tangy, chewy flat bread topped with a mild, creamy herbed cheese and vegetables roasted with rosemary. The veggies — zucchini, squash and red and green peppers — made a colorful, tasty topping.

Chowning's offers several soup starters, including a delicious roasted corn chowder I tried, plus a white bean and kale soup and the traditional Brunswick stew. There are salads and a Welsh Rarebit, the cheese and beer sauce that you don't see much on menus anymore.

In addition to the vegetable flat bread, you can order a meat version made with ham, salami and cheese. There are three "trenchers,' a kind of hollowed-out sandwich containing beef, pork or chicken.

Chowning's has spruced up its interior and added an open bar area and more tables under a leafy pergola in the rear. On a warm summer night, that's where I'd be headed for a pint of ale. — David Nicholson

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Colonial Williamsburg offers ticket deal through Groupon By Nicole Paitsel June, 3 2014

Colonial Williamsburg is offering a discount on single-day admission tickets through Groupon.

Through the Groupon deal, visitors can buy a Colonial Williamsburg ticket for $22 for adults or $11 for children, which is a 50 percent discount.

On Tuesday, June 3, Groupon listed the deal as available for five days.

The ticket expires July 31, 2014.

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Colonial Williamsburg’s New Taste Studio By Emily Ridjaneck

May 30, 2014

Introducing Taste Studio Experience the true meaning of “garden to guest” with a Chef’s Garden Tour and Tasting, or learn to make your own truffles from American Heritage’s historic chocolate. Colonial Williamsburg’s creative and energetic chefs will inspire and delight you in their newest venue. The Taste Studio, a contemporary, full-service demonstration kitchen provides an intimate, fun setting to learn and share an unforgettable meal.

Taste Studio experiences are available Fridays and Saturdays in the newly renovated Craft House building, 305 South England Street.

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Historian Michael Beschloss to Speak in Colonial Williamsburg

By WYDaily Staff

June 1, 2014

Michael Beschloss (Photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)

An award-winning historian will speak to the newest group of American citizens participating in June 16’s Naturalization Ceremony in Colonial Williamsburg.

Michael Beschloss will address the crowd in the Revolutionary City, as well as speak and sign his books at a luncheon earlier in the day at the Williamsburg Lodge. The topic of his luncheon presentation is “American Citizenship and American History.”

A best-selling author and a regular commentator on NBC and PBS, Beschloss co-authored with Caroline Kennedy in 2011 for “Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy.”

He is currently working on a history of American presidents in wartime from James Madison to George W. Bush, to be published in 2016.

Beschloss is the author of nine books in total, and also an Emmy-winner for his role in creating the creating the Discovery Channel series “Decisions that Shook the World,” which he hosted.

He has served as historian on the staff of the Smithsonian Institution, was a senior associate member at Oxford University in England, and is a trustee of the White House Historical Association and the National Archives Foundation.

http://wydaily.com/2014/06/01/historian-michael-beschloss-to-speak-in-colonial-williamsburg?cat=localnews/localnews/

Book signings will start at 11 a.m. June 16, with the luncheon presentation at noon.

Tickets are $55 each. Seating is limited and advance reservations are encouraged and are available at 855-296-6627.

http://wydaily.com/2014/06/01/historian-michael-beschloss-to-speak-in-colonial-williamsburg?cat=localnews/localnews/

The Regency Room Reopens By Emily Ridjaneck

May 31, 2014

Celebrate the Grand Re-Opening of the Regency Room at the Williamsburg Inn! Along with a beautiful face lift of the room, a new menu is showcased with a more modern twist, modern food and techniques presented in a classical way that fits the tradition of the Regency Room. For reservations call (888) 965-7254 or click here for more details.

http://wydaily.com/2014/05/31/the-regency-room-reopens?cat=cw-for-locals/

Market House Construction at Colonial Williamsburg a Multi-Year Effort

By Brittany Voll

June 4, 2014

Once complete, the Market House will be an open-air market offering items for sale to visitors. (Courtesy Colonial Williamsburg)

Although the Market House is planned for construction later this year, Colonial Williamsburg’s historic trades workers have spent years laboring over the materials needed to build the open-air market.

At the brickyard, Great Hopes Plantation and in the armoury, historic tradesmen and women are going about their daily duties, but they are all working to forge materials needed to construct the Market House.

After archaeological work last year, Colonial Williamsburg was able to determine the correct placement and size of the last public building to be constructed in the re-created historic town. The Market House, planned for construction at 104 East Duke of Gloucester St. near the Magazine’s Guardhouse, was made possible by a $1 million contribution from Forrest Mars Jr. but would not be ready for construction if historically accurate materials were not available.

The market will comprise a roof, roof supports and a brick walkway and foundation, so copious amounts of bricks, nails and shingles are necessary before construction can begin.

Workers at the brickyard are shooting to make 300 bricks per day this summer as part of a multi-year effort to make more than 52,000 bricks for the Market House, said Jason Whitehead, supervisor of masonry trades. A total of 61,000 bricks are needed for the project, but about 9,000 are planned to be

http://wydaily.com/2014/06/04/building-market-house-at-colonial-williamsburg-a-multi-year-effort?cat=localnews/

purchased from an outside source – unless the brick makers can pump out the total number needed for the project before its planned construction this fall.

Despite the number of bricks needed for the project, a visit to the brickyard this summer is no different than any other day.

Brick makers still entertain guests with the details of how bricks are made and fired, and visitors can still stamp their feet in a clay pit to help prepare native Virginia clay for molding into bricks.

Rows of bricks lay in the sun to air dry, waiting to be fired in late July or early August or mid-November, before Thanksgiving.

Because the bricks are being fired for walkways and foundations, only the well-fired, hard bricks will be used. About 20 to 30 percent of bricks are over-fired, which causes them to become brittle.

Paving for the Market House is planned to begin in early September, and the foundation for a planned scale house — used to store scales for the Market House — will likely begin at the same time. Bricks fired in November will be used next spring for the Market House itself.

A carpenter at Great Hopes Plantation fashions a shingle from a strip of cedar. A stack of completed shingles sits behind him. (Photo by Brittany Voll/WYDaily)

http://wydaily.com/2014/06/04/building-market-house-at-colonial-williamsburg-a-multi-year-effort?cat=localnews/

A short drive away from the brickyard, over at Great Hopes Plantation near the Visitors Center, carpenters are using hurricane-felled cedar trees from south New Jersey to make about 15,000 shingles for the Market House.

Between six workers, about 1,000 shingles are coming out of the historic plantation each week.

The cedar trees are hacked into logs and cut into 18-inch sections. Each section is halved, then quartered using a long wedge, called a froe, said Jack Underwood, journeyman Historic Trades carpenter. The outer tree ring, close to the bark, is removed as it is most susceptible to wood rot, and the quarters are split into flat pieces for carving into shingles.

The carpenters sit at their clamp benches — one of which is decorated with a deer skull found in the nearby woods — using their feet to control the clamp and two-handled blades to taper the shingles, and then round off the edges.

Accuracy through modern measurement is not an option; the carpenters align the shingles with their benches to check for straightness and uniformity. Five minutes after starting, the carpenters toss their completed shingles onto a stack and move onto their next ones.

Visitors stop to watch the work and the carpenters explain the process, not slowed by the impending construction project they are working toward.

In the fall, the carpenters will begin sawing support beams — joists and rafters — for the roof, which will laid out at the plantation, chiseled with Roman numerals for assembly, then carted over to the Market House site for final assembly.

At the James Anderson Blacksmith Shop and Public Armoury site, workers are hand-hammering iron bars into nails.

“Our role, really, is the iron and steel components of the project. The Market House really is a large roof, so it means mostly nails,” Master Blacksmith Ken Schwarz said. “As the project progresses, there are some furnishings in the building, which will be hooks, and the tin shop will be making lanterns and lighting, balance scales, hardware for furniture.”

Right now, the armoury is working to produce 15,000 nails. Every shingle needs a nail to hold it, but the gabled ends of the building will eventually require more nails.

http://wydaily.com/2014/06/04/building-market-house-at-colonial-williamsburg-a-multi-year-effort?cat=localnews/

A worker in the armoury makes a nail from an iron bar. (Photo courtesy Colonial Williamsburg)

Schwarz said someone practiced at nail-making can produce close to two per minute, so the armoury projects 100 can be made per hour.

“The way we approach nail making is … instead of dropping what we’re doing and making 15,000 nails, if we make 75 or 100 nails between our other projects each day, at the end of the year that gives us 20,000 or 30,000 nails,” Schwarz said.

To create a nail, a worker heats a long iron bar until it is red-hot. The end of the bar is hammered into a point and then worked on the anvil corner to define the nail length. Once ready, the nail is cut from the bar and held while the nail head is hammered.

Once the nails are ready, the carpenter’s crew will assemble the building itself, which is planned to be open by late 2015.

“To me, one of the interesting aspects of a project like this is Colonial Williamsburg’s historic Trades had the ability to manufacture every single component of the building and then to furnish it and operate it as well,” Schwarz said. “There really are few institutions in the world that have that capability. It’s a treasure that we have that we sometimes take for granted.”

http://wydaily.com/2014/06/04/building-market-house-at-colonial-williamsburg-a-multi-year-effort?cat=localnews/

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