My first real trip to Virginia was in 1972 during the April school vacation. A group of three Rhode Island teachers piled into a car and drove South to experience a “real” spring and to visit Colonial Williamsburg. Eileen, my best teacher friend, taught American history and she had never been to Colonial WIlliamsburg. I had actually been to Colonial Williamsburg before, in 1969, when I did a January Term at the College of William and Mary, but that experience was more closely associated in my mind with Bethany College than Virginia itself. My first trip to Virginia for a real vacation was with the teachers when we traveled to Williamsburg to experience colonial life. Williamsburg is a good place to experience an idealized version of pre-revolutionary North American British life. Back when I visited the “history” neglected the story of 1619 and the first arrival of enslaved Africans to the colonies. My husband and I returned to WIlliamsburg with our daughter in 1992 and we enjoyed showing her colonial life.
Memory is a funny thing though. My most vivid memory of that second trip was a nice dinner Harold and I shared at the modern Colonial WIlliamsburg resort. There was an older couple sitting at a nearby table and we both noticed that they sat there without speaking a single word for the entire meal. We wondered if some day we would be like them. It never happened to us. We always managed to have something to say to each other. We also used that visit to travel to four presidential homes that are located in Virginia. Mount Vernon, Washington’s home, Monticello, Jefferson’s home in Charlottesville, Montpelier, Madison’s home in Orange, and Highland, formerly Ashlawn, Monroe’s home also in Charlottesville. https://worldstrides.com/blog/2019/02/presidential-homes-in-virginia/ Megan was 12 years old and she had traveled with us and her grandparents to England and Scotland a couple of times by then and she was enchanted with touring “stately homes.” At least by 1992 mention was made of the “slave quarters” and archaeological and genealogical study of the history had begun in earnest.
The saying is that “Virginia is for Lovers” and I don’t think that slogan arose because of Colonial Williamsburg. It seems more closely associated with Virginia Beach and the Shenandoah Valley. Harold and I visited Virginia Beach a couple of times while driving south after retirement. We found that the Boardwalk is amazing at Christmastime. They allow cars to slowly drive along it to observe the amazing Christmas lights which adorn the beach. We enjoyed stopping in Virginia Beach in December, but unless you are great lover of honky tonky beaches, sun, and heat, it is a place I would avoid in the summer.
One of my favorite parts of Virginia is the Shenandoah Valley and the Skyline Drive which is really an extension of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We found Staunton, Virginia, to be a delightful historic town to visit while exploring the area. We also held fast to our rule that sampling local brews is essential on any good vacation. Vienna Lager was a pleasant surprise. https://www.virginia.org/places-to-visit/scenic-drives-and-byways/byways/scenic-skyline-drive/ If you have a hankering to come down from the mountains while driving Skyline Drive it is pretty easy to exit and travel down to the Shenandoah Valley which is beautiful and has many interesting diversions. https://shenandoahvalley.org/ However, Colonial life is left behind in WIlliamsburg and the focus in the Valley is the Civil War. https://blueandgrayeducation.org/2020/05/travel-guide-shenandoah-valley-during-the-civil-war/ We did not spend a lot of time exploring this aspect of the Valley, but suffice it to say the Shenandoah Valley was known as the “breadbasket” of the Confederacy and it provided access for troops moving toward either Washington, D. C. or Richmond and thus has numerous battlefields and historical sites, if only we hadn’t spent so much time drinking the local lager.
If you want to explore this aspect of Virginia you can even visit a craft brewery. https://www.dbbrewingcompany.com/our-story/ Unfortunately like many craft breweries this one has been bought up by a conglomerate. Hopefully the character of the beer will not change.
I will close my Virginia musings with a factoid shared with me by a Canadian friend, Sandra from Ottawa. The other day she explained to me the difference between a confederation and a federation. Canada, in spite of the famous Confederation Bridge, is actually a federation as is the United States. A confederation is a voluntary association of states, a federation is a united republic. My thought is that this differentiation might explain the fascination with “states’ rights”, especially in states of the former Confederacy. Anyway if you want to learn more about this subject, give this link a gander. https://www.diffen.com/difference/Confederation_vs_Federation
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