Jamestown and Williamsburg

On Tuesday, April 17th we headed south for a vacation in the Williamsburg, Virginia area. The whole family went, including my parents. My dad did the driving. I would have taken a turn at the wheel but it was his car and he didn't want to share the task. We took my parents’ SUV because unlike our car it is large enough to comfortably hold five people with luggage. We hit the road around 8:30 after we had dropped our cats off at the vet’s to be boarded while we were away. It was a long day in the car and we arrived in Williamsburg around supper time. We checked into our B&B, the Cedars, which was very attractive and comfortable, a marvelous place to stay.

After we had unpacked the car we headed out for dinner. We picked Berret’s, the first restaurant we saw but a good choice. We all enjoyed our meals. The food and the service were excellent. None of us really needed desert but the delicious smell of the peach-apple cobbler from the next table was enough to tempt us. On our waiter’s advice we ordered two orders for the table because it was too large a dish for one. Two orders was enough but the cobbler tasted every bit as good as it smelled. In fact, it was declared to be the best desert Maura had ever had in a restaurant. We are still talking about it a week later.

After a good night’s sleep we gathered for breakfast. My birthday, which was earlier in the month, was celebrated with a candle in a muffin and Bob, our genial host, took our pictures. Then, after a quick stop at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center to pick up our tickets we headed down the Colonial Parkway to Jamestown Island, the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America (and, of course, in Virginia). The site saw many firsts but it has long been abandoned as a town and to unpracticed eye there isn’t much there to see. Fortunately we were able to take an archaeological tour of the site of the first fort at Jamestown led by one of its excavators. Once thought to have been washed away by the James River the site of the fort was discovered in 1994 and found to be mostly still on land. Archaeologists have been at work there ever since and have discovered tens of thousands of artifacts that shed light on the history of the site and the life of the early settlers. During our tour we heard a fascinating presentation that touched on the early history of Jamestown and on the ways that archaeologists learn about it from the artifacts and the traces left behind in the soil by human activity. Afterwards we made a short visit to the Archaearium, a museum dedicated to the finds from the site. I enjoyed seeing some of the things that our guide had seen excavated but Maura was beginning to tire, so we headed back to the Historic Jamestown Visitor Center. Maura turned in her paperwork for her Junior Ranger badge and we headed back to Williamsburg for lunch and a short rest. There was much more at Jamestown that we didn’t see. We never explored most of the ruins of the 17th century town beyond the first fort. We also didn’t visit the reconstructed Jamestown Settlement on the mainland at all. Perhaps someday we will go back but we couldn’t see everything this trip.

After lunch we went to Colonial Williamsburg for the rest of the afternoon. Colonial Williamsburg is a living history museum made up of a collection of buildings, some restored originals and some reproductions based on documentary evidence and archaeological exploration of the site. Buildings that are open to the public are furnished as they might have been in the 18th century. Colonial Williamsburg is staffed by reenactors and interpreters in 18th century dress. Reenactors play the roles of 18th century people. Interpreters admit the existence of the 21st century but demonstrate some aspect of 18th century life, often by practicing an 18th century trade. On Wednesday afternoon we arrived in Williamsburg late enough that we didn’t see many of the shops and houses that were open but we did get to take in the Revolutionary City programs that reenacted events from the time of the American Revolutionary War as they happened in Williamsburg. Some of the characters were well known people such as George Washington and Benedict Arnold but others were poor whites, African American slaves, or Native Americans. The program was excellently done and gave a view of how the war affected people who might not have benefited much from American independence.

Our dinner in the evening was at Christiana Campbell’s Tavern, one of the taverns in Colonial Williamsburg. We had been looking forward to it but the evening was not as enjoyable as we had hoped. The entertainment was good—both the singer who performed with her guitar in the dining room singing 18th century songs and the character portrayals of our waitress and of our hostess who portrayed Mistress Christiana Campbell herself. As a server the waitress seemed a bit overwhelmed. She forgot things we had ordered and brought food to the table cold. The food would have been better had we been served it promptly and the evening would have more fun and memorable as we had hoped it would be.

While dinner was a slight disappointment the day as a whole was fun for everyone and we had two more days to enjoy in the Williamsburg area which I will write about next week.

Heritage Gardens and Museums in the Spring

This week is Maura’s spring break from school and we’re taking advantage of it, especially since the weather has so far been very pleasant. Yesterday we drove from Weymouth the Williamsburg, Virginia, but we’ve seen little except the very charming bed and breakfast where we are staying so I’ll save that trip for next week. Monday we did some more local travel so that Maura wouldn’t miss her skating lesson. We drove down to Sandwich on Cape Cod to show Jennifer, and my parents who are visiting from Indiana, the Heritage Gardens and Museums.

We had a very nice day, though it was hot for April. I never saw a weather report for Cape Cod but in Weymouth the temperature was reported to have hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit, though I was never uncomfortable. It was dry and there was a nice breeze. We left early and stopped for breakfast at Persy’s Place, in Kingston. They claim to have the largest breakfast menu in New England and I find no reason to doubt them. We don’t go there often because Kingston is a bit far to go for breakfast but I like the place a lot. It is the only restaurant I know of anywhere near where we live that has hash browns, which are my favorite breakfast potatoes.

After breakfast we drove on down to Sandwich. The gardens were beautiful though not yet in their full glory. There were many blooming daffodils and a few of the hundreds of rhododendrons had started to bloom. Some day we will have to visit in May, when they are in full flower. The crowds were not as oppressive as they had been when Maura were there before, on Free Museum Friday, and we walked the labyrinth almost undisturbed. Maura and I rode the carousel while my parents and Jennifer watched from a bench. I felt like a little kid and a proud dad all at once.

At the antique automobile museum we had a chance to enjoy the air conditioning while we had a leisurely look at the collection. Maura and I sat in the model T Ford that is the only one of the cars in the museum that you are allowed to touch. I imagined what a ride must have been like back then. The seats were remarkably comfortable but the car wasn’t moving so there was no way to know how good the springs were.

After the visit to the gardens we drove to the Thornton Burgess Society’s Greenbriar Preserve not far away. We went to visit the jam kitchen. The kitchen was a popular stop on the Cape before World War Two and hasn't changed much since then. We bought two jars as souvenirs and to enjoy later. I let Maura pick out a jar of orange cranberry rhubarb relish. Jennifer and I agreed on a jar of rhubarb ginger preserves.

Afterwards we rode home in comfort for a short rest before skating and a fine dinner at Stockholders, a Weymouth restaurant we had long been wanting to try. We were not disappointed and everyone agreed that the food and the service were excellent.

Holiday Feasts

Last weekend was a busy one for our interfaith family. Major holidays for both Jews and Christians came almost together. The first night of Passover and Easter fell on the same weekend and we feasted in celebration of both.

Passover began on Friday evening. We hosted a seder—a meal and ceremony in one that tells the story of Passover with a dinner. We didn’t have a huge crowd. It was only the three of us plus my sister-in-law Andrea and her two daughters. Even for a small number of people a seder is a big deal. It needs to be a special meal. Jennifer, as always with holiday meals, did a wonderful job. The kitchen was filled with delicious smells all afternoon and everything tasted just as good. I’ll admit that I wasn’t as much help as I might have been. I had a great deal of work to do for school and I didn’t have much time to assist Jennifer with the cooking. I did do the shopping and some cleaning before and after the event so I won’t claim to have been useless, just busy with other things. Though I am not Jewish the Passover seder has become one of the things that I look forward to every year. It comes at season when I often need a little cheering up and it has also given me some great snapshot moments that help me enjoy my daughter growing up. Each year she gets a little more deeply into the ritual and more adult in the way she enjoys her meal.

Easter was the joyous day for me that it should be. I went to church in the morning and thoroughly enjoyed the service. As always I went alone. The downside to being part of interfaith family is that I can’t share everything that I love with my family. Other parts of our celebration of Easter are generally low key. Sometimes we dye eggs but not this year. Maura did get some chocolate from the Easter Bunny and Jennifer bought some Peeps to share with her. They can have them. Peeps are one Easter tradition I can do without.

In the afternoon we went to our friends the Tittlers’ for Easter dinner. Julie does a dinner on Easter that is anything but low key and I feel privileged to have been invited to share it more than once. Julie cooks a traditional Polish Easter feast and it is a treat. I think I would like to visit Poland someday. I know I would enjoy the local food. Even better than the food was the company. We often get together with the Tittlers but we don’t always have the chance to linger at the table and talk for hours which we did on Sunday. Our friend Jeremy was the fourth guest at the Tittlers’ table and he always has interesting things to say. Along the way we had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. The men hid the eggs in the yard for the three children to find. Maura found hers quickly but afterwards she helped the Tittlers’ youngest find the remainder of hers. She even rehid a few of the one’s she had found when we realized there were not as many eggs as we had thought there were. I was very proud of her when she did that.

The Boston String Quartet at Sanctuary Hall

On Saturday March 31st we went to see the performance of the Boston String Quartet at Sanctuary Hall, otherwise known as the East Weymouth Congregational Church. It was a treat for me to celebrate my birthday which was on Sunday. I’ll admit to being prejudiced in favor of the East Weymouth Congregational Church because I am an active member of the congregation but the truth is that the church is an amazing place to see a concert. The sanctuary is an intimate space with great sight lines and fantastic acoustics. Musicians love to perform there because they sound their best. The ticket prices were another reason why this was a great show to see. Adult tickets were only $10 each and a family ticket was $20 so Jennifer and I brought Maura for free. Home baked goodies were available before the show and at intermission for a pay-what-you-can donation.

The Boston String Quartet gave a great show. They played with energy and style and it was clear that they enjoyed what they were doing. Most of the pieces that they played were from their most recent CD which was recorded in the sanctuary at East Weymouth Congregational. The concert this year was offered as payment for those recording sessions. Most of the pieces that were played were arrangements of pop songs or folk songs from around the world, all arranged by members of the quartet. It was a very eclectic mix that ranged from Michael Jackson to Taiwanese folk songs and included Santana and the Charlie Daniels Band.

You might expect that pop songs played by a string quartet might sound like something you would expect to hear on an elevator but nothing could be further from the truth. All of the pieces were interesting and exciting to listen to. The range of sounds that the Boston String Quartet produced from their instruments was astounding and included many that I wouldn’t expect to hear from stringed instruments. Maura enjoyed the music as much as I did and wanted the CD. We purchased the latest one plus an the earlier one and we’ve enjoyed listening to both of them.

The Boston String Quartet is active in supporting music education and frequently travels around the country working with high school students. A portion of the CD sales goes to support these activities. They will also be in concert at Jordan Hall on April 15 to benefit music education. They will perform with the Grammy winning Turtle Island Quartet, Jeanette Olson from Glee!, the Xibus World Orchestra (composed of students from around the country) and other special guests.