Recommended Itineraries

The Historic Area of Colonial Williamsburg stretches over 301 acres, and includes 88 original 18th-century structures. Hundreds of houses, shops and public outbuildings are reconstructed on their original foundations. Learn more about how this sleepy town transformed into a window on history.

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  First Visit Itinerary

  Sites we recommend you see

  Like Boston and Philadelphia, Williamsburg played a major role in the American Revolution. Williamsburg was the social, political, and cultural center of Virginia (the wealthiest and most populous of Britain's mainland colonies) and the training ground for many prominent leaders of the American Revolution, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and Patrick Henry. belonging to the colony and Commonwealth of Virginia.

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  World of Work Itinerary

  Most colonial Virginians worked in the countryside either at farming or at rural crafts such as carpentry, coopering, or blacksmithing. Towns, however, attracted a much wider range of craftspeople, including those specializing in high-end trades like cabinet- and coach- makers, silversmiths, and milliners. The commercial nature of the town can be seen in its many shops that stock everything from basic necessities to imported luxuries. Residents and visitors alike also needed the services of barbers, butchers, and tavern keepers. Much essential work was more mundane; every household required several hands to cook, clean, wash, carry water, chop wood, stoke fires, tend kitchen gardens, and transport goods.

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