Back in Time

On Sunday, we hired Uber to take us across the county to Williamsburg, the second colonial capital of Virginia. Compared with Jamestown, it was a different world. No swamps, agrarian land and streets laid out in a typical English village of squares, parks and building lots of homes and shops. Williamsburg, with a few exceptions, is set in 1775. News of the Battles of Concord and Lexington is sweeping through the colonies, causing alarm and excitement. British efforts to control gunpowder, one of the drivers behind the British march to Concord, has just been effectively expended in Williamsburg.

Instead of taking a bus from the visitors' center to the village, there is a bridge and path that lead to the village. It is an almost magical and certainly transformational walk that takes you past pastures and deep woods. With a little imagination, you could believe you were really walking into a 1775 landscape.

The walk starts by going over a bridge. There are plaques set in the pavement. They start by telling you you are walking from the 21st century to the 18th century, into the American colonies.

There are intervening plaques. When you reach one of the first plaques on your way back to the 18th century, you no longer receive your news on televisions since they didn't exist. A bit further on, there is no income tax, nor does social security exist (not really related!). Further on, all of your food comes from within 8 miles of your home. And it takes days to traval any sort of distance.

Among the last transforming plaques is this one:

Exit the bridge and you enter a path with zig-zag split rail fencing and a bucolic setting. Walk further and you finally enter Williamsburg village.

There are many renovated and restored buildings lining the streets. The Governor's Palace is at the head of a rectangular park. We joined a church service to hear the service, which was of modern-day concerns. But the choral pieces were beautiful.

There were artisans as well, showing how their goods were made, such as barrels, furniture and jewelry. One shop even sold Thomas Jefferson's favorite ice cram, vanilla bean. (But it was soft serve!)

Our favorite aspect was the speakers. Here is Thomas Jefferson, speaking of his numerous pieces of legislation he had introduced to the Virginia legislature. These are all designed to further free education, limit the trading of slaves (with the ultimate goal of reducing slavery), and promote free speech.

We also heard from George Washington, who spoke from the time near the end of his second term as President. And we heard from a tavern owner, a woman, who climbed up from indebtedness to relative wealth in the 25 years she owned and operated the tavern.

Perhaps it was time to return to the 21st century. Our legs told us so. We had walked many, many steps. And transversed decades. In doing so, our trips to 18th and 17th century colonial Virginia have shown us that we face many of the same social challenges today as Jefferson highlighted in the Declaration of Independence. Yet today and tomorrow, we will forever strive for a more perfect nation, a more perfect union.

And it is up to each and every one of us to contribute positively towards that goal.

Cheers,

Brio