Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown trip

We went to Homeschool Days last week to Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. It was such a wonderful learning experience. I'll share some of the kids narrations on some of the places we visited:

Jamestown Settlement
by McKenna
During the week, we went to the Jamestown Settlement. We saw the Indian tee-pees. We also learned that if you were under 14 years old, you would not have clothes even in the winter!!!



We got to scrape the fur off the deer (see picture below). We went to a class and the teacher said that Indian's stone knives are sharper than our metal knives.




In the village of the colonists, everyday there were two church services and on Sunday there were three church services! If you missed the first, you would lose a meal. If you missed the second, you would get beat. The third, they would hang you!!


Jamestown Settlement
By Keegan
Jamestown Settlement was my favorite one of the trio. We saw Indian tents and got to go in them. I learned that kids under 14 didn't wear clothes! We got on the Susan Constant and the Godspeed (see picture below)! My favorite person that we met was the person who did the musket demo. I got to go to a class at Jamestown about what Indians, Englishmen and Africans had. I got to put on English armor at the end! We (Emma, Keegan, Ethan, McKenna, Mommy) got to feed the chickens and collect eggs. At the Indian camp, we got to scrape skin off a deer two times.




Yorktown
By Keegan
I liked Yorktown. They had a Museum (as well as Williamsburg and Jamestown) But this Museum was all about the Revolutionary War. It had French, Colonial, and British swords. I think French was the lightest, Colonial the middle, and British the heaviest. They talked about the Boston Tea party, and let us pick seeds out of cotton! We got to go in army tents too. (see picture below)



Kitchen:



Yorktown
By McKenna
We learned that if you were a child, you would have to pick out the seeds from the cotton and pick the bugs off the tobacco. We got to pick seeds out of the cotton (see picture below).






Women could come with the men to war, but they had to make shelter out of sticks and pine branches to sleep in (see example below).



Dried food for the winter:





Book Bindery
By McKenna
We went to the Book Bindery. We learned that there are two ways to bind a book: 1) Stitch Bind and 2) Normal Bind. They used a pizza-cutter shaped thing to put a design on the book. The book Emma is leaning on below has these stamps on its front.






Printer
By Keegan
The Printer had a printing press she showed us. She also had little letters she would set up to make words and she had ink balls. She would smother the letters with ink before she printed. They mainly printed newspapers and pronouncements.

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Printer
By Braden
We went to the printer. We got to watch the girl make newspapers. First they put the letters on the print press. Then she puts ink on the letters. Then she puts a piece of paper on two nails and then she puts the big lid down. Then she pulls the bar and then the newspaper is finished.




The Governor's Palace
By McKenna
The Governor's Palace has a lot of weapons that he had promised to give to the soldiers.





George Washington loved to dance in the Ball Room there. I think he did this because of the beautiful colors.



The Governor had the prettiest garden I have ever seen!








Apothecary
By Keegan
An Apothecary is an old-fashioned doctor. The lady we visited talked about different types of medicine an d showed us knee braces, wooden leg braces, and an arm cast! I got to try on the wooden leg brace. In the next room, they had a real skeleton! They also sold all different kinds of medicine.




Wigmaker
By McKenna
We also went to the wigmaker. We learned that you would usually shave your head first so it would fit (but you did not have to). There are 4 types of hair you could use for the wig: Horse hair, Human hair, Goat hair, and yaks hair. You would probably want to have more than one wig.




Blacksmith Shop
By Keegan
My grandfather is a blacksmith! The blacksmiths in Williamsburg taught me a lot of stuff. Now I know how to make nails, and I know old-fashioned blacksmithing! For instance, I was taught about the handle thing (bellow)- that if you pull it down, air would blow into the fire. I loved the blacksmith place!






Weaver
By McKenna
At the weaver, we learned that every time they took something off something you had made on the loom, you would have to set it up again which took more than five days!! This is how you weave: First, you set it up. Then you put a wooden peg in and out while you are pumping the pedal.

Weaver
By Braden
We got to watch the weaver make string. This is how you make string: You get cotton and you pull it and you twist it. And we watched him do a spinning wheel.




Shoemaker
By Keegan
The shoemaker had shoes hanging everywhere. He told us that he always made four of each shoe. When we came in, he was sewing the bottom of a shoe. The shoes were made of leather.





Milliner
By McKenna
At the Milliner, girls would buy dresses, hoops (hoops are things girls wore to extend their waist), bonnets, hats, dolls, and much more. You would go to the Milliner and order a dress. For an example, you would get your dress in two weeks.





Basketmaker
By Keegan
The basketmaker was awesome! She had a lot of tools to make baskets. She showed us a big basket that a man would have, and a basket a kid would have. She had saws and knives and tools Dad and I use to cut wood called Busters. She said that they could buy metal busters, but thy mostly made them from wood.




Magazine and Gunhouse
By McKenna

At the Magazine/ Gunhouse, people stored guns, swords, and other weapons. Two of the most dangerous things they were scared of were slaves rebelling and Indians. We also saw blankets and sheets in stacks on shelves. We got to hold some fake guns designed like they would have been then.









Brickmaker
By Keegan
The Brickmaker was making bricks when we came. He took us over to a table, and talked about different bricks and their colors. He said that the blue bricks were the ones on the bottom of the pile while firing. They had a mud pit you could help mix the clay with water using your feet.




Courthouse
By McKenna
At the Courthouse, if you were said to do something like stealing or something like that, they would put you in either of these stocks (shown below) in front of the whole community. If you did something worse, they would hang you.


















Public Gaol
By Keegan
There were few people in cells. Most bad guys got hung or marked with a hot iron! The jailer would live in a house connected to the jail. The bad guys in jail had to go to the bathroom in front of other bad guys.





Capitol
By McKenna
When we were in Williamsburg, we went to the Capitol. We learned that if you did something bad, then they would judge you there and if you were guilty, they would put a mark in the shape of a T or M with an iron. So if you were said to have done something wrong, they would probably hang you.