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The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Earned Media Coverage

August 1, 2013

Colonial Williamsburg Center and Gardening

7/26/13

Landscape supervisor Susan Dippre and Chef Rhys Lewis talk with NPR’s Gestalt Gardner about Colonial Williamsburg’s gardening and farm-to-table program.

http://mpbonline.org/gestaltgardener/GG072613/

10 Family Benefits to Staying at the Williamsburg Woodlands

By Carrie Anne Badov

When planning a trip to historic Colonial Williamsburg there are many accommodation options available but we opted to stay-on site at theWilliamsburg Woodlands Hotel and Suites. This family oriented hotel offers a convenient location to the historic area as well as these 10 other family benefits for your stay. The best part about these family features at the hotel, all of them are free (with the exception of eating at Huzzah!). It's the little extras that can add to a family getaway. The Willaimsburg Woodlands offers both standard rooms and suites. With five of us we thought we would need the added space of the suite, with its king bed in one room and a queen sofa bed in the sitting area, but the standard room worked just fine. Along with two double beds it comes with a sofa chair that the kids took turns sleeping in.

http://www.everythingmom.com/travel-guide/10-family-benefits-to-staying-at-the-williamsburg-woodlands.html#/2

Huzzah Family Dining

Colonial Williamsburg has a number of great dining options but if you're looking at staying at the hotel be sure to checkout the onsite restaurant Huzzah. Kids will love making their own mini pizza right at the table and mom and dad can sample some locally crafted beer and food pairings.

Cool Off in the Pool

Pools are becoming a 'must have' requirement for our holiday trips and exploring Colonial Williamsburg can get hot. Take a plunge in the heated outdoor pool at the Woodlands Lodge and Suites to cool off before heading back out for some evening fun.

http://www.everythingmom.com/travel-guide/10-family-benefits-to-staying-at-the-williamsburg-woodlands.html#/2

Water Country and Busch Gardens Shuttle

If you're looking for a little more excitement, Water Country and Busch Gardens are nearby. You can forget the parking lot hassle with the free shuttle buses that run every day between the Woodlands Hotel and Suites and the two parks (image: ©2013 SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserve)

Fun Zone

If pools and roller coasters aren't your thing, drop by the Woodlands' Fun Zone. Here guests can enjoy a number of free activities including a game of mini golf, shuffleboard, table tennis, and tether ball. There's even a kids playground for the little ones and it's all nestled in the beautiful wooded grounds.

http://www.everythingmom.com/travel-guide/10-family-benefits-to-staying-at-the-williamsburg-woodlands.html#/2

Continental Breakfast

Before you head out on your Williamsburg adventureenjoy a complimentary sit down continental breakfast. Choose from cereals, yogurt, bakery items, fruit, and a variety of hot items from the breakfast bar. We found the indoor seating fills quickly but there's a lovely outdoor patio you can enjoy too.

Ice Water and Coffee

One of my favourite elements when returning to Woodlands Hotel and Suites was being greeted by ice cold fruit infused water. It was the perfect way to refresh after being in the sun. In the cafe just off the lobby you'll also find hot coffee available all day for your caffeine fix.

Free Evening Performance

Another perk to being a guest at the Woodlands is enjoying one of the evening performances at the Colonial Williamsburg at no charge but be sure to select and book your choice early at these tend to fill quickly. We missed out on the tavern ghost walk but it's on our list for next time.

http://www.everythingmom.com/travel-guide/10-family-benefits-to-staying-at-the-williamsburg-woodlands.html#/2

Walkway to the Historic District

As the Williamsburg Woodlands Hotel and Suites is located right beside the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center, you can walk back in time over the bridge to the historic area.

Colonial Williamsburg Shuttle Bus

As a hotel guest you can enjoy the use of the Colonial Williamsburg shuttle buses at no charge. These will help you get around the village during your visit or back to your hotel after a night of Tavern dining. In the evening they'll even drop you off at the Woodlands Hotel and Suites, saving you the extra walk from the Visitor's Center. (image: © 2012 by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)

Kid's Check-In

Kids can enjoy their own check-in, occupying their time with activities and crafts while you handle your own room paperwork. The Kids Check-In also kept us in the loop to family activities going on in the evening at the hotel, such as magician visits and pirate pool parties.

http://www.everythingmom.com/travel-guide/10-family-benefits-to-staying-at-the-williamsburg-woodlands.html#/2

SPIES BY DAY, TAVERN DINERS BY NIGHT By Carrie Anne Badov

The idea of basing a family vacation around history might not seem that appealing but Colonial

Williamsburg has found a way to bring it to life. For a brief moment we were living the Colonial life,

working to defeat the enemy as spies during the day and reveling in the tavern atmosphere at night. As you walk over the footbridge from the visitor’s center to the historic area of Colonial Williamsburg you are reminded of the advancements we’ve made as a civilization. In Colonial times women don’t have a voice, coloured people are property, and the King rules over all. Or does he?

It seems there are rebel forces at work in Colonial Williamsburg. These forces are working toward freedom from the monarchy and establishing democracy and they are looking for a little help. Of course

http://www.everythingmom.com/travel-guide/spies-by-day-tavern-diners-by-night.html

my kids answered the call. They received their orders from the RevQuest: The Black Chambers, as well as a black bandana. These bandanas are worn as a sign to the allies within the village that you could be trusted to help the cause. We met up for our first rendezvous, as per our secret orders. Thankfully our orders also gave us the password or else we wouldn’t have been allowed entry into the meeting area. There were a number of other allies on hand, eager to help. After our brief instructions we were given a coded map and directions to our next rendezvous point and our adventure began. The kids looked for clues around the village, they deciphered codes, made secret meetings, and communicated discretely with members marked as friends.

The ReQuest experience really had the kids feeling as though they were living the part and helping the villagers. For a more authentic experience you could rent costumes for the day (adults and kids) but we were fine with our bandanas under the hot, humid sun. We didn’t complete our mission to the end due to some technical difficulties with text messages on our mobile device. You text enabled device is how you communicate back and forth on your mission but I was told afterward you could complete the mission without technology. I actually thought the idea of texting back and forth for clues would be the most appealing part of the mission but my kids really enjoyed the low-tech, using ciphers and hidden messages to solve clues. I think I would want to try the whole mission without technology next time.

http://www.everythingmom.com/travel-guide/spies-by-day-tavern-diners-by-night.html

The portion we did complete had the kids enthralled and working together. I love that the experience changes, making it a program families can participate in each time they visit. I know RevQuest will be top of mind during our next visit. With our spy work done for the day we headed to the local tavern for dinner. Colonial Williamsburg offers anumber of family dining options but if you’re looking for an experience you have to reserve a spot at one of their historic tavern experiences.

Located in the period Shields Tavern, we were taken into the main dining room, a privilege we were told. The furniture was sparse with every item authentic to the time frame and accounted for on the back of the menu. No fancy cushions or modern lighting in here. Light from a window on the other side of the room (an earlier dinner meant some daylight still) as well as a single candle on our table lit our dinner.

http://www.everythingmom.com/travel-guide/spies-by-day-tavern-diners-by-night.html

My husband and I enjoyed the local brew and the kids loved the King’s Arms Tavern Ginger Ale. I’m not much of a soda drinker but this stuff was delightfully delicious. While we enjoyed our dishes of Ale-potted Beef and Braised Pork, the owner of the tavern popped by to introduce himself and strike up a casual conversation. Like in a traditional tavern, roving instrumentalists entertained us with stories and music played on historical instruments.

My youngest daughter has no idea that her seat at the end of the table positioned her as the head of the house. Shyness fell over her when the tavern owner asked her to join him in a dance. Luckily her older sister saved her by taking the gentleman’s hand.

http://www.everythingmom.com/travel-guide/spies-by-day-tavern-diners-by-night.html

Other dinning guests in costume added to our experience. Dining at the Shield’s Tavern really felt like a step back in time but with modern bather facilities (my kids were a little worried on this point). We also discovered there is a downstairs dining area in the Shield’s Tavern, where you can enjoy ‘high life’ dining of the serving class. A second night we ventured down the road from the Shields Tavern to dinner at Chowning’s Tavern, which also was a lovely experience though our novice server made it feel a little rushed. If you enjoy local beer you’ll have to try their sampler, giving you a choice of three ales to savour. Our entertainment for the evening was a roving musician who demonstrated many different musical instruments, sharing stories about them. Each time he made the rounds and entered the room he has a new instrument in his hand.

Tavern dining at Colonial Williamsburg isn’t just an experience by name alone, the furniture, tableware and lighting really felt like you were sitting in a recreated set. But what transports you back is the people, both the guests who rent costumes to get into their role as well as the staff who greets you, seats you, servers you, and entertains you. And they seem to really love and get into their roles.

http://www.everythingmom.com/travel-guide/spies-by-day-tavern-diners-by-night.html

You’re visiting Colonial Williamsburg to experience colonial living first hand, RevQuest and tavern dining move you from observer into participant. Discovering history has never been so fun. For convenient accommodations we stayed on-site at the Williamsburg Woodlands Hotel and Suites. Beyond their close proximity to the historic district, it offers many other benefits to families.

http://www.everythingmom.com/travel-guide/spies-by-day-tavern-diners-by-night.html

Road trip! Destination: Virginia’s James River area By Bob Karlovits

7/27/13

The James River Peninsula often becomes an “en route” part of a trip to Virginia's ocean communities or even North Carolina's Outer Banks.

But it is much more than that. It also is quite a bit more than Williamsburg, the remade colonial village that perhaps has become its best-known spot.

It is a spot of much historical significance, being the home of the first attempt at British colonization and the site of the climactic battle in the War for Independence.

Beyond that, however, a group of plantations displays an agrarian culture that created a gigantic difference in thinking that led to the Civil War.

It is more than a place to pass through.

A word of caution, though: Days can be hot and humid down there. It seems only natural the Busch Gardens theme park there would have a sister site named Water Country, U.S.A.

The James River area is about 390 miles away from Pittsburgh.

http://triblive.com/lifestyles/travel/4171701-74/james-river-site#axzz2aRFASaXh

KING FOR A DAY A visit to Colonial Williamsburg is a trip back in time. Not only have the homes and businesses been restored, cars are not permitted to ruin the 18th-century feeling, period music drifts from various sites and re-enactors imitate famed historic figures, such as Patrick Henry. So, park your car and forget about it. The area is small enough to handle on foot, but there are some free shuttle buses that circulate the fringes. During the day, of course, the village is crowded with tourists. Sometimes, the busy atmosphere can take away some of the historic feeling. For that reason, plan to have a dinner in town, then go for a walk along the quiet streets. During the day, though, take advantage of the events, talks and concerts that are constantly offered. Details: 757-220-7645 or www.colonialwilliamsburg.com. NO PLACE LIKE HOME Throughout the James River area, a world of places to stay makes vacation planning easy. But, mind you, don't forget the word “planning.” The area gets busy, so it's important to book a room. One of the best ways to enjoy the area is to stay in one of the 29 colonial homes restored and for rent in Colonial Williamsburg itself. Right in the historic area, the homes are decorated in colonial fashion, but still have those important amenities our ancestors did not. Indoor toilets, for one. Also, since they are in the historic area, they are quiet at night or early in the morning before visitors flock in. The area is perfect for quiet walks. Rentals range from $150 to $405 a night, and there are 79 rooms spread throughout the buildings. Some buildings have only one sleeping room, making it really seem like home. Details: 800-447-8679 or www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/stay/colonial-houses. THE FIRST TO HAVE A GO AT IT Just when Williamsburg is looking old, a trip to nearby Jamestown seems in order. It predates the colonial capital. The Jamestown settlement began in 1607 and was the first English settlement in the New World. The visitors center at Jamestown has galleries and a film that looks at the cultures of the Europeans, Africans and Powhatan Indians who met at the site. By 1611, two other settlements were established beyond Jamestown, which should have given the Powhatans an idea of what was to come. The Jamestown historic site also features re-creations of a Powhatan village, a colonist's fort and the three small ships that brought the English here, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery. Details: 757-253-4838 or www.historyisfun.org GETTING THE JOB DONE When George Washington led the Continental Army to victory at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, the fact of the matter was clear. The British finally realized they were not about to defeat the uppity colonials. The Marquis de Lafayette, who led the French forces that were a big part of the victory, said at the time “the play is over.” He was right, and the Yorktown Victory Center chronicles the years of revolt that surrounded this pivotal moment in the history of the United States. Exhibits talk about the people who lived in the area, details of the siege and the British ships lost in the York River. Outside, there is a Continental Army encampment. An 18th-century farm provides a look at life minus the intrusion of soldiers.

http://triblive.com/lifestyles/travel/4171701-74/james-river-site#axzz2aRFASaXh

Details: 757-253-4838 or www.historyisfun.org. A SYMBOL OF THE SOUTH After the first, rugged settlements and the development of an 18th-century urban community, the James River area began to be the site of residences that have become symbolic of the South: plantations. While this area is generally thought of in colonial terms, eastern Virginia is the heart of antebellum, agricultural life. Loosely joined as a group called James River Plantations, five magnificent residences offer treasures from three centuries in Charles City County between the James Rand Chicahominy rivers. Shirley (804-829-5121) was Virginia's first plantation and dates to 1613. Sherwood Forest Plantation (804-829-5377) was the home of President John Tyler from 1842 to 1862. Westover (804-829-2882) was built in 1730 by William Byrd II, the founder of Richmond. Evelynton (800-473-5075) was part of a Byrd expansion and named after his daughter, but since 1847 it has been in family of Edmund Ruffin, who fired the first shot at Fort Sumter to begin the Civil War. Berkeley (804-829-6018) is believed to be the site of the first official Thanksgiving in 1619. Information on the plantations where tours are offered is at www.jamesriverplantations.org. LOOK AWAY, DIXIELAND While the James River area is known mostly for its role in early America, the area was an important site in the Civil War. Nearby Petersburg presented a bulwark to the Confederacy that, when it fell, spelled the end of the war. Petersburg was an important transportation site with rail yards that presaged the giants of the 20th century. Capturing those yards became part of the strategy to taking the Confederate capital in nearby Richmond and led to a nine-month siege. Details of that siege and life as a Civil War soldier can be seen at Pamplin Historic Park, also home of the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier, which tells the stories of the combatants. The Battlefield Center, located near the zig-zagging Confederate defenses, talks about the battle itself and how the fall of Petersburg meant the fall of the Confederacy.

Details: 804-861-2408 or www.pamplinpark.org To get closer to the action, stop at the Petersburg Battlefield Park (804-732-3531 or www.nps.gov/pete), where the story of the battle is told at the Eastern Front Visitor Center. The site of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's headquarters is an examination of the huge supply base and hospital he had there. EASING UP A LITTLE BIT While focusing on various eras of history is a challenging and satisfying pursuit, there's nothing wrong with having a little fun. Nearby Busch Gardens offers that with its assortment of coasters and thrill rides, collections of animals, as well as a variety of places to dine and shop. The rides are the biggest attraction, naturally, with bare-knuckle beauties such as the Loch Ness Monster and Alpen Geist, in which riders are flipped through some inversions at speeds up to 67 miles an hour.

One-day passes begin at $70. Details: 800-343-7946 or www.buschgardens.com

http://triblive.com/lifestyles/travel/4171701-74/james-river-site#axzz2aRFASaXh

Read more: http://triblive.com/lifestyles/travel/4171701-74/james-river-site#ixzz2adqZovxe Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook

http://triblive.com/lifestyles/travel/4171701-74/james-river-site#axzz2aRFASaXh

Rainier teacher returns from Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute

By Lyxan Toledanes

7/21/13

Rainier teacher Andrew Demko has returned to Oregon after attending the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute last week.

Demko is known for the “living history” costumes he wears while teaching.

Demko and 25 other middle and high school teachers explored controversial issues in American history by visiting Williamsburg and nearby Jamestown and Yorktown during the intensive institute. Teachers took part in re-enactments of 18th century events and spoke with noted historians.

Demko said he learned more interactive techniques and will incorporate his experiences into his teaching.

He received a full $1,900 scholarship, which included a stay in the colonial houses, food, transport, tours and evening programs.

This was Demko’s third trip to the East Coast this summer. He visited Colonial Williamsburg in June with his students and attended a C-SPAN teacher’s conference in Washington, D.C., earlier this month.

http://tdn.com/news/local/rainier-teacher-returns-from-colonial-williamsburg-teacher-institute/article_a84c417a-f26e-11e2-bbb2-0019bb2963f4.html

Searching for a lost landmark in Williamsburg's Market Square By Mark St. John Erickson

7/29/13

Of all the public buildings that helped define life in 18th-century Williamsburg, the most conspicuous absence in today's restored colonial capital may be the Market House that once stood near the Powder Magazine on Duke of Gloucester Street.

That's why Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists are investigating the site so closely, probing beneath the surface for signs of the 1757 structure that was an important center of the town's daily life until it was replaced in the mid-1830s.

This detail from a French map of 1782 shows the Williamsburg Market House located just to the right of the Powder Magazine a few yards from Duke of Gloucester Street. (Courtesy of Swem LIbrary at the College of William and Mary / July 29, 2013)

http://www.dailypress.com/features/history/our-story/dp-searching-for-a-lost-landmark-in-williamsburgs-market-square-20130729,0,4122172.post

"Of all the places in town, the Market House would have been where the greatest variety of people gathered," architectural historian Carl Lounsbury says, describing the motives behind the dig and a reconstruction effort that is being funded by a $1 million gift from foundation trustee Forrest Mars.

"This was where the town and the country met, where tradesmen and itinerant higglers sold their wares, where slaves and workmen mixed with masters in a market filled with open stalls and carts and wagons. So we'd really like to be able to show that part of the town's life."

Three other digs have explored the site in the past, including a 1934 excavation conducted as the 19th- and 20th-century church that covered its footprint was being razed during the early years of the Williamsburg restoration.

But not long after archaeologists recorded and mapped what appeared to be evidence of the building's foundation, most of the few surviving deposits of brick rubble and oyster-shell mortar were dug out and removed as part of the church's demolition.

That's left CW archaeologist Andy Edwards and his crew with the difficult job of going back and trying to extract as much information as they can from such ephemeral clues as the footprint of an 18th-century drain and the slight shifts in the color of the dirt left by the workmen's shovels.

"We're looking for any remnants we can find. We've even found the clawmarks of the excavator from 1934 in the bottom of a trench," he says.

"But so little survived that now it's all about reading the dirt, about searching for little nuances and trying to figure out what they mean."

Lounsbury and his colleagues in the foundation's architectural history department are studying numerous similar structures for clues, too, including a rare surviving early 1800s market house still standing inFredericksburg.

Combined with the partial footprint uncovered in 1934, these analogous examples from Norfolk, Portsmouth, Richmond, Fredericksburg, Alexandria and Annapolis have combined to give CW architectural historians a reasonable idea of what the Williamburg Market House may have looked like.

A preliminary sketch shows an open, hip-roofed building with a raised brick floor and wide overhanging eaves.

Measuring approximately 20 by 40 feet in size, it may also have been surrounded by a ring of short vertical posts or bollards marking the areas where the market could be conducted.

"They would have been pretty big posts," Edwards says. “So we're hoping we can find the traces of at least one and use that to help with the reconstruction.

The Market House dig will continue all this week, when Edwards will meet with architectural historians to discuss the project's finds and the potential merits of continuing for another couple of weeks.

In addition to the Market House site, the archaeologists are simultaneously investigating the footprint of a smaller nearby building that also shows up on the Frenchman's Map of 1782 Williamsburg.

"We don't know what it is," Edwards says. "But while we're digging here we're checking it out."

-- Mark St. John Erickson

http://www.dailypress.com/features/history/our-story/dp-searching-for-a-lost-landmark-in-williamsburgs-market-square-20130729,0,4122172.post

The Virginia Gazette, July 27 2013

The Last Bison gets a musical boost from Williamsburg's Fifes and Drums By Sam McDonald

7/26/13

A hot indie-rock band from Chesapeake will deploy a retro-rhythmic weapon at the FloydFest music festival on Sunday: Colonial Williamsburg's Fifes and Drums.

Thanks to an unusual partnership, a 10-member detachment from that famous marching corps will join The Last Bison for a few songs during its two sets at the festival. Held annually near the Blue Ridge Parkway, FloydFest attracts crowds of 15,000-plus.

"It's an honor to have you guys coming with us," Last Bison mandolin player Dan Hardesty told the fifers and drummers at their only rehearsal held earlier this week. "We want to bring something Virginia to a Virginia festival. We're excited, so we're going to work though some music and see how incredible we can make it."

"And how loud we can make it," his son, Ben Hardesty, added. Ben is the singer and principal songwriter for The Last Bison. He noted that the second of his band's FloydFest concerts will compete with one by the group Old Crow Medicine Show.

"We want people to go, 'What is that thunder?'" Ben said with an impish grin.

Rock bands don't often express their passion for history, but The Last Bison is an unusual case. Local rock station WROX-FM (96.1) added its song "Switzerland," to regular rotation in 2011, meaning the folky acoustic tune rubbed elbows with older hits by the Beastie Boys and Red Hot Chili Peppers. The success of "Switzerland" led to a record deal with the major label, Republic/Universal. A debut album, "Inheritance," was released in March.

Visually, The Last Bison presents a style dragged straight out of the 19th century. Everything from stage clothes to its website and album artwork connects to an era when the American West was being tamed.

http://www.dailypress.com/entertainment/dp-nws-bison-meets-fifes-and-drums-0726-20130726,0,5738200.story

The fact that Colonial Williamsburg interprets an era a century or so earlier than that didn't bother Ben Hardesty. He and The Last Bison team doggedly pursued some kind of partnership for nearly a year.

"I've always had a love for Colonial Williamsburg," Hardesty said in an interview. "I love to immerse myself in a setting. Colonial Williamsburg does that better than any place I've seen. I just feel peaceful and restful when I'm there. It's a place of respite for me. I plan to go to for the rest of my life."

Brian Patrick, social media strategist for Colonial Williamsburg, is a fan and friend of the band who helped to make the partnership happen.

"When you have a band like The Last Bison that embodies the spirit of old ... it's not a forced connection," Patrick said. "The demographic that comes to Williamsburg is older. There's a need to connect to the Millennial Generation."

Putting one of the historic town's familiar symbols on stage at a big rock festival is a step in that direction, he said.

Despite good intentions, mixing radically different musical forms proved to be tricky at times. Still, after a two-hour rehearsal at the Fifes and Drums headquarters, the two groups played as a cohesive, forceful whole.

After the session, Sarah Asby, a 16-year-old fifer and student atJamestown High School, sounded excited and a little relieved. "I'm surprised that it did work out so well," Asby said. "You have the 18th century meeting the modern. It's pretty cool how it all fit together."

Another teen was even more enthusiastic. "I've been a huge fan of The Last Bison since I saw them at the Winter Meltdown back in November," said 17-year-old drummer Patrick Ward. "Now, half a year later, I'm playing with them at FloydFest. Who would have thought of that?" he said, smiling.

"Now, if only Imagine Dragons would call us up ..."

Want to go, see or know more?

The festival

FloydFest is an outdoor rock music festival happening outside the town of Floyd in southwestern Virginia (south of Blacksburg). It began Wednesday and continues through Sunday, July 28. Headliners include Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Blitzen Trapper and the North Mississippi All Stars. The Last Bison performs at 11:45 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Sunday, July 28. http://www.floydfest.com

The band

For more on The Last Bison, go to http://www.thelastbison.com

The Fifes and Drums

http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/plan/calendar/fife-drums/

http://www.dailypress.com/entertainment/dp-nws-bison-meets-fifes-and-drums-0726-20130726,0,5738200.story

Trip to Germany Inspires CW Tradesmen to Work on New Carriage Project

By Brittany Voll

7/28/13

Last year, three Colonial Williamsburg interpreters traveled to Germany to view a private collection of riding carriages. The men are now working to re-create an almost 300-year-old chair back gig — a single-seat riding carriage — they saw while on the trip.

Master of the Shop John Boag and Journeymen of the Shop Andrew DeLisle and Paul Zelesnikar of Colonial Williamsburg’s Wheelwright shop visited the private collection of Heinz Scheidel in Mannheim, Germany, in March last year, on a donation-funded trip. “If we want to study products of our type, it’s the place to go,” Boag said.

Scheidel’s collection is the best of its type in the world, Boag said. The collection includes state and non-state vehicles, one-of-a-kind vehicles, and ones that are rare. The chair back gig the three men saw in Germany is the only one known to still be in existence, and it was built using North American wood, so they know that’s where it originated.

“It was well worth the trip,” Boag said.

Historically, the wheelwright shop at Williamsburg advertised the kind of gig the tradesmen are now re-creating; a similar gig has not been built in about 280 years.

http://wydaily.com/2013/07/28/trip-to-germany-inspires-cw-tradesmen-to-work-on-new-carriage-project/

DeLisle and Zelesnikar are in the early stages of making the gig — DeLisle will make the body and Zelesnikar will make the wheels. When complete, it will be a single-seat carriage with two wheels drawn by a single horse.

“The way you build a carriage is kind of the way you build a house, from the ground up,” Zelesnikar said.

The two men have never built this style of carriage before, and are estimating it will take between 800 and 1,000 total hours to build. Even though the two men work 40 hours a week each, it will likely take them about a year to complete the project due to the nature of their jobs.

They spend part of their workday answering questions from the visiting public, and part of the day working on two to five privately commissioned projects for museums per year. Currently they’re working on building cannons for Revolutionary City, the live-action performances put on by Colonial Williamsburg’s many interpreters.

If the men could devote their entire workday to the gig project, they would likely complete it in six to nine months. Historically, they think the project would have taken one to two months.

The building process started last year in Germany as the men took photos of the carriage, made notes and documented the carvings and details of the finished carriage in Scheidel’s collection. Within a few months of returning to the states, they began drawing the carriage. Before construction begins, a carriage is drawn full-size from different angles.

“Without a full-size pattern, you have no way to build it,” DeLisle explained.

So far, a small-scale version of the carriage has been drawn on a painted white wall in the shop and a pattern spoke has been made. Zelesnikar estimates it will take him about 180 hours to complete the pair of wheels. He started on determining the wheel dimensions Wednesday and should have the parts ready for assembly by mid-September.

In late February, the area will host the Carriage Association of America and Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s International Carriage Symposium. Boag hopes to have something to display at the symposium, which might help to garner donations for Colonial Williamsburg. The gig project is currently being funded through Colonial Williamsburg’s operating budget; because of how it is being funded, there is currently no total cost estimate. Colonial Williamsburg doesn’t itemize project costs except in situations where donations are provided.

http://wydaily.com/2013/07/28/trip-to-germany-inspires-cw-tradesmen-to-work-on-new-carriage-project/