Colonial Williamsburg
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Chesapeake Semester students spent their first day in Williamsburg gaining a perspective on the colonial history of the nation’s first Capitol. After exploring the streets before lunch, they visit Williamsburg’s Archeology Lab, developing critical insight into the 70% of archeology beyond the excavation process. The day was capped off with a dinner at Shield’s Tavern and a stroll through town.
Students stopped in the Regional Welcome center on their way through the area.
Mike Hardesty ’05
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Students spent the first half of the day exploring the many museums, taverns, and interactive exhibits of Colonial Williamsburg.
In the afternoon the next day they met on the green of the Governors’ Mansion with Dr. Seidel to report out on their experiential assignments. Students were asked to use the information available at Colonial Williamsburg—reenactors, museums, interactive exhibits—to explore themes that varied from weather patterns and foodways to slavery and politics. -
On their third day in Williamsburg, Chesapeake Semester students were given assignments to explore. What messages about history are portrayed here? How did the life of the free and the enslaved affect each other? In what ways did the foodways of the colonial culture reflect the environment in which they live?To address these questions and others, students visited the Great Hopes Plantation, a recreated 18th-century Virginia farm and strolled down Duke of Gloucester St., striking up conversations with reenactors to inform them of the past. -
Continuing their journey southwest, students in the Chesapeake Semester left the Eastern Shore of Virginia and crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel to arrive at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) in Gloucester Point on the north side of the York River. Exploring the aquarium, students met with faculty to discuss environmental degradation through pollution, sea level rise, and compromised wetland habitats. A visit to the Mariners’ Museum afterwards included a guided tour of the Chesapeake Bay Exhibit. The day concluded in Williamsburg in preparation for the following three days delving into Historical Colonial America.
