During our trip to Virginia the central stop was Colonial Williamsburg. We stayed in a bed and breakfast just 4 blocks from the Colonial center and were able to visit the colonial houses during the day and take a ghost tour in the evening. The day we visited was the hottest day during our whole vacation so we didn’t see as much as we might have liked to. I wanted to share a couple of the interesting historical things I learned while there.
While we were on the ghost tour we stopped at the cemetery in Colonial Williamsburg at the Bruton Parish Church. Among other things, the tour guide made a side mention that the first husband of Martha Washington and two of her children had been buried there. So of course I had to stop by in daylight to seek out the gravesite. They don’t look like much in the pictures because the inscriptions were so worn down by time and weather but I found the graves of both Frances Custis and Daniel Parke Custis Jr. (Martha’s two children that didn’t survive childhood). I am pretty sure that the grave beyond the children’s belongs to her husband, Daniel Park Custis. The Custis family spent a lot of time in Williamsburg as their home was nearby and Martha’s family lived there.
To speak of another prominent name, upon the entrance to the area there is a bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson writing a draft of the Declaration of Independence. Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia for many years and Jefferson was the Governor for a period of time. He spent much time here prior to becoming Governor and a year at Williamsburg after becoming governor before he moved the capitol to Richmond. We were able to take a tour of the Governor’s mansion and there is quite the impressive display of guns and arms. Check it out!!!
We visited Williamsburg on Memorial Day and were treated to a show by the Colonial Marching Band. I’m sure if you were to visit for the Fourth of July you would be able to see a show like this as well! Happy Fourth of July!
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