Hi everyone! Can you believe the first month of the year is almost over? It’s certainly gone by quickly! Well, before February arrives, I was extremely blessed to be able to visit Colonial Williamsburg this past weekend.
For years, a visit to Williamsburg was a dream of mine, and last year I finally went. Even though we had 2 1/2 days to explore, we still didn’t see it all. So as our membership tapered off, my mom and returned to use it before it expired.
Our first morning there it was cold and sunny. We parked at the visitor center (parking is free there), and walked the winding path to the Historic Area. The path brings you to a quiet street with pastures leading up to the Governor’s Palace. Fortunately, we had seen the Palace last year, as it was closed for maintenance, along with its kitchen. So we continued down the Palace Green to the George Wythe House.
The George Wythe House
Did you know that George Wythe was one of Thomas Jefferson’s mentors? Wythe was a very accomplished man. He taught many students one-on-one in his home, giving “pop quizzes” to students when he met them on the street. Then he was elected president of the College of William and Mary. As a signer of the Declaration of Independence among other things, he was a highly respected man.
The house named after him was built in the 1750’s and was actually given to him when he married. Wythe’s father-in-law stipulated that the property would remain with him unless he had no children, in which case the house would return to his wife’s family. Sadly, Wythe and his wife never did have children. In fact, Wythe planned to gift his estate to his grand-nephew, but was poisoned by him! Fortunately, Wythe lived long enough to revise his will.
The Wythe house is one of the 88 original structures in Colonial Williamsburg, and is full of colorful wall papers, mirrors, and glass-covered pictures. All of these things were signs of wealth in the 18th century.
Downstairs, there is a summer bedroom, meant to combat the heat during the hottest months of the year. From the pictures, you may not be able to tell just how bright and busy some of these wallpapers can be. They definitely make a statement. But in case you’re wondering, Williamsburg gets all their papers from a business in England who specifically recreates 18th century wallpaper. So all of these styles are accurate.
An inconspicuous feature of the house is nestled into the wooden shutters. If you open the shutters, which are expertly fitted into the four-brick-thick wall, you might notice the grapefruit-sized holes. There’s one in the parlor, and another upstairs. They were used for their ability to concentrate solar power into a primitive microscope — some of the newest technology at the time!
Another tidbit is that the floorboards have been flipped, so now you’re walking on the underside of the boards Jefferson has tread. 🙂
Back behind the house stand numerous smaller buildings. There are four larger ones, all about the same size, and then a few other smaller structures.
The Cooper
First off, though a cooper is known for constructing barrels, they can make anything that requires their set of skills. So anything from a huge barrel, to a tiny bucket*, to a wooden tankard, handy for using on ships, is made by them.
To be honest, I can’t say that I’ve been thrilled by the idea of coopering before. However, I walked out of that shop with a new respect for the craft and interest in it. As an aside, there wouldn’t really have been coopers inside the Wythe family grounds, but for interpretation’s sake, they have been placed there now.
The cooper starts a project by shaping the boards that will be used. At Williamsburg, the cooper was able to completely eyeball the process; he said that was why you served a 5-7 year apprenticeship. Pretty impressive. Deftly, he angled off the edges of the plank so that they would all fit snugly together. Then he used a hollowing knife to make a concave surface on the inner side. Finally, he curved the outer surface with a backing knife, and the single plank was ready to be put into a small barrel.
Metal rings are used to hold the various object together. No heat or blacksmithing is required to bind the metal strips into rings. The coopers purchase metal already formed into narrow strips. Then they cut and bend them to the size needed, hammering a nail through the connecting ends.
Those metal rings are primarily made of iron, but sometimes brass or copper. Brass and copper don’t corrode as quickly as iron, which makes them great choices for sailors’ tankards. Also, brass and copper don’t spark if they strike a rock, so they were definitely the wise selection when making a gunpowder barrel.
Each metal ring is fitted around the boards until it is very tight. Now the shape of barrels makes sense: they need to be able to hammer every ring down until it can’t go farther. So you end up with the slightly inverted-hour-glass shape.
To open and close a barrel that contains dry goods, the top rings and removed, allowing the lid to be pulled out. The tops and bottoms are fitted into a ridge cut into the inside of the planks. For barrels meant to hold liquids, a small hole is cut in the side where a plug can be placed.
And if you’re every in a pinch, a cooper’s trick to stop a leak is to stuff the crack with cattails. The cattails swell and work well enough to stop the problem long enough for the cooper to get around to fixing it.
*[I have now read on C.W.’s website that buckets were not technically part of the cooper’s trade, but their coopers do make them.]
The Kitchen
A large fireplace dominates one of the kitchen’s walls, in front of which is a plain wooden table used as a work surface. To the side is another table filled with various dishes that the Williamsburg cooks have made recently, including a roasted chicken with its head and legs (just so you can make sure it’s not a peacock). Underneath sits a collection of large ceramic jars filled with pickled foods, one with a bladder on top.
By the fire, an interpreter was readying a yeast base for some bread, which she was going to cook in a dutch oven. Another reenactor explained to us that in the 18th century, this kitchen would have been manned by slaves, as many things around the Wythe house were. The slave quarters were housed above the kitchen. He went on to say that many slaves were educated to be able to perform their duties well. Tragically, this could be used to identify them if they managed to escape. A slave known for his skill at blacksmithing would be recognized for the trait if he tried to use it.
Back to the food-covered table though, we see the whole chicken lying roasted on a plate. Common practice was to leave the legs and head on fowl as a way to identify them. First, the chicken’s age could be told be the size of the spurs on its feet. Large, calloused spurs meant an older bird. Then, the head was left on so that diners could tell what type of bird they were eating. Nowadays, this might seem a tad excessive, but back then, they were eating from a much wider selection of birds than we do. There were swans, eagles, peacocks, finches, pigeons (there’s a coop for them right there), hummingbirds(!), and many more! Can you imagine eating a hummingbird?
Outside in the yard we had noticed a very cute breed of chicken that was much smaller than most. We were told that those are Bantam chickens, specifically Nanking. Bantam only refers to the size of the bird, whereas nanking is the actual breed. Nanking, he went on to say, are closely related to the chicken ancestor, a bird that pops up about 4,ooo years ago in Asia. Interesting!
Another food fact: most of the ceramic jars did not have an airtight seal. They contained pickles, which naturally preserve themselves and do not require refrigeration. If the colonists did wish for an airtight seal, they could use animal bladders, which were stretched over jar mouths when wet. Then as they dried, they shrunk, thoroughly sealing in the contents. You can now be thankful for metal jar lids!
The Wythe House is just a tiny sampling of Williamsburg’s expansive collection of buildings. I had an amazing visit, and you’ll probably be hearing a little more about it next week! Colonial Williamsburg has some great online resources: check out the links below!
How about you? Have you had an interesting experience at Colonial Williamsburg? Please feel free to comment below about your time there! I’d love to hear from you!
Biography of George Wythe
Born 1726 at Chesterville (now in Hampton, Virginia) Man of integrity and virtue, respected by all First Virginia signer of the Declaration of Independence Framer of the federal Constitution Instrumental in design of seal of Virginia Believed poisoned by his grandnephew in 1806 Buried at the church where Patrick Henry made his "liberty or death" speech George Wythe (pronounced "with") was born in 1726 at Chesterville in what is now Hampton, Virginia.
Colonial Williamsburg | Take Time To Go Back
From hands-on activities to guided tours of original 18th-century buildings to our unmatched folk-art collection, there's something for everyone at Colonial Williamsburg. Your admission ticket is the key Your ticket purchase supports our mission to share America's enduring story.
Home page of History.org : The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's official History and Citizenship site
In Colonial Williamsburg's 301-acre Historic Area stand hundreds of restored, reconstructed, and historically furnished buildings. Costumed interpreters tell the stories of the men and women of the 18th-century city-black, white, and native American, slave, indentured, and free-and the challenges they faced. In this historic place, we help the future learn from the past.