And we were off to Colonial Williamsburg yet again, the third time in just over a week researching for an article. Sam has been hooked on the “Ghostbusters” theme song from a Halloween mix that I picked up at Target, so we listened to it over and over and over again. Who ya gonna call? Of course we had to belt out our favorite line every time, “Bustin’ makes me feel good!” I never thought I’d be so euphoric to hear “Monster Mash” or “I Want Candy!
So back to Williamsburg, what can I say? It’s a pretty colonial place. Thankfully it’s colonial in a good way with nothing ticky-tacky or “wanna-be” about it. It’s downright refreshing. There are no plastic toys or shopping bags, no keychains with names on them, no puka bead necklaces, no fast food, and no cheesy t-shirts. Oh, and there are no cars either, at least along Duke of Gloucester Street, the heart of it all. You don’t see anything made in China, and they make everything they can out of materials that were available back in the 18th century. They call it America’s largest outdoor living history museum, and it truly is. Basically the whole town functions as it did back in the day, functioning as one huge museum.
I’m usually skeptical of visitors’ centers, quick to write them off as a big ole waste o’ time. I stand corrected — the Visitors’ Center in Williamsburg is much nicer and has more information than many museums I’ve seen. Oh, and what a gift shop! I’m also pretty skeptical of shuttle busses, but these are not from the 18th century but as modern as they come. And, more importantly, they show up surprisingly quickly and then whisk you around while a pleasant recording announces well-marked stops. By golly, it works, very well in fact!
So after a day of checking out the Revolutionary City and its spectacular grounds like the maze above, we headed out on the nightly Ghost Walk around town. Convinced Sam would get scared and freak out, I had an elaborate escape plan all figured out. As it turned out, though, he really got into it, announcing to the group that he saw a mysterious light on upstairs in an old tavern house. Uh oh. Then he spotted a “ghost” in the window of a spooky darkened house. Unfortunately it turned out to be a real man wearing an orange t-shirt who happened to be smiling and waving to us. Alas, no confirmed apparitions there…
As we trudged along Duke of Gloucester Street, our leader told us about some women staying in a local boarding house who heard strange pacing in the middle of the night. She asked, “So who would you call if you were staying in a hotel and you heard strange noises?” As the crowd muttered about the front desk, Sam shrieked, “GHOSTBUSTERS!” Then he went on some diatribe about finding the ghosts and “shooting ’em down!” I guess bustin’ makes him feel good, especially some colonial ghosts.
Libby
