My all-time favorite candy is Maple Sugar Candy and since I now live in the mid-west, it’s hard to find. In fact, it’s hard to find anywhere outside of New England. However they had it here! I bought three boxes and took their card so I could order more by mail. If you have a favorite candy, I’ll bet they have it also. Here is a partial list of some of the items they carry: candy, honey, BBQ sauces, VA peanuts, bread mixes of all kinds, cider, soup mixes, apple butter, peach butter, Chesapeake Bay Crab Products and Arts of the Table products. They advertise over 10,000 lbs. of candy in the shop at any one time. Watch for coupons in the "giveaway magazine" called "Colonial Guide". It’s available all over Williamsburg. We saw a dollar off each pound of fudge you buy.

While this probably isn’t a destination, it is a nice side trip. Their phone number is 757-464-1151. I’ve included a couple of pictures below for your information. One is a picture of the building which is very helpful if you’re looking for something along the road and the other is a sampling of the candy they offer. These pictures are photographs of an ad in the Colonial Guide mentioned above.

At this site, the actual process of modern and ancient candle-making comes together. While some of the machinery is mechanized, they still use the dip it over and over and over technique to build up the diameter of the candle. You can tour the factory where you'll see the huge automated wheels of "candles-in-the-making" that get dipped into even larger vats of molten wax. Today, the Williamsburg Soap and Candle Company turns out 6 million candles a year. The workers will talk about what is necessary to make the candle smooth and how they occasionally cut off the bottoms spikes to make sure the candle comes out with a flat bottom. This is basically the same method used 200 years ago only on a much grandeur scale. They will also demonstrate how they make some of the specialty candles such as the twisted or carved varieties.

They also check the candles for straightness and blemishes, no matter how tiny. Any small problem sends the candle to the wholesale counters right there in the factory outlet store. This is where shopping becomes fun. You can purchase factory seconds, overruns, closeouts and test market specials found only at this location for next to nothing!... and I couldn't really find any blemishes worth mentioning! But perhaps even better, they also sell there finest candles at greatly reduced prices since shipping consists of walking the product 50 yards or so! We were there just before Halloween and some of the specialty candles for both the fall and Christmas holidays were out in full force. It was beautiful.

There are also several other stores that are part of the Soap and Candle Co. There is a Christmas House that sells Christmas decorations year round; a colonial/primitive home decor shop called Barney's Country Store; a store called Needlecraft Corner with a large selection; a Tapestry store and a restaurant that features home cooked meals.

Their phone number is 757-564-3354 and the website is www.candlefactory.com. We spent several hours here and enjoyed it very much. So if you're looking for something a bit different while in Williamsburg I think you'll enjoy the Williamsburg Soap and Candle Co.!

This is a place for the person who likes to shop for candles or for someone who is looking for specific types of candles. They have basically anything you could want in candles.