Williamsburg, Virginia, a Place of History

Plan to spend several days in Historic Colonial Williamsburg. This recreated town of American History is a great way to learn about the history of the formation of our country.

Learn how the Plantations were run and how the slaves fit into the overall Plantation Community by spending a day at Carter's Grove Plantation. If your really fortunate, you'll be around when they have a reenactment weekend at Carter's Grove Plantation.

Busch Gardens is a typical Amusement Park with a number of interesting rides plus shows and other entertainment. There are always some of the Budweiser Clydesdales in residence and most days a team is hitched up at least once during the day with handlers present to answer questions about the horses and let children get up close to them.

Quick Tips:

Colonial Williamsburg is a large enough and interesting enough area that you should plan on spending several days there. Oh that learning history should have been as interesting in school as it is here.

For a break from History, spend a day at Busch Gardens or just lounge around your Timeshare for a day. Both Sunterra resorts, Greenspring and Powahatan have nice pools and activities on site for just such a day of fun.

Best Way To Get Around:

Plan on using a car while in the area to reach both the local sights plus a couple of outlying areas if time permits. There is no public transportation and things to do are spread out.

We stayed at this motel because we found a coupon for it in one of the motel coupon books you can pick up at Visitor Centers along the interstates. We went and they let us check the rooms and both couples in our party were satisfied, so we stayed two nights.

This is an older motel with cabins and your first impression as you drove by would probably be to keep on driving. However, the cabins are very clean and well maintained. The rooms our 2 couples had were spacious with 2 queen size beds plus a table and 2 chairs. Window air conditioners kept the rooms pleasantly cool during hot June days.

There was a nice outdoor pool plus there were chairs outside the rooms where you could sit and visit and just relax.

Best Things Nearby:
Colonial Williamsburg Historic Site and Busch Gardens.

Best Things About the Resort:
If you are a golfer, this timeshare is adjacent to a Jack Nicholas designed Golf Course and visitors to the resort have access to this golf course and special fees for playing it. There is also nice indoor and outdoor swimming pools plus a hot tub. There is also a very well equipped Workout Room.

Resort Experience:
The units at this resort are full 2 Bedroom Units with a spacious, well equipped full kitchen. Many of the units have a view of the Golf Course.

The units are within 3 story buildings with no elevator so you may need to be certain on what floor the unit you're getting is located.

Units are entered through a foyer which has a full 2 bedroom unit off each side of it. Occasionally it may be possible to get a pair of these units off the same foyer and then you can leave the doors from the units open giving you a 4 bedroom, sleeps 12 unit which could be great for a family get together.

There is plenty of parking. Visitors staying at the resort have access to a Jack Nicholas designed golf course with special fees for the timeshare visitor.

The are indoor and outdoor swimming pools plus a childrens pool and hot tub. A well equipped exercise room should meet anybody's workout requirements.

The resort is a short distance outside of Williamsburg and a car is necessary to get back and forth. When we stayed there no eating facilities were present on the resort.

This resort, in my opinion, well deserves it's Gold Crown rating.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Very Good
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

Best Things Nearby:
Colonial Williamsburg and Busch Gardens are the closest activities to this resort. A short distance away is the Williamsburg Candle Factory and a couple of outlet malls are in the area.

Best Things About the Resort:
This timeshare really caters to the family visitor. Indoor and outdoor pools plus a kids pool. Indoor recreation area.

Resort Experience:
This resort contains both 1 and 2 bedroom units although both times we've stayed at it we have stayed in 2 bedroom units.

The buildings are two stories with one unit being on the first floor and the second unit on the second floor. The two units share a common entry way which is locked to the outside and then locked to each unit.

Some of the first floor 2 bedroom units have a Hot Tub in them. We had one of these units once but the Chlorine level in the Hot Tub was so high that we used it only once and the Chlorine irritation to our eyes drove us out of it within less than 10 minutes.

Overall the units are quite spacious, include a nice size, well equipped kitchen and are very comfortable.

There are outdoor scenic lakes on site which results in a presence of a large number of Canadian Geese and consequently a lot of Goose Droppings which have to be watched out for when walking around the resort.

When we were there, there was also a Blue Heron at one of the ponds that was quite tolerant of people so you could get close enough to really appreciate the beauty of this bird in the wild.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Very Good
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Very Good
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

Great Sirloin and T-Bone steaks as well as Prime Rib served with Potatoes, Salad and bread. Steaks and Prime Rib were cooked as ordered. Everything tasted great and the steaks and prime rib were tender.

They have a steak special which if an approximately 5 lb. steak that if you can eat it within an hour along with the original order of salad and potatoes, you get if free. The night we were there, two different people actually accomplished this feat. It wasn't real busy that night and our waitress, at the request of one of her other tables, brought out one of the steaks. It actually looked more like a nice size roast than a steak.

They also serve seafood but we're not seafood eaters so can't comment on the seafood but if you like steaks or prime rib, this is a great place to eat.

Nice well rounded menu of Pasta, Veal dishes, steaks and chicken. Small but nice Salad Buffet which comes with the meal.

We had pasta dishes. They were well cooked and the sauce was very flavorful.

The service was friendly and attentive. All drinks are extra. The interior of the restaurant was clean and the atmosphere was very pleasant.

Frequently coupons can be found for this restaurant.

An excellent education in the history in the founding of our country.

Colonial Williamsburg resides on the site of the original Williamsburg at the time of American Independence from Great Britain.

A simple walking tour through the streets of Colonial Williamsburg gives you a nice feel for what the town was like in the days our forefathers lived in it except it is a lot cleaner than it would have been then.

There are a number of shops that recreate the businesses of that time. Everyone who works in Colonial Williamsburg dresses as the residents of the town would have dressed at that time and they interact with the visitors in the manner and language of the time.

There are 3 levels of entrance passes to Colonial Williamsburg and these passes permit the holder to participate in designated activities within the town. In 2002, the cheapest pass, $33, is a one day pass and permits riding the transportation from the visitor center into the town proper and access to certain of the buildings.

Two levels of one year pass exist in 2002. One priced at $39 permits access to virtually everything within the town although there are a few evening activities which cost additional. This pass to us is the best buy.

The second level of one year pass permits access to virtually everything within the town. It also gives you discounts on certain of the other activities as well as on things you purchase in the stores within Colonial Williamsburg.

Actively working business include a printing shop, furniture manufacturing, carriage building business, a post office, shoe making, wig making, gun maker, silversmith and others which you can visit, at most spend as much time as you want to watch and visit with the craftsmen.

There are tours of many of the buildings which give you a lot of the history of the buildings and the people who were residents there.

Walking tours through the town, normally around an hour in length explain things such as the gardens the people had, how the slaves interacted within the town, how the court system worked, how the government worked, etc. These tend to change from year to year as time passes and they try to keep them new and fresh for return visitors.

There is an active Archelogical Site which you can tour and watch them continuing to search for items to help understand the history of the town and times.

You need to allow several days to really fully appreciate all that exists within this area.

There are working restaurants within the town that serve food of a type and in a manner related to the time represented by the town. Be aware that these restaurants are not cheap.

Candles, Candles, Candles. All types of Candles.

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.

A well maintained example of what a Plantation from the colonial times was like. Includes the Winthrop Rockefeeler Archaeoloty Museum with exhibits of early colonial times artifacts actually excavated in the area.

The slaves quarters for the slaves have been reconstructed on the site where they originally were when the Plantation was in operation.

There are interpreters on the site to explain the various areas, in particular, the slaves quarters and main building.

On some weekends, Civil War Reenactors can be found camping on the Plantation. We were fortunate enough to visit on one of these weekends and it was quite educational to see these reenactors recreating what life would have been like for the soldiers during that time.

We had a special experience in this area as one of the guides we had toured in Colonial Williamsburg with during the week was one of the Reenactors on site during the weekend and it made it real easy to talk to him and ask questions. If only history had been as interesting in school as they make it in Colonial Williamsburg and Carter's Grove.

Plan on at least half a day for Carter's Grove, particularly if a reenactment is going on.