Helpful Books

Thought maybe it would be a good time to recommend a couple very wonderful and informative books on the Historic Triangle.

The Official Guide to Americas Historic Triangle-Jamestown-Williamsburg-Yorktown. This is a great book for first timers and frequent visitors alike. Lots of good info. Makes a great keepsake. Almost 300 pages, lots of pictures. I paid around $12 online. You can also buy it at any of the gift shoppes when you go there.

The Insider%26#39;s Guide to Williamsburg,Jamestown,Yorktown. Make sure you get the most recent edition, (15th edition).

Hope these will help make your trip even more special!

Helpful Books

One of the questions guests ask most often while touring Colonial Williamsburg is ';what did it look like here before the restoration?'; A beautiful book that shows the pre - 1926 look of the restored area is ';Williamsburg Before and After -- the Rebirth of Virginia%26#39;s Colonial Capital'; by George Humphrey Yetter. Published originally in 1988, it is a wonderful compilation of text, pictures and drawings which outlines the truly remarkable restoration that was done to our once sleepy little town. It%26#39;s available at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor%26#39;s Center Bookstore and on Amazon.com, among other places.

Also, for those of you who plan to visit CW this summer, there is an excellent exhibit at the College of William and Mary SWEM Library called ';A Most Thriving and Growing Place: Williamsburg before the Restoration.” Focusing on the years from the 1880s to the 1920s, the exhibit uses documents, images, and artifacts from the Special Collections Research Center at Swem to examine how a sleepy southern college town became a progressive, expansive city. The exhibit is easy walking distance from Colonial Williamsburg on the campus of William and Mary and runs until August 31, 2009.

Helpful Books

Thank you Mary for the good book suggestions.

And, thank you Bix for the info about the College exhibit this summer. My husband and I will be visiting for a week in June--this sounds like something we would enjoy seeing.

And, I agree about the Williamsburg Before and After book. I love my copy and look through it periodically.

Colonialgirl

I also have the ';before and after'; book. LOVE it!! Like colonialgirl, I get mine out once in a while and wish I was there! It%26#39;s interesting that some of the buildings were so run down and actually some looked like shacks. So wonderful that the Rockafeller%26#39;s had the where-with-all to appreciate what it could and did become.

The exhibit at the Collage sounds great.

Thanks Bix.

I guess it shouldn%26#39;t have been a surprise that some buildings looked like shacks since they were almost 200 years old. The good thing is that some were still standing.

It was Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin, the rector of Bruton Parish Church, that has the vision and the wisdom. It was Rockefeller that had the money and the philanthropy to make the restoration happen.

Dr. Goodwin did a truelly wonderful thing. Can you imagine living among the remnants of one of the most important historical sites in North America? I bet the town was a%26#39;buzzin%26#39; when all that happened. I%26#39;m curious as to whether there are any of Dr. Goodwin%26#39;s descendants are still living in the area?

Hi, marymac -- what an interesting and admirable person Dr. Goodwin must have been! A son of the South in league with one of the industrial titans of the North, co-conspiring to produce the magnificent legacy of Colonial Williamsburg.

As far as I know, Howard Goodwin, who is 90, give or take a few months, is the only surviving child of Dr. W.A.R.Goodwin%26#39;s two marriages (7 children, total). A steel industry executive, he lives or lived in Charlottesville. In 2001 Howard and his wife donated his father%26#39;s papers and memorabilia to CW, including the first book W.A.R. ever bought (at the age of 17 - on archaelogy!). But years previous to that, Howard was interviewed for the video ';A Link Among The Days';, which for the true afficionado is a marvelous history of Dr. Goodwin and his work. I bought a copy years ago at Williamsburg and if it is not still available, it might be possible to find it on interlibrary loan from your public library.

Dr. Goodwin is, or was, interpreted in Williamsburg: there is an interesting podcast with the actor who portrays him: www.history.org/media/podcasts_video.cfm. You will have to scroll down past the swords, the chocolate and the journalism to reach ';A Splendid Coincidence'; but once you get there you can choose an audio or video podcast or a transcription.

Just putting ';Goodwin'; into the searchbox on the CW site will yield other results, too.

Thanks, Nomo, for the above info on Rev Goodwin. I am frequently on the CW website; but, missed the fact that someone has actually interpreted this very important gentleman. I%26#39;ll make sure I search the daily programming in the rare event he will be there when we are in June.

Colonialgirl

I%26#39;d love to hear from someone in the know about whether this interpretation is still being offered, colonialgirl. I%26#39;ve never seen it and honestly I%26#39;m having trouble figuring out WHERE you%26#39;d put him to do his thing. At Bruton Church, where he was rector twice? At William and Mary, where he was what today we would call a development officer? At the Wythe House, where he had his office during his second term as rector?

And, in his historically-correct suit made by a specialist tailor (not the CW costume department), wouldn%26#39;t he be awfully confusing to the visitors who hadn%26#39;t yet figured out the 20th-century people who restored the 18th for us?

But he is a true hero and the starting point of a very interesting ';storyline'; in Colonial Williamsburg. It feels great just to talk about him!

The Goodwin presentation was done at Bassett Hall, on Francis Street. It was first offered last June and ran through last August, a couple of days a week. It has not yet appeared on this year%26#39;s advance schedule.

beauty