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<br /> <br />I <br /> <br />II <br />'I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />\V1LLIAMsn UBG <br /> <br />Beginning in the 19305, Colonial <br />vVilliamsburg's 301-acre historic area was <br />transformed into a mock colonial town, <br />thanks to a gift from John D. Rockefeller. <br />Eighty-eight of the buildings are set on <br />the original foundations, and more than <br />500 were meticulously reconstructed. <br />The Governor's Palace, for example, was <br />recreated in part using the obsessh'e <br />notes that Thomas Jefferson left behind <br />(including such details as the exact distance <br />between windows). On a guided tour, you'll <br />see rooms full of elaborate period furniture; <br />inside the kitchen house, cooks might <br />be preparing mutton or pies. Down the <br />road, you'll find the wigmaker, apothecary <br />and basket weaver. At the 240-year-old <br />courthouse, visitors can volunteer to be <br />a defendant or a juror in a mock triaL. <br />Back in the day, Mr, Jefferson hung out <br />at the 1765 R. Charlton Coffeehouse, <br />where he joined George Washington and <br />other politically ambitious men to talk <br />over coffee or hot chocobte, You may run <br />into !vIr, Charlton here, who will tell you <br />that his delicious hot cocoa is made with <br />cloves, anise and cinnamon, <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />In fact, Colonial Williamsburg would <br />be pretty confusing without its BOO-odd <br />interpreters,lhese employees who pose <br />as 18th-century folk rarely come out of <br />character, even when they're off the clock. <br />And don't call their authentic wardrobe · <br />"costumes." All the petticoats, bonnets and <br />three-point hats are "interpretive clothing," <br />sewn by hand on site using fabrics that <br />would have been available back then, <br />The interpreters are all eager to teach. <br />Take the courthouse lawyer, dressed in <br />ruilled sleeves, knickers and big buckled <br />shoes, who describes what politicians <br />argued about (liberty vs, slave ownership) <br />during the drafting of the Bill of Rights, <br />"None of it's folklore," says Virginia Lee, <br />who has been guiding visitors here for <br />more than a decade, "It's all based on fact," <br />At the sites of two projects currently <br />underway, visitors can witness how <br />historians turn archaeological research into <br />a reconstruction, Bricks, nails, floorboards <br />and other materials manufactured on <br />site arc being used to build Anderson's <br />Blacksmith Shop and the Public Armour)', <br />where war suppli~s were built and repaired, <br />Things do get a little intentionally silly <br />