From the time I was about 4, I’ve spent my entire life happily going to Williamsburg and Jamestown.  It’s filled with history, it’s all history.  It’s learning about people who could make things, and still do, in the tradition of those that lived there long ago.  It’s wonderful for the tavern dining.  The gingerbread from the Raleigh Tavern bakery.

Williamsburg is a reproduction and living history; there are 88 original buildings still standing, the rest has been re-created.

But what also makes Williamsburg special are the gardens.  The colonial re-enactors who work the land do so in the tradition of the colonial era.  They grow the crops the colonials grew, and they grow them the way the colonials did.  I love that there are bell jars sprinkled throughout the rows, depending on the crop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One sees the most unusual vegetables, sometimes it’s a vegetable you would know, but it looks different, or it’s being grown in a completely different way.  Williamsburg is wonderful in any season, but of course, in order to experience the gardens, the spring, summer, and fall are best.  Although, there is usually the winter garden as well, it’s year round there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this day and age where we can go to the market and buy everything, it is a wonderful experience to remember a time when everything had to be grown.  Everything had to be created.  Springing forward to today, true, local farming has taken hold in some places, and that is a wonderful thing.  If you buy local, you don’t have to worry about buying organic, because you can track where the food comes from, you can talk to the person who grew it.  In addition to supporting local farmers, you can create your own garden….even better.

Experiencing the gardens at Williamsburg reminds me that there was a time when people were completely self-sufficient.  To me, today’s local farming and the gardens of Williamsburg are connected.  The past and present are one.