We left Bristol VA around 6:3oam central time and arrived home a little before noon. We had rain for a short time, but drove out of it fairly quickly. It's good to be home. I have been slowly unpacking and putting things away...still more to do than has been done...but such is life! Tonight's photos are from the evening that we arrived in Williamsburg. Shortly after we got settled in our room at The Brick House Tavern, we headed off to make arrangements to go to one of the evening programs. We chose to attend "Courage or Cowardice." A military court of inquiry concerning an officer's abandonment of his post. Those of us in the audience voted whether he would face a court martial. Our audience voted that he was not guilty of abandonment of his post and should not face court martial. We found out after the program that this inquiry actually happened back in 1779...and that the same decision as ours was handed down. And, that this officer went on to be a faithful and good leader for our young nation. Tonight's photos were taken after we came out of the program and were heading back to our lodgings...at twilight. The top photo shows the "lamp" lighter lighting one of the cressets lights. He goes up and down the street lighting pine kindling in these iron baskets on posts. The next photo shows the cressets lighter heading down the street to light the next one. We hadn't strolled along too far till we came upon a fife and drummer playing a little tune on a street corner where another cressets light had just been lighted (the lighter was still there)...where they stood was catacorner across from the Brick House Tavern. I walked across the street and took a picture of the front of our lodgings and one of the sign then went inside and took the bottom photo out our front window looking out on the fife and drummer and cressets light. As you can see we stayed right in the thick of things...on the corner of Duke of Gloucester and Botetourt Streets. This is a very interesting house...it was originally built as rental property. The building provided twelve residences with twelve separate entrances (six in the front and six in the rear). Itinerant tradesmen and others with services or goods to sell would arrange for lodging here, advertise in the Virginia Gazette, and show their wares to customers in their rooms. If business seemed promising, they might settle down elsewhere in town; if not, they would move on. Records show that over time, a surgeon, jeweler, watch repairer, milliner, wigmaker, and several tavern keepers, etc. called the Brick House Tavern home. So that's my little Williamsburg tidbit for tonight and a few of the many photos that I took while there. I'll share more in blogs to come.
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