Colonial Williamsburg - Virginia

Address:107 Visitor Center Dr.
Williamsburg, Virginia
Tel: (757) 229-1000

Experience early Virginia history the way the early settler's originally experienced it! Interpretive restoration and recreation of Colonial Williamsburg enables visitors to experience life first hand in an early American city. Walk down Main Street and visit the homes and stores of colonial Americans. Visit the statehouse (the capitol building) of the original capital of Virginia and the historic church building. Speak with costumed booksellers, gardeners, and bakers about early American life and taste delicacies of the first Virginians.

The tourist town of Colonial Williamsburg began construction and preservation in the 1920s. All post-Colonial buildings and vestiges were removed and the area became open to the public, for free, as a pedestrian-only living history museum. Guests are encouraged to stop by the Visitor's Center for a short movie made in 1956, "The Story of a Patriot". The Visitor's Center is also a prime spot for parking since cars are not allowed in the historic area.

On the over 300 acres of reconstructed colonial culture, guests are also welcome to visit a number of more traditional museums, including the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum. Parades, dances, and even witch trials, will keep children and adults of all ages entertained for hours, as well as providing a fresh perspective on the history of the United States. Finally, make sure you come to Colonial Williamsburg hungry because you'll find numerous restaurants on the grounds that will appeal to the historian and the hungry eater in you—including a very special southern Peanut Soup.

It's easy to get to Colonial Williamsburg. Amtrak, Greyhound, and Carolina Trailways all offer passenger service to Colonial Williamsburg. Drivers can get to CW via I-64 or U.S. Route 60. The Colonial Parkway links Colonial Williamsburg with other popular attractions of Colonial Virginia, mainly Jamestown and Yorktown. Colonial Williamsburg is also close to Water Country U.S.A. and to Busch Gardens. Admission to the historic grounds of CW is free, but there are fees for entering the buildings and museums and participating in tours and exhibitions.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation operates the world's largest living history museum in Williamsburg, Virginia—the restored 18th-century capital of Britain's largest, wealthiest, and most populous outpost of empire in the New World. Here we interpret the origins of the idea of America, conceived decades before the American Revolution. The Colonial Williamsburg story, "Becoming Americans," tells how diverse peoples, having different and sometimes conflicting ambitions, evolved into a society that valued liberty and equality. Americans cherish these values as a birthright, even when their promise remains unfulfilled.