The village life is dead. The windmill is fake. It could be grinding flour for the village bakery. The bakery doesn't bake anything. Even the ginger cakes they offer are wrapped in plastic and stale taisting. They say its because there is no running water. The sandwiches come from a gas station vending machine, for all I can tell. Well, they used to draw water from a well. There is even a well hidden behind the trees. The staff is unenthusiastic to say the least. The Administration should be embarrassed for lack of leadership and authenticity. There are horse drawn carridge tours, but no stables, no grain fields, no straw, no hay.
It must be admitted, I am in fact a little old lady, not an enthusiastic young one who might imagine she can smell out history here, simply because this is the geographic location where colonialism made a stand. Yikes, but its boring.
If you, yourself, are a history buff and you know what you are looking at and you have a family to share your enthusiasms, well then this place is for you. Just as long as you can maintain an energetic interpretation. But, if you are relying on the administration of the tourist trappings of Colonial Williamsburg, your best bet will be paying for all the tours. But don't miss the MUseum. This must be where they are hiding the cast iron pots that were used for cooking and the rakes, for gardening. and the interesting documents that defined a govoner all the way from across the sea in England.
We did pay the large fees to stay in the Williamsburg Inn, and it is fabulous.