Browse more than 135 shops at Williamsburg Premium Outlets. The stores include Adidas, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Coach, Cole Haan, Hanna Andersson, Kate Spade, and Michael Kors. Hungry bargain hunters can take a break at Subway, Frankie’s Deli and other eateries.
Colonial Williamsburg re-creates life in Virginia as it existed in the 1770s, just before the Revolutionary War. Williamsburg, once the political and cultural center of the new world, has more than 500 buildings on its 301 acres, of which 88 homes, shops, public buildings, and taverns are original and the others are re-creations. Union flags hang outside the historic buildings that...
Historic Jamestowne is the real deal–the actual site that marked the beginning of America’s colonization by the English. Start at the Visitor Center by viewing the introductory film and browsing exhibits about the voyagers and the people already inhabiting the area, the Powhatan Indians. The center also displays archaeological finds such as wine bottles, belt buckles, horse bones and more items...
The 15 galleries of the Dewitt Wallace exhibit the world’s largest collection of Virginia furniture, as well as the largest collection of English pottery outside of England. Most of the pieces have exceptional provenance, tracing ownership to prominent families such as the Revere’s of Boston, and the Byrd and Custis clans of Virginia. Other permanent exhibits include muzzle – loading...
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum is a gem. The facility houses one of the U.S.’s best collections of folk art from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Cross Rhythms Folk Musical Instruments features banjos, fiddles and dulcimers. Sidewalks to Rooftops: Outdoor Folk Art showcases whimsical weathervanes and advertising signs that include a carved shoe, a whirligig, and a...
The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, which debuted in spring 2017, uses its 22,000-square feet of space to present compelling exhibits on the fight for independence. The $51 million facility, which replaces the Yorktown Victory Center, concentrated a good portion of its budget on interactive digital exhibits. Use touch screens to locate the Revolutionary War battles that took place in...
Visit Busch Gardens, just 3 miles from Colonial Williamsburg, and spend the day in a fanciful version of Europe where you can journey inside a leprechaun – infested mountain, ride a dragon, or Escape from Pompeii. The park is divided into sections representing England, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, and Ireland, and each section has its signature roller coaster thrill ride (some...
This museum and living history complex explores the cultures that made up the Jamestown colony and the economic activities that took place there. A large museum building contains exhibits and a documentary film tracing the English, African, and Native American roots of the cultures that converged in Jamestown. Outside, reenactors in period attire go about their daily tasks in a typical...
Great Wolf Lodge Williamsburg, like the other Great Wolf properties in the U S., marries a hotel to a mega-indoor water park. At the 79,000-square-foot water wonderland, you and your kids, as well as hundreds of others, splash down water slides, float down a lazy creek, get doused with buckets of water, and sprayed by cannons. Raccoon Lagoon, the outdoor...
Along with 30-miles of biking and hiking trails, the park offers acres of wetlands for kayaking and canoeing. On select Saturdays in fall, the park offers guided paddle outings that lead you along creeks and tributaries. The park also rents canoes and kayaks daily until about mid-October when the water becomes too cold for paddling. Rental equipment is available from...