Virginia Colonial Williamsburg
There’s the living history, but also golf courses and spas to balance things out nicely
Experience life as it was in our nation's yesterdays. Explore the homes and buildings where men like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Patrick Henry inspired the fight for independence.
What to See & Do
Historic trades and sites, interpretations, animals, and entertainment will engage your days and nights. Don't miss a thing.
Historic Area
Scores of original buildings, hundreds of homes, shops, and public buildings are reconstructed over 301 acres - most on their original foundations. Rare animal breeds, trades, and gardens add layers of authenticity to the recreated town.
Activities & Programs
Colonial Williamsburg features scores of events and activities that change weekly. On any given day or evening, you'll find a variety of walking tours, arts performances, political speeches, trades demonstrations, military exercises, fife and drum parades, and more.
Revolutionary City
Colonial Williamsburg’s “Revolutionary City” is a family-friendly, live, dramatic program that breaks the boundaries of traditional living history experiences. It covers the period of 1774 to 1781 through a combination of large-scale streetscape events and multiple simultaneous vignettes. The street theater program creates a spontaneous real-time feel of Williamsburg during the years of the American Revolution. Guests take part in the everyday life of the city against the backdrop of momentous world-changing events.
Daily and Evening Programs
Step over the threshold of a shop or home in the Historic Area and you'll find someone ready to tell you the story of life in the 18th century. Costumed historical interpreters share their perspectives on work, family, politics, religion, and culture. Encounter Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and many lesser-known historical figures. View our calendar.
Colonial Williamsburg's evening programs take your visit well past sunset with concerts, the latest movies, witch trials, ghost walks, and 18th-century farce comedies.
Special Events
Reenactments, music programs, special lectures, and focused activities allow a closer look at 18th century society and culture. Learn more about our upcoming
Kids Programs
Each day there is a host of activities designed just for kids. They can join the colonial militia and prepare to defend the rights of free citizens, act in an 18th-century play, march with the Fifes and Drums, talk to founding fathers, and tend a colonial garden. Costume rentals are available to complete your child's colonial transformation. In the museums, children can learn about and create works of art based on folk art or decorative arts on exhibit.
Read about the Colonial Kids Club or view family programming in our events calendar.
Fifes & Drums
The music of the Revolution is rendered in the present by this musical regiment. Hear the sounds that carry across hills, valleys, and centuries.
Celebrating five decades of performing military music that captures the American spirit, Colonial Williamsburg's Fifes and Drums are tuning up for a 50th anniversary year that will include special performances here as well as guest appearances in events near and far.
African American Programs
African Americans were entwined in every aspect of colonial farming, skilled trade, and politics. Learn how this society within a society lived, learned, and strove. or view African American programming in our events calendar.
Historic Trades
Practicing tradesmen make Colonial Williamsburg a living town, ringing with clanging hammers and tinged with the smoke of industry. Visit the blacksmith, see what the saddler is working on, smell what's cooking in the kitchens, and more. Twenty trades are practiced with 18th-century methods and tools, learn more about them all.
Walking Tours
You'll find plenty of opportunities to indulge your passion for topics like gardening, archaeology, and Colonial Williamsburg's Rare Breeds program. Or, go behind the scenes with a member of our staff. Among the guided activities offered: Behind-the-Scenes Tour at Bruton Heights. Bits and Bridles, Garden History Walk, Gardens of Gentility, Rubbish, Treasures, and Colonial Life: The Archaeology Labs. Learn more.
Rare Breeds
Hoofs and horns have as large a role in making the Historic Area authentic as human hands. The rare breeds program populates Williamsburg's pastures and pens with animals that would have been here 200 years ago: the sheep, cows, horses, oxen, chickens and fowls that scratched the dirt and loped the lanes.
Museums
Tours of current exhibitions and museum highlights are offered throughout the year. Special lectures and musical performances are held in the Hennage Auditorium. Programs for families and children are offered regularly.
