This past weekend, my family met to spend Thanksgiving in Williamsburg, VA. We spent quite a bit of time learning about the Colonial period and the American Revolution. On our first day in the Village, one of our first stops was the Governor's Palace.
The list of governors who lived in this building is very impressive, and includes such notable figures as Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. After gazing at the incredible facade, I couldn't wait to get inside and check out the interior decorations.
The main entrance to the mansion was pretty impressive.
There were scores of guns and swords lining every wall!
Talk about making a statement!
To the left of the main entrance was servant's area, complete with shelves of glassware.
And a very interesting map of New Jersey.
To the right of the main entrance was a game room, complete with card table.
Don't you just love the crown molding?
After checking out these rooms, our tour guide lead us upstairs to visit the bedrooms... and my brother and I stopped for a quick photo op on the grand staircase!
Once upstairs, we saw some incredible rooms. Along with this beautiful fireplace, this room was covered in leather wallpaper.
The first bedroom we saw was set up as a child's room. This small bed was in one corner...
While this beauty was positioned on the opposite wall. What do you think about the purple toile and green fringe?
I thought the vases along the fireplace were very pretty- I'm definitely a sucker for all things blue/white!
In the next bedroom, we checked out this bed- complete with wooden canopy.
But it was the bed in the third bedroom that caught my eye- check out the detail on the canopy!
Isn't that wonderful? I'm especially enamored with the fabric!!
On top of the bedrooms, there were several sitting rooms on the upper level of the mansion.
And yes, the map/artillery theme was present throughout the house!
The mansion was set up to represent a ball that Lord and Lady Dunmore (the last royal Governor of Virginia) threw. This room included a punch bowl, to represent Lord Dunmore's famous punch- it is said to have packed quite the kick!
As we made our way through the mansion, another tour group entered the front door!
There was a room for everything in the mansion- including all the wigs!
There were so many special details throughout the house- I really liked all the door latches!
As we made our way to the back of the house, we entered the ballroom. Talk about amazing- this crest topped the doorway on either end of the room.
This gold leafed motif ran along the molding throughout the room.
Our tour guide did an excellent job telling us all about the dances that took place in this very space.
But I couldn't stop looking at the carpet- talk about wild!
The last room we visited was another pop of color, and had this beautiful little organ along one of the walls.
This room was set up for a typical feast common to the time period- yum!
Upon exiting the mansion, I was impressed by the crest adorning the back door:
Around the side of the building, we spied an entrance to the cellar.
A little ominous, right? Once we got down the stairs, we were able to check out the storage techniques employed during Colonial times.
After checking out the cellar, we explored the gardens a bit- I loved the sculptures!
And even without flowers, this arbor was absolutely beautiful!
My brother and I stopped for a quick photo.
What an amazing building, right?
Thank you for stopping by and "visiting" the Governor's Palace with me. As you can probably imagine, I have a lot of pictures to share from our vacation. I'll be posting segments of our trip over the next few days (or weeks). I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving- I hope you have a wonderful day!
