Historic Jamestown

After we went to Yorktown on Saturday, I looked at the receipt and realized that admission to the Battlegrounds tour also allowed us to admittance to Historic Jamestown if we went within 7 days.  I was really excited because Jared and I had never been to Historic Jamestown.  Well, one time we drove around near there, but we couldn't go into any of the attractions.

Friday was our last day to get in free with our receipt, so Jared got home from school a little early and we went.

The first thing we went to was the glassblower's shop because that's what we most wanted to see.

That glowing ball on the end of the stick is glass!  He would put the stick into the furnace and pull out a blob and then roll it (fat or skinny).  Then he would blow into the end of the pole that he's holding to form a bubble type shape in order to hollow out the inside so that he could make a candlestick or a cup or vase.  It was so cool to watch!  One time, he messed up, so he just blew into the pole until the glass formed a huge bubble, and then it dropped and shattered.  The glassblower started over from scratch.  I think that this picture was actually taken right before he messed up.  I'm not sure, but he might have messed up because I was this close in his face taking pictures.  Oops!

The view right outside the glassblower's shop.

Luke is getting pretty brave with his walking.  He was trying to walk around outside the glassblower's shop.  The ground was concrete though, and it wasn't very even.  So I held onto his arms or hand.

This is obviously not the original church of the settlement.  The first few were made of wood, but this church was built in the mid 1700's and then restored in the early 1900's.  

Statue of John Smith down by the beach.  Jared is much better at playing with the camera than I am.  He took this picture.

The statue from the front.  It's the same time of day, so other than facing the opposite direction from the picture right above this, I don't know what Jared did to make the first one so much cooler.

The tide started coming in as the sun went down and made the waves look so beautiful.  I tried to capture it.  I didn't do so well actually, but it's still a pretty picture.

Luke and his daddy.  Luke loves riding like this, and when he's squirmy Jared lets him.  But it's not really Jared's favorite thing because Luke likes to take fistfuls of Jared's hair and yank as hard as he can.  He also reaches down to pull Jared's ears or try to knock his glasses off.

This is a monument to commemorate Jamestown Colony.  (It doesn't really lean like it appears to do in this picture.  I must have been holding the camera crooked.  I would upload a better picture, but I can't figure out how to delete this one, so I just left it for now.)  Jared and I started debating whether monuments like this are worth the money.  It probably cost more to build this than it would take to build a new elementary school.  Jared says it's worth the money because it creates patriotism.   I don't know about that.  I felt more patriotic when I watched the kids in my class sing the national anthem than I did looking at this monument, but it's true that the monument is still inspiring.

Just taking a break.

Luke resting with his dad.

While we were sitting, we saw this deer walking and grazing.  It came really close to us.  I'd never seen such a brave deer in my life.  Obviously it had never met a hunter.

I wish we had more time to see everything.  The indoor museum closed at 5, and we didn't get there until a quarter til.  So we still haven't seen the museum and well...whatever else is in that building.  And there was more outside too, but we hadn't brought jackets, and it was getting cold.  But the great thing is, we'll live here a long time.  So I'm sure we'll go back.