Colonial America.

It was chucking it down when M rolled up at the hotel, but she made light work off the treacherous conditions and drove us down to Mount Vernon, Washington's place near Alexandria.   She is very organised and we sat and ate her pre packed breakfast come lunch before heading in.   The house,  with slave quarters nearby, is grand yet simple, larger than the norm, but not excessive. It overlooks the Potomac,  so a beautiful location and he lived here almost all his adult life, with his wife.  He was her second husband, and she died youngish, but he lived on in the house entertaining the many guests and family. Of course he could not have done it without the slaves who worked the land, on his death bed, his slaves were as per his will released, but not those he inherited from his wife.  Everyone acknowledges it is a complex and problematic history, yet in many ways he seems a decent chap, in fact that is part of the problem, sensible thoughful men doing the terrible and unthinkable at the same time as creating a nation.  

                                                                             

Washington's view over the Potomac

To help us understand these people, actor interpreters are employed and we enjoyed meeting Doctor Craik who had both treated Washington and become the nation's doctor.  His services were requested too late in the day to save the "great" man. However, his reimaginer entertained us with thoughtful observations of how he became a Doctor in Virginia after leaving his native Scotland.  He was so persausive that one young audience member was trying to work out how he could be speaking to someone over 200 years old.   It was a wonderful introduction to Colonial America.  We followed it with my second Mexican meal of the holiday before meeting her family and bedding down early ready for the second day of the adventure.  

There is an updated memorial on the site too. 

 Mount Vernon is relatively close to the outskirts of Washington where M lives, but Monticello, (Jefferson's place) via a brief stop at Montpelier,  Madison's place, is a longer drive away.  Our original plan had been to go on from there to Richmond and the Civil War musuem, but Monticello, first with the house visit and then finding out more about him, his relationship with Sally Hemmings and other slaves and family members, and his love of innovation in the garden, kept us busy all day.   He was in the room when it happened, but seems an even more problematic slave owner than Washington.  Like Washington, he was widowed relatively young, but that does not excuse getting off with his wife's half sister (I hope that is correct) who was both a child and a slave.   He was a philosopher and architect, an enlightened man, who seemed not remotely aware of the humanity of those who lived in his home.    

                                                                                   

Garden view of Monticello

His home at the top of a hill in Virginia (suddenly lots of Trump support flyers en route) is in a beautiful location.  The trees do not allow the view almost all the way to the sea that it must have once had but one can just about see through to the University he helped promote and up in the skies above vultures wheeled in search of prey.  It is an amazing place.  

From there we did pass through Richmond where we stopped at a huge cemetery, overlooking a restless James river, the final resting place of Jefferson Davis and thousands of young men killed in the (Un)civil war.                                                                  

Confederate graves. 

Our hotel in Williamsburg for two people for the night, including breakfast and a wonderfully relaxing swim/spa was cheaper than one night in a dormitory in Boston, so getting away from the main sights out of season is definitely worth doing.  

Our last day was dedicated to a visit to Williamsburg, a sort of American Beamish, where genuine town features and authentic properties are brought together and brought to life by the many staff in character in shops, and restaurants or through visits to elements of the town e.g. the court, the pub and Governor's Palace.   Having arrived about 10 we did not get away till about 5, so broke the journey home with a picnic of breakfast items and M picnic.  

There is no way I would have seen so much in America without M, RM and JV,  I am indebted to them, but M especially helped me really get to grips with the Colonial history.  It is of course a tragic history,  for a few miles down the coast Pocahontas met a young English man, and is now buried in Gravesend, but her people, were gradually pushed off the land or killed.   I loved interacting with the actor interpreter Washington, but felt overwhelmed in the Native American space.       I wish we had had time to go to Jamestown or Yorktown but it just was not possible in the time we had but it would be nice to go back and explore those histories more too. 

A short walk near the Potomac and one of the smallest cemeteries from the Civil War,  ended my stay with M,  and then it was back to Washington and time to myself.