Trip report--Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, VA
Oct 2nd, 2017, 03:17 AM
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Trip report--Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, VA
Had wanted for some time now to go to Virginia's Historic Triangle Area, but had been deterred since the Triangle Shuttle ceased operation. The local bus service has finally stepped up the last couple of years to try and fill in the gap with some level of service from Williamsburg to Jamestown and Yorktown. That, coupled with the news early this summer that Colonial Williamsburg was experiencing financial difficulties and will likely have to revamp its experience starting next year, provided sufficient stimulus for a visit recently.
Williamsburg
Was able to experience everything desired in two days. Colonial Williamsburg is a large, fairly spread out complex of historic buildings numbering about 90 structures in total. Some are open as homes, some as current businesses, some as trade shop demonstrations, some as period public buildings, and the rest as private residences. Two of the most impressive were the government buildings. The Governor's Mansion is large and sumptuous, with several nice pieces of furniture, paintings, and other artifacts, plus plenty of fine decorative detail work. The Capitol is also huge, with lots of nice woodwork inside and a few paintings, though minimal furnishings. Both are brick edifices, as are the Courthouse (with a few pleasant touches inside, though fairly functional otherwise) and the Magazine and Guardhouse (a large round building, the second floor of which is loaded with weapons and soldier paraphernalia), and Gaol (with small, forbidding little cells inside). Much else is wooden and frequently but not always painted white. There are three meeting spots, R. Charlton’s Coffeehouse (where as part of the tour they served a small cup of your favorite hot beverage) and two taverns, the Raleigh (whose porch is under construction, thus resulting in a half closed off experience) and Wetherburn’s (fully furnished and enjoyable). The various patriot homes – Geddy House (closed during this visit), George Wythe House, Peyton Randolph House -- were attractive (with ornament inside to varying degrees) and plenty of furniture and personal effects. Most all of these are seen via tour. There were also tradesmen's establishments with workers explaining their craft: joinery, weaver, shoemaker, wigmaker, milliner, silversmith, tinsmith, blacksmith, apothecary, wheelwright, printer, bookbinder, gunsmith, tailor -- all these were brief but interesting stops. The rudimentary Presbyterian Meetinghouse stood in sharp contrast to the fancy yet still tasteful Bruton Parish Church (no stained glass in the latter, but nice subtle touches). Also got to tour Bassett Hall, where the Rockefellers (the chief financiers for this remarkable reenactment) lived for part of the year. This is another historic era home, here filled to the brim with folk art, furniture, glassware and china, and plenty more. The garden out back was perfunctory but not bad, definitely outdone by the larger one behind the Governor's Palace. The house suffered some damage from a falling limb earlier this year, preventing some of the upstairs from being shown -- but as the guide said, it could've been lots worse. There is also a modest African-American church exhibit, a small mockup of a pre-church era worship space with exhibits about Black churches in the area and their preachers. Started off when the complex opened, and surprisingly was able to see all this in a long sightseeing day.
Spent a second day visiting the two museums. The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Art Museum and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum are under one roof in the Public Hospital building. The first of these is good-sized, brimming with all kinds of applied art items: furniture (and loads of it), keyboard instruments (spinets, harpsichords, and square pianos mostly), pottery and porcelain, textiles, silver and other metalwork, clocks, dollhouses, telescopes and microscopes, guns and accessories, a fire engine, and a few paintings by Gilbert Stuart and Charles Willson Peale. There's tons of great stuff here. The folk art museum is a wonderfully eclectic mishmash of goodies. There are paintings, primarily portraiture, landscapes, and seascapes as well as much more besides, including sculpture, woodcarvings, metalwork, toys, and musical instruments (including oddities like a turtle shell violin, cigar box violin, and a sculpture of a hippo/rhino hybrid that conceals a turntable). Things like quilts, shop signs, weathervanes, nautical figures (ship figureheads, etc.), cigar store figures (Native Americans and not), and carousel animals are found in abundance. There's even a whole room from an old house with primitive style painted decoration. Really liked both museums very much, took a little better than three hours to see it all. The Public Hospital itself became the lunatic asylum once they stopped putting mentally ill people in the Gaol; inside are a couple of holding cells (one older, one newer and less forbidding) and various treatment-related artifacts. Also took a stroll through the campus of William and Mary College, old and brick like some of Colonial Williamsburg's public administration buildings. The oldest edifice on campus is Christopher Wren Hall, home to three nice large rooms: the Grammar School, the Great Hall, and Wren Chapel. All are darkly wood-paneled spots exuding a certain academic formality. A student was stationed in the main entry area and gave a brief tour.
Jamestown
There are two attractions here. Started off at Historic Jamestowne, administered by the US Government and site of the original settlement. For the most part, it consists of ruins and rudimentary reproductions. The most extensive ruins were those for the third (and following) churches on site (mostly gutted inside but still with some memorial plaques on the walls, adjacent to a small outside cemetery) and what's left of the Ambler Mansion (just some brick walls in sort of a house outline). There's also a basic reconstruction of the wood fort walls. But the rest is limited to brick outlines of foundations showing where buildings were -- and sometimes not even that. There is a large obelisk monument commemorating the settlement, and the water view along the site is lovely. On site is a decent sized museum full of unearthed artifacts, everything from skeletons, weapons, pottery, farm implements, trade implements, Native American items, toys and recreational items, and much more. The visitor's center has more timeline information for the colony as well as those artifacts which are in the best shape. Didn't have time to see the film offering here, but did at the next destination, Jamestown Settlement. Here one finds interpretations and reenactments, including a Powhaten village complete with huts, cooking area, dugout canoes, bow and arrow making, and hide preparation; a Jamestown fort with plenty of dwellings, a few crafts (cooking, blacksmith), and a musket shooting demonstration; and the three ships that brought the initial group of colonists over. There was an interpretive boardwalk stretch, though many of the signs were worn and illegible. Inside was a large and excellent history museum, with plenty of detailed timeline information and a few artifacts of varying kinds, though not many from the settlement itself. It also had several recreations of rooms and homes, plus history was told through English, Black, and Native American eyes. Between the two, it took a full day to experience these, but was well worth the effort.
Yorktown
Began the day at the visitor center for the Colonial National Historical Park, administered by the US Government. There’s a film on the Battle of Yorktown as well as a tiny museum dominated by a ship model one can enter and two tents actually used by George Washington at the battle (this last complete with tableware and other effects). Was told two of the redoubts (fortifications) on the battlefield grounds were within easy walking distance of the visitor center, but decided to stop after finding Redoubt 10, a further jaunt than anticipated. Next walked into this tiny town, whose sparsely built-up Main Street still contains a wealth of old homes, none apparently open to the public (Charles Digges House, Sessions House, Smith House, Ballard House, Nelson House, Cole Digges House, Swan Tavern, Somerwell House, Custom House, and Archer Cottage), plus a medical shop, Poor Potter (a site where ceramics were made, with ruins of a large kiln and a few pieces of pottery), Grace Church (small, pleasantly nice inside), a large Victory Monument (finally built a century after being first planned!), and Cornwallis Cave (a tiny two room cavern where Cornwallis apparently holed up during shelling). The Nelson House and Custom House are brick while the rest of the buildings are wooden. There's a pleasant Riverwalk, much of it fronting a beach, which extends for a mile or so. The Watermen's Museum was encountered along the way -- closed, but has plenty of small boats around the grounds and a squat windmill. Peeked inside, and saw several small boat models and a few sailing odds and ends. Following the Riverwalk further leads to another redoubt and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. Allied with Jamestown Settlement, it's laid out similarly. There's a film shown, an outdoor reenactment of a Revolutionary War camp (lots of tents, cooking area, musket demonstration) as well as a farmhouse with chicken coop, slave cabin, and tobacco barn, plus a fine large museum space. This last is devoted to the story of the Revolutionary War, from origins to the Constitution and first presidency. It's very thorough, with mockups of rooms and battle scenes and a moderate amount of memorabilia: weapons primarily, plus personal items, furniture, clothing and uniforms, and other things. There's information from British, American, Native American, Black, Spanish, and French viewpoints. All this takes the better part of a day to experience.
More to come.
Williamsburg
Was able to experience everything desired in two days. Colonial Williamsburg is a large, fairly spread out complex of historic buildings numbering about 90 structures in total. Some are open as homes, some as current businesses, some as trade shop demonstrations, some as period public buildings, and the rest as private residences. Two of the most impressive were the government buildings. The Governor's Mansion is large and sumptuous, with several nice pieces of furniture, paintings, and other artifacts, plus plenty of fine decorative detail work. The Capitol is also huge, with lots of nice woodwork inside and a few paintings, though minimal furnishings. Both are brick edifices, as are the Courthouse (with a few pleasant touches inside, though fairly functional otherwise) and the Magazine and Guardhouse (a large round building, the second floor of which is loaded with weapons and soldier paraphernalia), and Gaol (with small, forbidding little cells inside). Much else is wooden and frequently but not always painted white. There are three meeting spots, R. Charlton’s Coffeehouse (where as part of the tour they served a small cup of your favorite hot beverage) and two taverns, the Raleigh (whose porch is under construction, thus resulting in a half closed off experience) and Wetherburn’s (fully furnished and enjoyable). The various patriot homes – Geddy House (closed during this visit), George Wythe House, Peyton Randolph House -- were attractive (with ornament inside to varying degrees) and plenty of furniture and personal effects. Most all of these are seen via tour. There were also tradesmen's establishments with workers explaining their craft: joinery, weaver, shoemaker, wigmaker, milliner, silversmith, tinsmith, blacksmith, apothecary, wheelwright, printer, bookbinder, gunsmith, tailor -- all these were brief but interesting stops. The rudimentary Presbyterian Meetinghouse stood in sharp contrast to the fancy yet still tasteful Bruton Parish Church (no stained glass in the latter, but nice subtle touches). Also got to tour Bassett Hall, where the Rockefellers (the chief financiers for this remarkable reenactment) lived for part of the year. This is another historic era home, here filled to the brim with folk art, furniture, glassware and china, and plenty more. The garden out back was perfunctory but not bad, definitely outdone by the larger one behind the Governor's Palace. The house suffered some damage from a falling limb earlier this year, preventing some of the upstairs from being shown -- but as the guide said, it could've been lots worse. There is also a modest African-American church exhibit, a small mockup of a pre-church era worship space with exhibits about Black churches in the area and their preachers. Started off when the complex opened, and surprisingly was able to see all this in a long sightseeing day.
Spent a second day visiting the two museums. The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Art Museum and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum are under one roof in the Public Hospital building. The first of these is good-sized, brimming with all kinds of applied art items: furniture (and loads of it), keyboard instruments (spinets, harpsichords, and square pianos mostly), pottery and porcelain, textiles, silver and other metalwork, clocks, dollhouses, telescopes and microscopes, guns and accessories, a fire engine, and a few paintings by Gilbert Stuart and Charles Willson Peale. There's tons of great stuff here. The folk art museum is a wonderfully eclectic mishmash of goodies. There are paintings, primarily portraiture, landscapes, and seascapes as well as much more besides, including sculpture, woodcarvings, metalwork, toys, and musical instruments (including oddities like a turtle shell violin, cigar box violin, and a sculpture of a hippo/rhino hybrid that conceals a turntable). Things like quilts, shop signs, weathervanes, nautical figures (ship figureheads, etc.), cigar store figures (Native Americans and not), and carousel animals are found in abundance. There's even a whole room from an old house with primitive style painted decoration. Really liked both museums very much, took a little better than three hours to see it all. The Public Hospital itself became the lunatic asylum once they stopped putting mentally ill people in the Gaol; inside are a couple of holding cells (one older, one newer and less forbidding) and various treatment-related artifacts. Also took a stroll through the campus of William and Mary College, old and brick like some of Colonial Williamsburg's public administration buildings. The oldest edifice on campus is Christopher Wren Hall, home to three nice large rooms: the Grammar School, the Great Hall, and Wren Chapel. All are darkly wood-paneled spots exuding a certain academic formality. A student was stationed in the main entry area and gave a brief tour.
Jamestown
There are two attractions here. Started off at Historic Jamestowne, administered by the US Government and site of the original settlement. For the most part, it consists of ruins and rudimentary reproductions. The most extensive ruins were those for the third (and following) churches on site (mostly gutted inside but still with some memorial plaques on the walls, adjacent to a small outside cemetery) and what's left of the Ambler Mansion (just some brick walls in sort of a house outline). There's also a basic reconstruction of the wood fort walls. But the rest is limited to brick outlines of foundations showing where buildings were -- and sometimes not even that. There is a large obelisk monument commemorating the settlement, and the water view along the site is lovely. On site is a decent sized museum full of unearthed artifacts, everything from skeletons, weapons, pottery, farm implements, trade implements, Native American items, toys and recreational items, and much more. The visitor's center has more timeline information for the colony as well as those artifacts which are in the best shape. Didn't have time to see the film offering here, but did at the next destination, Jamestown Settlement. Here one finds interpretations and reenactments, including a Powhaten village complete with huts, cooking area, dugout canoes, bow and arrow making, and hide preparation; a Jamestown fort with plenty of dwellings, a few crafts (cooking, blacksmith), and a musket shooting demonstration; and the three ships that brought the initial group of colonists over. There was an interpretive boardwalk stretch, though many of the signs were worn and illegible. Inside was a large and excellent history museum, with plenty of detailed timeline information and a few artifacts of varying kinds, though not many from the settlement itself. It also had several recreations of rooms and homes, plus history was told through English, Black, and Native American eyes. Between the two, it took a full day to experience these, but was well worth the effort.
Yorktown
Began the day at the visitor center for the Colonial National Historical Park, administered by the US Government. There’s a film on the Battle of Yorktown as well as a tiny museum dominated by a ship model one can enter and two tents actually used by George Washington at the battle (this last complete with tableware and other effects). Was told two of the redoubts (fortifications) on the battlefield grounds were within easy walking distance of the visitor center, but decided to stop after finding Redoubt 10, a further jaunt than anticipated. Next walked into this tiny town, whose sparsely built-up Main Street still contains a wealth of old homes, none apparently open to the public (Charles Digges House, Sessions House, Smith House, Ballard House, Nelson House, Cole Digges House, Swan Tavern, Somerwell House, Custom House, and Archer Cottage), plus a medical shop, Poor Potter (a site where ceramics were made, with ruins of a large kiln and a few pieces of pottery), Grace Church (small, pleasantly nice inside), a large Victory Monument (finally built a century after being first planned!), and Cornwallis Cave (a tiny two room cavern where Cornwallis apparently holed up during shelling). The Nelson House and Custom House are brick while the rest of the buildings are wooden. There's a pleasant Riverwalk, much of it fronting a beach, which extends for a mile or so. The Watermen's Museum was encountered along the way -- closed, but has plenty of small boats around the grounds and a squat windmill. Peeked inside, and saw several small boat models and a few sailing odds and ends. Following the Riverwalk further leads to another redoubt and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. Allied with Jamestown Settlement, it's laid out similarly. There's a film shown, an outdoor reenactment of a Revolutionary War camp (lots of tents, cooking area, musket demonstration) as well as a farmhouse with chicken coop, slave cabin, and tobacco barn, plus a fine large museum space. This last is devoted to the story of the Revolutionary War, from origins to the Constitution and first presidency. It's very thorough, with mockups of rooms and battle scenes and a moderate amount of memorabilia: weapons primarily, plus personal items, furniture, clothing and uniforms, and other things. There's information from British, American, Native American, Black, Spanish, and French viewpoints. All this takes the better part of a day to experience.
More to come.
Oct 2nd, 2017, 03:57 AM
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Some closing thoughts.
-I guess I can see why some folks may not like Colonial Williamsburg, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience here. The buildings are either original or reasonable reconstructions, and the tours were well done and informative. Despite the costumed guides, I didn't find there to be all that much of a theme park atmosphere here (I've been to places like Disneyland and Busch Gardens Tampa, and this wasn't similar). One wonders what things will be like here after this year, as apparently changes in the experience may happen because of budget constraints. Here's hoping it won't be too big a change -- but who can say?
-ate at three of the taverns, and the food experience was mixed. The best was at King's Arms Tavern; had Mrs. Vobe's Supper, consisting of a tasty cup of peanut soup, yummy samples of corn relish and ham relish and pickled watermelon rind, a very good small half chicken with wild rice and roasted veggies, and a good apple bread pudding for dessert. Josiah Chowning's Tavern was okay; got Brunswick stew (more like a chicken vegetable soup actually) and mayo-laden potato salad, all decent. Least liked Christiania Campbell's Tavern; ordered the Waterman's Supper, which was okay clam chowder that was tomato based but not really Manhattan style, a sampler plate of grilled shrimp (excellent) and crab cake (okay) and stuffed sole (bland and tasteless) with respectable roasted veggies and potatoes, delicious spoonbread, and an over-the-top boozy rum cream pie. Also in town had coffee from Aroma (good) and a sandwich from The Cheese Shop (a horribly salty shaved Virginia ham sandwich with house dressing).
More to come.
-I guess I can see why some folks may not like Colonial Williamsburg, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience here. The buildings are either original or reasonable reconstructions, and the tours were well done and informative. Despite the costumed guides, I didn't find there to be all that much of a theme park atmosphere here (I've been to places like Disneyland and Busch Gardens Tampa, and this wasn't similar). One wonders what things will be like here after this year, as apparently changes in the experience may happen because of budget constraints. Here's hoping it won't be too big a change -- but who can say?
-ate at three of the taverns, and the food experience was mixed. The best was at King's Arms Tavern; had Mrs. Vobe's Supper, consisting of a tasty cup of peanut soup, yummy samples of corn relish and ham relish and pickled watermelon rind, a very good small half chicken with wild rice and roasted veggies, and a good apple bread pudding for dessert. Josiah Chowning's Tavern was okay; got Brunswick stew (more like a chicken vegetable soup actually) and mayo-laden potato salad, all decent. Least liked Christiania Campbell's Tavern; ordered the Waterman's Supper, which was okay clam chowder that was tomato based but not really Manhattan style, a sampler plate of grilled shrimp (excellent) and crab cake (okay) and stuffed sole (bland and tasteless) with respectable roasted veggies and potatoes, delicious spoonbread, and an over-the-top boozy rum cream pie. Also in town had coffee from Aroma (good) and a sandwich from The Cheese Shop (a horribly salty shaved Virginia ham sandwich with house dressing).
More to come.
Oct 2nd, 2017, 04:10 AM
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Public transportation.
Better than it was, apparently. There used to be a Triangle Shuttle that served this area well, but it ended a few years ago. The local bus service has slowly stepped in to fill the gap but there's room for improvement. A bus line to Jamestown Settlement was begun a couple years ago, though it doesn't extend to Historic Jamestowne, which is a do-able but good sized mile and a half walk or so away. Service to Yorktown was just begun in July this year, but it's a bit of a trial. You have to change buses partway as the Yorktown bus doesn't originate at the Williamsburg Transportation Center (from the Gray Line out and Orange Line back at shared stops). And the route perversely ends about a mile and a half or so from the attractions at a scruffy apartment complex, with no sidewalks or street shoulders along the busy roads that go further along to the sights. Fortunately, there is a fairly reliable taxi service that will haul you the rest of the way over and back. And it all is much more reasonable than taking a $50 taxi over and back between the two towns.
All in all, a really enjoyable experience despite a few glitches and oddities. Very glad to have gotten here at last.
Better than it was, apparently. There used to be a Triangle Shuttle that served this area well, but it ended a few years ago. The local bus service has slowly stepped in to fill the gap but there's room for improvement. A bus line to Jamestown Settlement was begun a couple years ago, though it doesn't extend to Historic Jamestowne, which is a do-able but good sized mile and a half walk or so away. Service to Yorktown was just begun in July this year, but it's a bit of a trial. You have to change buses partway as the Yorktown bus doesn't originate at the Williamsburg Transportation Center (from the Gray Line out and Orange Line back at shared stops). And the route perversely ends about a mile and a half or so from the attractions at a scruffy apartment complex, with no sidewalks or street shoulders along the busy roads that go further along to the sights. Fortunately, there is a fairly reliable taxi service that will haul you the rest of the way over and back. And it all is much more reasonable than taking a $50 taxi over and back between the two towns.
All in all, a really enjoyable experience despite a few glitches and oddities. Very glad to have gotten here at last.
Oct 2nd, 2017, 10:02 AM
#4
I'm glad you were finally able to visit. Thank you for the lovely trip report.
You're right, it can be difficult to get to the major sites via public transportation so you were good to be able to cobble together routes in order to get to them. Just for future reference, Uber does serve the area.
The Cheese Shop sandwiches are very good but you, unfortunately, just ordered the wrong sandwich. Virginia ham is very salty and is an acquired taste. You would have been better off ordering the baked ham. Kings Arms is also my favorite tavern but once every ten years or so is enough for me.
Could you share where you stayed?
You're right, it can be difficult to get to the major sites via public transportation so you were good to be able to cobble together routes in order to get to them. Just for future reference, Uber does serve the area.
The Cheese Shop sandwiches are very good but you, unfortunately, just ordered the wrong sandwich. Virginia ham is very salty and is an acquired taste. You would have been better off ordering the baked ham. Kings Arms is also my favorite tavern but once every ten years or so is enough for me.
Could you share where you stayed?
Oct 2nd, 2017, 12:11 PM
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Very nice report.
During our winters in Richmond, we have visited Williamsburg and Jamestown several times. We made our first visit to Yorktown last spring but only saw the national monument site. We are saving the rest for a less blustery day.
I'm not wild about reenactors, so we like the museum at Jamestown Settlement far better than the reconstruction, and the Rockefeller Folk Art Museum at Williamsburg is a long-time favorite.
Our last visit to Williamsburg was marred by role playing at the Peyton Randolph house. It is a house of great architectural significance, but that was ignored in favor of assigning visitors roles as members of the Randolph household. Pfui.
The battlefield lectures at Yorktown were terrific. The forces, the actions, and the results were all well-explained.
As a New Englanders, were you surprised that they had the Revolution in Virginis, too? ��
During our winters in Richmond, we have visited Williamsburg and Jamestown several times. We made our first visit to Yorktown last spring but only saw the national monument site. We are saving the rest for a less blustery day.
I'm not wild about reenactors, so we like the museum at Jamestown Settlement far better than the reconstruction, and the Rockefeller Folk Art Museum at Williamsburg is a long-time favorite.
Our last visit to Williamsburg was marred by role playing at the Peyton Randolph house. It is a house of great architectural significance, but that was ignored in favor of assigning visitors roles as members of the Randolph household. Pfui.
The battlefield lectures at Yorktown were terrific. The forces, the actions, and the results were all well-explained.
As a New Englanders, were you surprised that they had the Revolution in Virginis, too? ��
Oct 3rd, 2017, 07:05 AM
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Thanks all for the kind words. Yup, looks like there was revolution fever all over the US back then. Ack, sorry to hear about the role playing at Peyton Randolph -- that didn't happen on my visit; it did at the coffeehouse, but at least wasn't an irritant, just something to do while having a cuppa.
Forgot to say where I stayed. So, buckle up for a bumpy review:
Governor's Inn.
No question this was the worst part of the trip. The online reviews were almost all positive when I checked, but that wasn't the experience had, sorry to say. The carpet, furniture, walls, and fixtures were badly worn, often to the point of shabbiness (originally thought the carpet was really dirty, but it was just really beat and stained), and one of the lamp bulbs was burned out. The air conditioner appeared to have a mind of its own, turning off or on seemingly oblivious to attempts to control it via settings. The room looked as if it had been cleaned perfunctorily, though a good once-over with rubbing alcohol made it acceptable; the cleaning folks were not allowed in after seeing this. The toilet acted as if it were going to break down or overflow with the next flush, but fortunately never did. The door to the room was hard to close, not catching sometimes until after several slam attempts. And the motel seemed mostly empty, which was a good thing because the one time there was someone next door, everything was extremely audible (paper thin walls). The soap didn't lather up, either, which required using the dispensers at the back of the shower to utilize flowery smelling body wash instead. The shampoo in a neighboring dispenser barely foamed up better than plain water. The bath and shower drains were also quite slow. There was also no "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door inside -- had to get one from the front desk.
Breakfast at least was included, but was not especially good; coffee was particularly bad. The front desk people were nice enough, at least. The motel is a very close walk to the Transportation Center, and not too far a jaunt from Colonial Williamsburg -- which is fortunate because the CW shuttle buses don't go to this motel.
Decided the best part of the experience was seeing the bill at checkout. And it was dirt cheap, but you really got what you paid for here.
Forgot to say where I stayed. So, buckle up for a bumpy review:
Governor's Inn.
No question this was the worst part of the trip. The online reviews were almost all positive when I checked, but that wasn't the experience had, sorry to say. The carpet, furniture, walls, and fixtures were badly worn, often to the point of shabbiness (originally thought the carpet was really dirty, but it was just really beat and stained), and one of the lamp bulbs was burned out. The air conditioner appeared to have a mind of its own, turning off or on seemingly oblivious to attempts to control it via settings. The room looked as if it had been cleaned perfunctorily, though a good once-over with rubbing alcohol made it acceptable; the cleaning folks were not allowed in after seeing this. The toilet acted as if it were going to break down or overflow with the next flush, but fortunately never did. The door to the room was hard to close, not catching sometimes until after several slam attempts. And the motel seemed mostly empty, which was a good thing because the one time there was someone next door, everything was extremely audible (paper thin walls). The soap didn't lather up, either, which required using the dispensers at the back of the shower to utilize flowery smelling body wash instead. The shampoo in a neighboring dispenser barely foamed up better than plain water. The bath and shower drains were also quite slow. There was also no "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door inside -- had to get one from the front desk.
Breakfast at least was included, but was not especially good; coffee was particularly bad. The front desk people were nice enough, at least. The motel is a very close walk to the Transportation Center, and not too far a jaunt from Colonial Williamsburg -- which is fortunate because the CW shuttle buses don't go to this motel.
Decided the best part of the experience was seeing the bill at checkout. And it was dirt cheap, but you really got what you paid for here.
Oct 4th, 2017, 04:52 AM
#8
It's disappointing to hear that you had a bad experience at Governor's Inn. It's one of the few hotels in walking distance from CW that haven't gone the way of time shares or WM dorms. For a budget hotel, I recommend people look at Rodeway Inn Historic. It's just over the bridge from Christiana Campbells and within walking distance of a few other good restaurants.
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