And I've finally found time to post my last set of photos from our Thanksgiving weekend! There are only a few of them, and they're all wreaths used to decorate various buildings around the colonial section of town.
While we were there, we heard that back when the whole Colonial Williamsburg foundation was first starting up, they only owned a handful of buildings, and all the rest were privately owned. Some of the owners weren't real keen on adhering to the spirit of the Colonial era and wanted to put up modern Christmas decorations. Someone very smart came up with the idea of having a contest to see who could display the best wreath using only natural materials found back in that era, and soon all the houses were decorating with lovely, old-fashioned wreaths and greenery. Even though now only one of the houses in that part of town is privately owned, they still keep up the tradition of displaying interesting wreaths.
So anyway, I'll begin with the wreath on the door of the court house and jail, which is decorated with pomegranates:
And here are a few one some of the private residences. Although the Williamsburg Foundation owns these houses, many of them are the homes of people who work for the foundation. And they're reportedly Very Expensive to rent, as you might imagine.
This is a wreath on one of the houses you can rent for just a night or two and stay in to get a taste of colonial furnishings and so on:
I thought this wreath from inside Shield's Tavern was cool, with its rope-wrapped upper half and then... are those artichokes in amongst the flowers and greenery?
Check out how the wreath outside Chowning's Tavern uses oyster and scallop shells, with sponges to look like foam coming out of tin beer mugs:
And this is the hat outside the Mary Dickinson shop, where we bought the girls hats:
Finally, they had the lamp posts decorated too, as you can see here:
Their wreaths are so pretty! And unique. It's quite fascinating what they put in them. Like the one with artichokes in it? Or the clam shells? The people who design them certainly have lots of creativity! So fun to see all of them. Although I'm like you. As pretty as they are, I'm not sure I'd actually want one of them hanging in my house. But they fit perfectly in Williamsburg! :)
ReplyDeleteI think I would like the one with pine cones and berries, it looks very natural and homey to me :-) But a lot of the others are very place-specific, it's true. Though my girls would probably like one with little doll hats on it, hee.
DeleteI love Christmas wreaths :) I'm working in Old Town Alexandria, VA, and all the row houses have wreaths on the doors and candles in the windows. It's so festive. - Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks
ReplyDeleteUm, seriously? Like, along King Street? My Tootie was born at Birth Care there in Old Town, three years ago yesterday! Such a cool section of town, and I will remember how pretty it was in December :-)
DeleteAwww. This made me happy. :-)
ReplyDeleteI've never been there around Christmas (both times were in November, when there were just the barest hints of Christmas popping up here and there), so I've never seen the wreaths but in pictures. (Granted, I have seen many pictures. ;-P) I love the one at the hat shop-- so cute!!!
And by the way, I wanted to tell you that my daddy and I just watched The Man From Snowy River the other night, and it was SO GOOD. I had seen most (not all) of it a few years ago, but that was before my western craze and I wasn't as interested. But this time around I really got into it :-) and Daddy and I both really enjoyed it. So thank you again for your thoughtfulness! :-)
~Emma
Hurrah! I'm so glad you enjoyed MFSR. I had almost forgotten I'd stuck it in that box for you! As I was reading your comment, I was like, "Wow, Emma Jane remembered that's my favorite movie and came over here to comment about it? How sweet!" And then by the end of the comment, I was like, "Oh! Oh yeah! I sent her my extra copy!" Hee :-) I'm glad you liked it!
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