I need real dark to sleep. Kings
Creek Plantation had too much light coming through the blinds from the
street lights outside for me to find peace. By the end of the week I
had covered them with everything I could find to block as much of that
light as possible.
After breakfast we cleared out of
the timeshare, and spent a few more hours in Williamsburg before
heading downstate.
The coopers job was to make
barrels and buckets. Most of the barrels his historic counterparts made
were disposable ones, like the one in the middle picture above. They
were mostly used for storing tobacco for export to Europe, that being
the main cash crop even then. The distinguishing characteristic of
disposable barrels was the viney wooden things used to keep the slats
in place. Full sized barrels were at least four feet tall, and were
probably burnt as fuel after being emptied in some distant city.
The jailer explained that back in
the 1770s it was considered cruel and unusual punishment to keep a
prisoner locked up for more than six months to a year. Sentances for
crimes that were more serious than that were more likely to be death.
The cells were more spartan than the ones in modern jails though.
This was the seat of Government
for the Commonwealth of Virginia in the 1700s. When we visited here in
1999 I saw the government inside debating the pros and cons of
supporting the resolution for independance. We didn't have time for
that this time though. After I took this picture, my sisters family and
I drove down to their old stomping grounds in Central Virginia.
This was the recipie for the salad
she served us. It was in one of her Menonite cookbooks, and very
delicious. She said that she made it with 3/4 cups of water instead of
a full cup.
