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                             Williamsburg, VA

                                  

                                   By Don Miller

                                   Columnist                  

 

 

Anna and I did a flyout to Williamsburg in June.  This is the first opportunity I have had to write about it.

 

Let's go to Lord Dunmore's House!

 

What, you never heard of it?  What about the Governor's Palace at Williamsburg?  Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were the first two elected governor's of Virginia and whose families lived in the palace at Williamsburg after the revolution. The last of seven governors who lived there during the colonial period was Dunmore and the building is decorated as it might have been during the 1760's when his family occupied it.

 

This past spring as Anna's family was discussing where to meet this year for the family reunion, we mentioned Washington DC first, but soon settled on Williamsburg as our destination for brothers and sisters from Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee to gather.  As soon as that was settled I naturally looked at the local airport opportunity.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered the Williamsburg - Jamestown Airport (JGG) is just 3 miles southwest of the palace in colonial Williamsburg! Better yet the FBO has outstanding pilot reports for hospitality and a nice 3200 X 60 runway with VOR or GPS-B approach.

 

As the family began corresponding about dates in June and hotel possibilities, I began looking at air travel choices and likely weather. It turns out that our favorite Virginia lunch stop is Martinsville/Blue Ridge (MTV). It has good fuel prices and a hot meal lunch room in the FBO. When the final plan was announced, I was ready.

 

We took off in N129S with an IFR flight plan to MTV and the next leg to JGG. The aviation forecast and terminal reports listed IFR conditions in tri-cities and the Virginia coast and MVFR over central Virginia. We encountered mostly MVFR during the early part of the trip and VFR for the last half as the day warmed and burned off the ground fog in Virginia. That part of the country is always nice to see from 7,000 feet.  The actual report was scattered 3,000 to 4,000 and isolated thundershowers with tops at 42,000. Early in the day visibility 3-5 miles with light rain.  That is pretty much what we found, but conditions improved as we traveled.  Our enroute time to MTV was one hour and fifty five minutes. After lunch it was one hour thirty nine minutes to JGG.

 

For those who have never been to Williamsburg, it can be a challenge to plan your days of sightseeing.  The list of choices is large and the scheduled special events are not the same every day.  In the end we decided to take one day in the colonial town and one day outside in the area.

 

Our first day started with a visit to the candle factory in Williamsburg, lunch was in the same strip mall at a family owned restaurant. After lunch we drove to Norfolk and the waterfront shops on Waterside Drive until our boarding time arrived for the American Rover. This is a 135-foot long tall ship with three masts. It is a modern sailboat with 19th century appearance. The deck is outfitted to seat about 100 passengers and has a snack shop below decks. We elected to take the longer three hour sunset cruise which sails out Hampton Roads Strait famous for Civil War sea battles and blockades.

 

The second day was spent in the old city seeing the Governor's Mansion, apothecary, Bruton Parish Church, foundry, public hospital and College of William & Mary book store. We were entertained by an actor who gave a speech on the villiage lawn under a large oak on the subject of the recent "indian incident in Boston where tea was dumped in the ocean". He took questions from the onlookers and remarked about their (our) strange attire. That evening we took a bus tour of Yorktown entitled "Ghosts and Ghost Stories of old Yorktown". This was amusing, but the low point of the two days for me.

 

I recommend this trip to anyone with an interest in history and two or three days to immerse themselves in it. Williamsburg is an attraction in the sense that Disney World is. Several prices are available which include a range of building access and entertainment options.  Choices can be made which center around mostly entertainment or alternatively around historic facts and museum artifacts. With any ticket level, a free bus circulates around the major locations every 15 minutes. 21 restaurants, 55 shops, 25 buildings or demonstrations, a theater and 2 museums are within the colonial area.

 

We elected to fly non-stop back to DKX. It was three hours and twenty-nine minutes. The weather had improved over the region and sightseeing was excellent. Scheduling a trip such as this in mid summer can be done flying VFR but the flying route may have to be extended to include some detours around weather. By flying IFR we were able to know our likely flying time and arrival time. This was important in our case since my brother-in-law was picking us up at the airport.

 

Go for it next time you want to do something new.

 

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Want to read more from Don Miller?  Check out of his other columns.

Got a comment, question or suggestion for future article? eMail Don.

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