THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 5, 1994 TAG: 9407010120
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
SOMETHING ABOUT RUMMAGING around old houses really gets me going.
Especially in a spot as ever-changing and inclusive as Carter's Grove in Williamsburg.
From the battered old shoes lying on the dirt floor of the slave quarters to the white-and-black marbled bathtub in the nearby mansion, it's enough to keep me wired for a week. Fortunately, my 2 1/2-year-old inherited the same curiosity or a day spent walking through reconstructed houses would've been torture.
The first stop for Carter's Grove visitors is the reception area where a 15-minute slide presentation, ``A Thing Called Time,'' previews the 400 years of history that comprise Carter's Grove.
The reception center leads to a wooden deck and bridge that will carry wanderers to the slave quarters as they were in the 1770s. Interpreters, dressed as slaves, begin the tour by describing what their lives would've been like 200 years ago - daily meals of hominy, two outfits for the summer and two for winter, being treated as property and not as human.
The presentations are very entertaining, probably more so for children, because the interpreters often use them to illustrate points. Five or six kids were used to show the difference in the loose and tight packing of slaves on ships being brought from Africa. An interpreter points to a 6-year-old boy and asks him if he'd rather spend six days a week picking worms off of tobacco leaves or cleaning up his room. He scrambles to say, ``My room!'' (His mom, sitting beside him, smiles that smile - this visit will haunt this little boy every time he forgets to pick up his socks.)
Visitors walk through the various cabins, corn cribs, garden plots and rows of wheat, corn and other grains that grow around the slave quarter.
A dirt road leads to the Big House, as it might've been called back then, or the mansion that Carter Burwell completed in the 1750s. Visitors are directed to the stables, complete with horses and a reception area. Here, a brief video and handout explain the various renovations, additions and owners the mansion has gone through over the years.
The mansion's theme changes periodically, and it currently reflects life in 1942, the height of World War II. People then were afraid that enemy submarines would emerge from the James River, which runs along the back of the mansion.
The morning porch room and the butler's pantry display home-canned produce from a ``Victory Garden'' and a small electric butter churn for milk, reminders of how food rations were used during the war. The smoking room has black-out curtains on the windows so that the mistress of Carter's Grove could play solitaire, listen to war reports on the radio and not worry about the room's lights making her an easy target for enemy pilots.
Visitors enter and exit the tour on the river side of the mansion, where the 18th century-patterned garden and paths snake down to the James. It's a gorgeous view.
Paths to the right of the mansion lead to the Winthrop Rockefeller archaeology museum and Wolstenholme Towne. Exhibits in the museum use artifacts excavated on this site to tell the story of Martin's Hundred and the initial settlement, Wolstenholme Towne.
The Society of Martin's Hundred, a group of English adventurers, acquired a 21,500-acre tract of land along the James in the early 1600s. Settlers began arriving in 1619, establishing Wolstenholme as their administrative center. But the town never became more than a village after the Indian Uprising of 1622 destroyed most of the homes and killed or carried off half the settlers.
As much as half of Wolstenholme Towne is believed to have been lost to erosion by the James River, but several elements - including the fort, the company compound and barn - have been partially reconstructed. Audiotapes about the history and excavation can be heard in barrel-housed stations around the site.
What capped off the day was a drive down the ``Country Road,'' an 8-mile, one-way lane that starts at Carter's Grove and ends in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg. The private road weaves through marshes, tidal creeks, wooded hills and open fields. At its 15-mile-an-hour speed limit, the trip can take 20 to 30 minutes, but it's worth it.
Carter's Grove is open Tuesday through Sunday from mid-March through the last Sunday in October from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is open Tuesday through Sunday in November and December from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except for the first week in December when it is closed to install Christmas decorations.
Tickets and passes can be purchased at the Carter's Grove reception center or the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center.
Carter's Grove is on Route 60 East, 8 miles east of Colonial Williamsburg. Coming from Norfolk, take Interstate 64 West to exit 242-B. You'll be on 199 West and Route 60 is a minute away.
For more information, call 1-220-7453. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DENISE WATSON
Graphic
TRIP FACTS
Food, amenities: The reception center has a gift shop, vending
machines, telephones and restrooms. Refreshments, light lunches and
restrooms are available at the stable near the mansion, and
restrooms are in the museum.
Water fountains are throughout the buildings and along several
pathways.
Prices: $13 for adults, $8 for children, ages 6-12. A Patriot's
Pass, $29, is the best deal because it's good for a year and offers
admission to all Colonial Williamsburg exhibits.
Info: 1-220-7453
by CNB