Day 2 - Plantations and Historic Chuches

Sunday, Oct 14

This morning we attended LDS services at the local ward in Williamsburg. It was fast and testimony meeting, and we enjoyed the services very much. Afterwards, we gave ourselves a short, self-guided tour of the non-historic portions of Williamsburg, and then decided it would be fun to see the inside of Bruton Parish, the oldest church still being used in America.


We drove down to the historic section and found a place to park (not easy on a beautiful Sunday in the Fall) and walked over to the church. We had not yet purchased our tickets to view historic Williamsburg, so we felt a litte awkward about walking around without badges on, but we figured that you shouldn't have to have a badge on to go to church.

When we arrived at the church, they were just getting ready to start Sunday morning services. We hadn't really planned on attending the service, but the ushers in the foyer just whisked us right into a pew at the back of the chapel. Besides our party of four, there was one other woman sharing the pew, and she was obviously a regular. She worked very hard to make sure we knew what to sing, when to follow along with the recitals, when to kneel, etc.

It was very interesting to be there, and especially fascinating to think that men like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had worshipped regularly in that very building. But we really didn't want to stay for the whole service, so after about 30 minutes, we slipped out the back. While this wold be no big deal in an LDS service, I think this is not usually done in the Episcopalian services, as we got some pretty strange looks from the folks in back and from the ushsers in the foyer. Even so, it was a very cool experience.

We went back to the Krochmal's and Bonnie then drove us out in the country to visit one of the most famous Virginia plantations, known as the "Shirley Plantation".


We had a great time walking around the grounds for a while before our scheduled tour of the house. Mary Ann and Bonnie and I visited the gardens, and Mary Ann captured a very cool picture of a monarch butterfly on a blossom.