It should be pretty obvious that I have a great affection for history. I could (and have) spend an entire Saturday watching episodes of History Channel's The Revolution (oh, the wigs are bad, but the history is great!). I look forward to taking a walking tour of a historic city or driving from battlefield tour stop to tour stop with a pamphlet in hand. I read great tomes of history. But then, I understand that I am not exactly normal.
History has often gotten a reputation of being boring and inaccessible, a list of names and dates that may come in handy for Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit, but doesn't put anything into context. At Colonial Williamsburg, they've been able to balance the the need for concise information and the need to put it into context and the result is the three part living history presentation called Revolutionary City.
As part of your Colonial Williamsburg admission ticket, you are invited to join the cast of colonials in a multi-part presentation taking place at various locations in the historic district. Each day's presentations features a number of short vignettes lasting 15-20 minutes each, compact snapshots of important historical events in the larger framework of the Revolution. As the crowd gathers and moves from one location to the other, they get to be a part of the townspeople's reading of the Declaration of Independence, hiss at former American general turned British occupier Benedict Arnold as he returns to Williamsburg with his occupying force, and be party to the agonizing discussion of slaves as they ponder the British offer of freedom for those who belong to revolutionary households.
This is history at its most compelling and easiest to understand. You won't find a litany of names and dates here, but rather the personal stories that make up one of the most intriguing chapter of our collective history.
