Why Nobody Wants to Visit Colonial Williamsburg Anymore
Grand Manors
192,406 views
Williamsburg, Virginia was rebuilt not once but twice over nine decades, becoming the largest colonial reconstruction in the country. In 1988, 1.2 million people paid to walk its recreated capital, watching blacksmiths hammer at real forges, wigmakers work real hair, and printers run real presses along Duke of Gloucester Street, past a reconstructed Governor's Palace lit each evening with real gas flame, the way it had been lit for ninety years.
But the ambition that rebuilt an entire town also left it dependent on a flow of paying visitors that never stayed constant. By 2016, the nonprofit foundation behind the reconstruction — one of the wealthiest historical nonprofits in the country — was losing an average of 148,000 dollars a day, every day, for a year.
By 2017, paying visitors had fallen by roughly half from that 1988 peak, and the foundation was drawing down reserves it had spent generations accumulating. Two miles away, the empty motel lots and shuttered candle store along Richmond Road wait behind a fence for a second life as a bowling alley and indoor slide. This is the story of how blacksmiths, wigmakers, and a reconstructed capital street built Colonial Williamsburg's golden age — and how a tourism economy nobody thought to rebuild brought it to an end.
A full history documentary about Williamsburg, Virginia — from the peak of colonial reconstruction to the slow emptying of its golden age.
Copyright & Fair Use Disclaimer
• This video is a non-commercial, educational history documentary created for commentary, criticism and research.
• Some archival photos and footage are used under the principles of Fair Use (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act) for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
20 Comments
The stores in the restored area.sadly in 2018 I had a very serious back surgery and could no longer walk long distances. We did carriage rides . That was not what I wanted to do. My husband died in December 2021 and I have not been since. I really miss our Christmas visits.
Visited Williamsburg the first time during a 4th-grade class trip in '57. Returned with visitors from Europe; with my parents & new wife; with my boys. NEVER diasppointed. I found this nascent seed of American democracy deeply moving. I saw the kitchens, the blacksmith, the paper manufacturer, the printer, the cabinetmaker and many others. I guided an Italian tourist who asked me to show him "were dey mak-a da boods", and watched him discover the roots of his own craft.
I'm Swiss now. Here, and in Germany, and in Ukraine, I have visited open-air museums with old buildings transported from all over to re-create old settlements, demonstrate old folkways and customs. Williamsburg, however, is unique: the crafts, the people, the scale. Go. See. Learn. Cherish.
There is a new museum, there will be a new performance area and the archeological draws are massive. Sorry, we're doing fine.
Those motels closed because they were old & gross and no one took proper care of them. They were completely outdated and in bad parts of the city.
There are 3 major golf courses that attract some big players and the bigger hotels have built resorts here that are thriving.
We're doing just fine.
Why Nobody Wants to Visit Colonial Williamsburg Anymore
Grand Manors
192,406 views
Williamsburg, Virginia was rebuilt not once but twice over nine decades, becoming the largest colonial reconstruction in the country. In 1988, 1.2 million people paid to walk its recreated capital, watching blacksmiths hammer at real forges, wigmakers work real hair, and printers run real presses along Duke of Gloucester Street, past a reconstructed Governor's Palace lit each evening with real gas flame, the way it had been lit for ninety years.
But the ambition that rebuilt an entire town also left it dependent on a flow of paying visitors that never stayed constant. By 2016, the nonprofit foundation behind the reconstruction — one of the wealthiest historical nonprofits in the country — was losing an average of 148,000 dollars a day, every day, for a year.
By 2017, paying visitors had fallen by roughly half from that 1988 peak, and the foundation was drawing down reserves it had spent generations accumulating. Two miles away, the empty motel lots and shuttered candle store along Richmond Road wait behind a fence for a second life as a bowling alley and indoor slide. This is the story of how blacksmiths, wigmakers, and a reconstructed capital street built Colonial Williamsburg's golden age — and how a tourism economy nobody thought to rebuild brought it to an end.
A full history documentary about Williamsburg, Virginia — from the peak of colonial reconstruction to the slow emptying of its golden age.
Copyright & Fair Use Disclaimer
• This video is a non-commercial, educational history documentary created for commentary, criticism and research.
• Some archival photos and footage are used under the principles of Fair Use (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act) for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.