Introduce Kids to History in Williamsburg’s Historic Triangle

With dogwood trees in bloom and mild weather favoring open-air experiences, spring is a perfect season for visiting southern Virginia’s three historic attractions — Yorktown, Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg. Travel distances between the three sites are short, and each has enough activities to fill a day.

More than 85 original and reconstructed homes, shops, taverns and public buildings make Colonial Williamsburg the world’s largest living history museum. Across its 300-acre campus, kids can see how people lived in colonial times, visit workshops, and talk with tradespeople to learn how they crafted everything from furniture and bricks to the clothes they wore.

Families can ride in a horse-drawn carriage and take a behind-the-scenes tour of the stables to meet the horses and learn about carriages. In the tavern, visitors can taste authentic dishes from colonial times, including ginger cake baked in a wood-fired oven.

The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown lets visitors see the Revolution through the lives of ordinary people and the soldiers who fought in it. Along with museum exhibits are outdoor living history activities kids can join, such as mustering with the troops and helping with farm chores. Kids love climbing on the replica privateer ship, where they can play sailor and load cargo while learning about the life of a privateer.

On weekends, when Revolution Place is open, kids can try on period clothes and handle replicas of everyday objects from the colonial era. Family guide booklets, activity sheets and scavenger hunts help bring this era to life for children.

Explore the world of 17^th-century Virginia at The Jamestown Settlement, the site of America’s first permanent English colony. Exhibits and activities focus on the lives of English settlers, indigenous people and first recorded enslaved people brought to the colony in 1619. This is still an active archaeology site, so kids can watch the progress, learn about excavation and talk to archaeologists as they work.

In the Ed Shed they can try their hand at unearthing real artifacts or ask for an age-appropriate Junior Ranger booklet filled with activities. When they complete these, they are awarded a Junior Ranger badge.