Find Events For Your Visit

The orientation walk is designed to help guests plan their visit.  Guides share the latest information on programming, dining and shopping options.  Guests get an overview of the 18th century community and learn about the restoration of Williamsburg.  The experience lasts approximately 30 minutes.

Included in all Historic Area or Museum admission passes.  Tours depart every 10-15 minutes.

Colonial Williamsburg celebrates the contributions of women of the eighteenth century to the history of our nation with programs throughout the month of March.  Scenes, tours, programs and special presentations explore the various roles that our foremothers filled in birthing a new nation.

Each Tuesday, visitors to Colonial Williamsburg are encouraged to view archaeological objects and to learn about current research being undertaken by the Foundation's archaeological staff. Tours cover the history of archaeology at Colonial Williamsburg and highlight artifacts and other evidence from more recent excavations.

Interaction with Foundation archaeologists provides insight into excavation techniques, curatorial efforts, and the functions of various labs. Participants will learn how artifacts, plant remains, and animal bones play roles in the history interpreted at Colonial Williamsburg today.

Check "Colonial Williamsburg This Week" for starting location. Tours last 90 minutes and begin at 9:15 a.m., 10:15 a.m., 1:45 p.m., and 2:45 p.m.

Available only with Freedom Pass or Independence Pass. Due to limited availability, reservations must be booked on-site at any CW ticket location.

Available to Colonial Williamsburg Liberty Pass, Hotel Guest Pass, Freedom Pass or Independence Pass holders only.

Come and participate in a local court session where lives, liberties and property come into contest.  Our guests may take on roles as justices, attorneys, litigants, petitioners or defendants.  See how the rights of Virginians were maintained in open court.

Offered Tuesday through Saturday mornings at 10:00, 10:30, 11:00 and 11:30 a.m.

This event is part of Women's History Month, March, 2010.

Enjoy the music that enlivened the households of the 18th century. When time permitted, ladies of the middling and better sort could indulge themselves and their families with music on the popular harpsichord/spinet or the English guitar.

See an extensive collection of American and British antiques. See furniture, metals, ceramics, glass, paintings, prints, firearms, and textiles from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and the Public Hospital of 1773. Attend lectures and musical performances in the Hennage Auditorium. Visit the Museum Store and the Museum Café.

View Current Exhibits

Enjoy changing exhibitions of American folk art, the colonial and contemporary artists and craftspeople who work outside the mainstream of academic art to record aspects of everyday life. Attend lectures and musical performances in the Hennage Auditorium. Visit the Museum Store and the Museum Café.

View Current Exhibits

Programs and exhibitions at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum are supported by the DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

Enjoy an interactive public audience with a Founding Father of our nation in the historical context of the 18th century, discussing political and social events of the day.

An 18th-century Prompter had to make sure rehearsals and performances went smoothly, much like a modern stage manager. How did they do it? How do we bring the plays of the 18th century to life today?

Join our Performing Arts Department for a peep behind the curtain as they explore the rehearsal trends of an 18th-century acting company in preparation for their 21st-century performances.

The Children's Orientation Walk is designed to assist guests with planning their visit and will highlight options that families will enjoy. Guides share the latest information on programming, dining, and shopping options. Guests will receive an overview of the 18th century community and specifically understand what childhood and family life was like in the 18th century. The walking tour lasts approximately 30 minutes.

Guided tours by knowledgeable museum volunteers introduce you to some of the masterworks on exhibit, such as paintings, ceramics, furniture and silver.

Included in museum admission ticket.

Programs and exhibitions at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum are supported by the DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

Enjoy music that has come from distant shores to become our music.  Each week will feature a different performer.

Performers:

March 16 – Dean Shostak – Fiddle
March 23 – Timothy Seaman – Hammered Dulcimer
March 30 – Carson Hudson – Banjo
April 6 – John Turner – Scottish Fiddle
April 13 Stephen Christoff – Unique Instruments
April 20 – Dean Shostak – Fiddle
April 27 – John Turner – Scottish Fiddle
May 4 – Stephen Christoff – Unique Instruments
May 11 – Carson Hudson – Banjo
May 18 – Timothy Seaman – Hammered Dulcimer
May 25 – Dean Shostak – Fiddle
June 1 – Stephen Christoff – Unique Instruments
June 8 – John Turner – Scottish Fiddler

Programs and exhibitions at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum are supported by the DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

The Children's Orientation Walk is designed to assist guests with planning their visit and will highlight options that families will enjoy. Guides share the latest information on programming, dining, and shopping options. Guests will receive an overview of the 18th century community and specifically understand what childhood and family life was like in the 18th century. The walking tour lasts approximately 30 minutes.

Guided tours by knowledgeable museum volunteers introduce you to the whimsical and fascinating paintings, sculpture, textiles and more from Mrs. Rockefeller's original collection, for which the museum was founded.

Thirty-minute tours begin at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. Included in museum admission ticket.

Programs and exhibitions at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum are supported by the DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

Talk with Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, or the Marquis de Lafayette about issues that transcend time. Guests will have the opportunity to ask questions.

How did theater impact the political climate up to and during the war years? We acquaint you with the role theater played during a time when public performances were banned by our Continental Congress.

Topics vary daily, and include Washington's connection with theater, women's contributions to the war, and printed propaganda. You might be surprised by what you discover.

This one-hour walking tour takes guests through the stable and carriage facilities and introduces them to the rare breeds conservancy program operated by Colonial Williamsburg. Guests will view the facilities, see some of the animals and view the various vehicles owned and operated here.

Discussion of animal treatment, training, equipment use and the Coach and Livestock operation is ongoing throughout the tour. This experience includes some hands-on activities, such as trying out a sidesaddle or inspecting a horse’s hoof. Children must be accompanied by adults at all times.

Please make reservations at any on-site ticket location. 

A ball for Lady Dunmore at the Capitol provides an opportunity for romance. Will young Mister Randolph and Miss Nicholas begin their "dance?"

Enjoy music that has come from distant shores to become our music.  Each week will feature a different performer.

Performers:

March 16 – Dean Shostak – Fiddle
March 23 – Timothy Seaman – Hammered Dulcimer
March 30 – Carson Hudson – Banjo
April 6 – John Turner – Scottish Fiddle
April 13 Stephen Christoff – Unique Instruments
April 20 – Dean Shostak – Fiddle
April 27 – John Turner – Scottish Fiddle
May 4 – Stephen Christoff – Unique Instruments
May 11 – Carson Hudson – Banjo
May 18 – Timothy Seaman – Hammered Dulcimer
May 25 – Dean Shostak – Fiddle
June 1 – Stephen Christoff – Unique Instruments
June 8 – John Turner – Scottish Fiddler

Programs and exhibitions at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum are supported by the DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

Shakespeare was a favorite of actors and audiences here in the colonies as well as in England. However, then like today, theater companies rewrote the Bard's words to suit the tastes and sensibilities of their audiences. Scenes, speeches, and even characters themselves were often added, deleted, or changed completely. Enjoy this lively look at how these "improvements" to his plays did and did not survive.

Weather permitting. 

Guided tours by knowledgeable museum volunteers introduce you to the whimsical and fascinating paintings, sculpture, textiles and more from Mrs. Rockefeller's original collection, for which the museum was founded.

Thirty-minute tours begin at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. Included in museum admission ticket.

Programs and exhibitions at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum are supported by the DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

Museum volunteers guide this in-depth tour of 18th and early 19th century furniture including rare baroque, rococco and neo-classical tables, chairs, chests and desks.

45-minute tours begin at 2:15 and 3:30 p.m.  Included in Museum Admission Ticket.

Programs and exhibitions at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum are supported by the DeWitt Wallace Endowment Fund.

From October, 1765 to May, 1776 events take place in Williamsburg that change Virginians from servants of a distant monarch to citizens of a self-governing republic.  These events cause colonists to declare that they are no longer dependent on the British crown, but are citizens of the free and independent United States of America.

The Revolutionary City recreates these critical moments that relive Williamsburg's role in the American Revolution and the War for Independence.  Come take part in the everyday life of the city against the backdrop of these momentous, world changing historic events.

Meet famous patriots like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Patrick Henry, and lesser known people such as, Alexander Hoy, a poor man who enlisted in the army, enslaved African Americans like Kate, Hannah and Marcus who debate whether to escape to the British, and a Baptist preacher named Gowan who talks about his hopes for the future where all citizens are equal.

Meet the men and women – rich and poor, great and humble, free and enslaved – who live in these extraordinary times and create our nation.

Guests are free to come and go through the course of this two-hour event. 

Learn more.

Join interpreters in front of the Raleigh Tavern and find out what to look for and how best to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Revolutionary City scenes and events that take place today.