Find Events For Your Visit

Children between the ages of 3 and 7 explore Benjamin Powell’s property using familiar riddles and rhymes along with bits and pieces like a stub of candle or a hank of wool. Where did we get the wool—Baa! Baa! Can they jump the candlestick like Jack? How does the Powell garden grow? After their experience children and the rest of the family can take their time and visit the main house. They may even remember some other rhymes that fit the time and place.

Please Note: This tour is designed for non-reading or early reading pre-school and kindergarten children using 18th century nursery rhymes and discovery of artifacts and activities at the Benjamin Powell property. Children will become familiar with the nursery rhymes and the artifacts associated with each rhyme and will discover these artifacts and recite the rhyme associated with them during their exploration of the Powell property. Each child will experience the feeling of finding and claiming their own little piece of Colonial Williamsburg.

Due to limited space, free reservations are required for all children and accompanying family members.

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.

Meet with landscape volunteers to ask questions and learn about period plants and their care in a Historic Area garden.

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.

Learn more.

Guests may enter and exit any time during the program.

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. Program is approximately 5 minutes long.

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.

In 1765, Richard Charlton’s Coffeehouse was a center of political debate, commercial transaction, and social discourse. On October 30, 1765, Gentlemen of property, The Royal Governor, his Council, and George Mercer, Virginia’s appointed Stamp Distributor, all converged at Charlton’s Coffeehouse. Is this the beginning of a Revolution?

Program takes place on the Coffeehouse porch.

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.

In the night of April 19 in 1775 Virginia’s Governor, Lord Dunmore removed the gunpowder from the Public Magazine. Some local patriots threatened retaliation. Several days later, as Peyton Randolph, president of the Congress prepares to leave for Philadelphia news arrives of the battles of Lexington and Concord.

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.

May 15, 1776—With the local Militia providing fife and drum fanfare and cannon salutes, the representatives of the free men of Virginia take the bold first step in breaking from Great Britain by passing resolutions for independence. They must now set about establishing a republican form of government!

Ticketed event.

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. Space is limited.

Please make reservations at any on-site ticket location. Not included in one-day ticket.

Reservations or additional tickets required. Call 1-800-HISTORY for prices and reservations.

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.

The theater of the colonial era was often advertised as a "Moral Academy" where the audience could learn from the characters on stage.  Not all of the characters, however, were role models. 

The 18th-century stage is full of scheming, backstabbing, and intrigue.  You might be surprised to see how little things have changed in the last 250 years. This program focuses mainly on men's roles and famous actors of the time.

Engage with Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists as they search for evidence to inform the upcoming reconstruction of the Public Armoury.

This summer’s project will focus on areas used by James Anderson as he expanded his pre-Revolutionary blacksmith shop into a high-production armoury during the war years.

Weather permitting. 

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.

Colonial Williamsburg admission ticket or Good Neighbor Pass required.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry played crucial roles in the foundation of the American republic. They were all sons of Virginia and part-time residents of Williamsburg.

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 every 30 minutes between scheduled times. Program is approximately 25 minutes long.

Did you know that Williamsburg is the birthplace of theater in America? The first theater in the colonies was built here in 1716. Who was performing here? What plays were they performing? Come enjoy theatrical entertainments on the site where it all begins.

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.

Enjoy music written by composers whose names were well known to our colonial founders but have fallen by the musical wayside in the generations since. Be surprised by the quality and entertainment value that much of this music contains.

Museum volunteers guide this in-depth tour of 18th- and early 19th-century furniture including rare Baroque, Rococco, and neoclassical 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.

June 25, 1776—In the wake of Virginia's declaring independence, a group of slaves abandoned by the British royal governor are brought together just minutes before being auctioned by the patriot government. Helpless to influence their fates, they share their hopes and express their fears. Will they ever see each other again? Will families be torn apart, never to be reunited? What kind of masters will they be sold to—kindly or cruel? Will they be sent to labor in the fields, or worse? Old wounds and new terrors surface as the time approaches when they must confront the shrouded future.

Weather permitting. Not appropriate for young children due to subject matter and intense emotion.

A Behind the Scenes Tour of the Costume Design Center - explore and meet members of the CDC staff – where most of Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area costumes are created and maintained. These tours are done in part to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of costumed interpretation at Colonial Williamsburg.

Unfortunately, strollers cannot be accommodated.  Free reservation required - space is limited.

Reservations or additional tickets required.

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.

Guests may enter and exit any time during the program.

We often hear of the budding American cause during the Revolutionary War, but that’s only half the story. Join us and reconsider the loyalist’s struggle through plays, poetry, and patriotic pieces.