The Blog of Colonial Williamsburg
Welcome to the new Armoury Blog! Over the next several years, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation will be reconstructing Anderson’s Blacksmith Shop and Public Armoury. Please follow along as we rebuild six structures to show the site as it looked in the late 1770s when James Anderson was the Public Armourer for the new Commonwealth of Virginia.
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This summer we are making the experiment of the Apples of Love in the garden; I understand the Spanish call this most striking and unusual fruit the “tomato.” It has long been used by the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Italians, but has only recently been adopted by English cooks in soups and broths.
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Colonial Williamsburg introduces a new garden program this summer: Herbs in the Garden. Participants will learn tips on growing herbs and ways in which they can be enjoyed today. The program runs each Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. through August 31st. Reservations are required for this event. Colonial Williamsburg has 26 gardens and countless informal plantings throughout the Historic Area.
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Visitors to the gardens in June will find plenty of blooms to admire. The perennial beds at the Governor’s Palace are an abundant mixture of summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana), daylily (Hemerocallis fulva) and the Yorktown onion (Allium ampeloprasum). Large central beds are planted with globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa.)
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The pour of the light three infantry cannon is scheduled for June 23, with the 24th as a rain date. Since we are melting a much larger quantity of bronze than in the past coehorn pours, we do not know how long the process will take, but we hope to pour late in the afternoon. That said, we’ll tap the furnace when the metal is ready, and that will be hard to predict.
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May offers guests the unforgettable sight of the flowering dogwood, the state flower of both Virginia and North Carolina, a sure sign of spring in Virginia. George Washington referred to the white and pink dogwoods (Cornus florida, C. florida rubra) and the redbud (Cercis canadensis) as his “clever trees,” because of their ephemeral beauty and diminutive size.
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It was in Williamsburg, Virginia, that American independence – and democracy – took root. Based on Colonial Williamsburg’s acclaimed street theater program, Revolutionary City tells the story of Williamsburg during the American Revolution.
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No, the cannon project hasn’t become a flash in the pan. We’ve just been on hold to get some other things done while we wait out this winter.
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