Meet the Artificer: A New Book Includes Some Less Familiar 18th-century Trades

 

Artificer Jay Howlett

The sign reads simply, “artificer shop.” An arrow points behind the Magazine. Halfway around the octagon, a door opens to a shop where Jay Howlett has been plying his trade for five years. [Ed. note: In summer 2015 the artificer’s shop moved to a building behind Anderson’s Blacksmith Shop.]

So what is an artificer? “A lot of times that’s my opening because it’s the first thing people will ask,” says Howlett.

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First Oval Office open today for viewing

Discussions concerning the U.S. government shutdown have all eyes on the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., today. In Colonial Williamsburg today, visitors can watch progress on the first Oval Office — the re-creation of an oval-shaped tent that served as the sleeping and office space for the first commander-in-chief of the United States….

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