Colonial Williamsburg offers a quaint trip back to an earlier and simpler time in American history. Strolling down the cobblestone streets as horse-drawn carriages pass by, one passes storefront shops; the apothecary, the blacksmith, the milliner, the cooper and the dressmaker, each an interactive educational haven. Men and women completely costumed in authentic colonial dress running their daily errands. A visitor can stop by one of the four historic taverns, enjoy a “peanut soupe in the tradition of early English receipts”and “game pye; braised venison, rabbit, duck and vegetables in Hunter’s sauce under flaky pastry,” as a wait staff, in eighteenth century dress, explains the traditional dining habits and strolling balladeers perform throughout the restaurant.

Visitors can “shop ‘til ye drop” in the historic area, where three-cornered hats, quills and ink, sealing wax, pewter and brass are for sale. However, neither the authentic Colonial meal at the King’s Arm Tavern nor the carriage ride down the Duke of Gloucester Street is the purpose of Williamsburg. Instead, Williamsburg sells education. The lesson on barrel making, the evening concert at the Capitol and the handmaid petticoat purchased from Mary Dickenson’s Shoppe are all commodities; relics of history, produced in the service of education, in the hope of totalizing the experience.

Clearly, the purpose of Colonial Williamsburg is education but the theme of this space is history, specifically a sanitized vision of the history of the wealthy, Anglo settlers of the British Colonies. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Rev. W.A.R. Goodwin originally set out on their dream of recreating the lost capital of the original thirteen colonies, in order to illustrate good old-fashioned American values and the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy.

Although history has always been and always will be the theme of Williamsburg, through the decades the Williamsburg Foundation has continuously had to modify this theme to fit with the political climate of the times. During the tumultuous period of the 1930’s, when the nation was beset by the Great Depression, the start of World War II and mass immigration, Williamsburg emphasized “the principles of liberty, the ideals of democratic government and the contribution of Colonial Virginians to American culture” (Handler and Gable 64). During the 1950’s, Williamsburg appealed to cold war sensibilities through a strong sense of Patriotism and democracy. During the 1960’s Williamsburg looked towards a multifaceted approach, called “the Six Appeals.” The Six Appeals offered a little something to everyone, through an emphasis on architecture and town plan, collections of English and American furniture, gardens, archeology, the craft program, and lastly, an understanding of how the events of the Revolutionary Period were so important to the birth of a nation (Handler and Gable 66). During the 1980’s, Williamsburg finally echoed the protests of the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Movement and the increasing clout of the labor unions and worker’s rights, with the implementation of the social history perspective. The social history perspective not only incorporated the African American experience as well as the roles of women in the telling of the past, but also emphasized the importance of a critical approach to history. Ever since Williamsburg became a vacation destination in the 1950’s the Foundation has had to reinvent their image in order to appeal to the masses.

The differing advertising schemas are tantamount to whom the town encourages to participate. The Foundation clearly chooses who they want to target for consumption. Colonial Williamsburg appeals to a certain class of the American public who are educated and therefore interested in a complete historical experience. However, visitors must also be of an income bracket that can afford admission to the park. A Day Pass for an adult runs $33 and $16.50 for a child and $39 and $19.50, respectively for The Freedom Pass (http://www.history.org). After a few calculations, that is over $100 for a family of four and does not even begin to include food, souvenirs and hotel accommodations. As a tourist destination, Williamsburg plainly excludes anyone who cannot afford a family vacation.

Although there is a variety of hotel accommodations and restaurants, in terms of prices, somehow the most authentic establishments always seem to be the most expensive. Therefore, someone vacationing on a limited budget is going to get less of the total educational experience. Furthermore, studying the history of upper-class European Colonists, tends to be the prerogative of white middle-class Americans, therefore it is less appealing to visitors who are non-white or of non-European decent.

In the million visitors Colonial Williamsburg receives each year, there are certain assumptions, foundation officials make. Most visitors are from Northeastern states, between the ages of 35 and 64, married, college educated, earn over $30,000 per year and travel primarily in pairs or with children (Handler and Gable 12). Williamsburg presumes visitors are interested in learning about American colonial history. While a visitor is arguably, not required to have a working knowledge of American history in order to actively consume the experience, it is nonetheless, hard to image a tourist willing to pay for an educational vacation on a theme that they only might enjoy. Therefore, Colonial Williamsburg knows from the start, that they are selling their image to the historically inclined who willingly romanticize the grueling work and rigid class structure of the time.

Sign value augments the exchange value because Williamsburg is a brand name in itself. In fact, Williamsburg offers two craft house stores that showcase Williamsburg® Reserve Collection furniture and accessories for the home. Interior designers are also available to recreate eighteenth century elegance in the home (http://www.history.org). You can buy candles anywhere. Why pay extra for the candles you buy in the Antique village? Why would anyone need a three-cornered hat? A petticoat? What is more exciting than purchasing the same mustard server that you observed the silversmith making, earlier in the day? Moreover, it is not just the products that boast a sign value, but rather the experience in itself. You can see people dressed in Colonial garb in Old City Philadelphia, and yet nobody pays forty dollars a day for that. Colonial Williamsburg is an experience and its name has become a token of that identity. A Williamsburg® hurricane lamp is not just about an elegant candleholder, but it is about the memory and image of Williamsburg embedded in the object. Although Colonial Williamsburg esteems itself as the largest outdoor living history museum, it nonetheless, struggles to compromise between mass education and mass entertainment. It is therefore increasingly becoming more of a theme park, as seen in line with Anheuser-Busch’s European-themed Busch Gardens and Water Country, U.S.A. As a restoration the past, Williamsburg has become a destination in itself. Although, Rockefeller and Goodwin did not envision their dream as a business, it is somehow not surprising that in commercializing the past, history has become a commodity.

Works Cited:

Greenspan, Anders, Creating Colonial Williamsburg. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002.

Handler, Richard and Eric Gable, The New History in an Old Museum; Creating the Past in Colonial Williamsburg. Durham: Duke University Press, 1997.