How to Enjoy Williamsburg During Quarantine

How are you doing? We hope you’re hanging in there and not feeling too stir crazy! But if you are, help is here. Even though you can’t enjoy Williamsburg’s living history museum in person right now, there are still a lot of ways to stay connected and entertained from home! Keep reading for our tips on how to enjoy Williamsburg during quarantine…

We’ve rounded up some great ways to take advantage of the online version of the Historic Triangle, where there are hours of videos, lessons, FAQs, and more to add a little pleasure to these long days. 

Take a look! 

Historic Jamestown/Yorktown

In response to coronavirus, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation closed its museum sites until further notice. But instead of going quiet, the Jamestown Settlement and American Revolution Museum at Yorktown figured out how to offer virtual museum experiences online! They also offer educational resources (in case you need a little something to occupy your kids’ time) that include videos and broadcasts exploring America’s beginnings.

For stories about 17th– and 18th-century Virginia, go to History is Fun at Home. If you want to connect personally to this history, the site allows you to interact with a historical “Legacy Wall” timeline; you can also match your personality with a 17th-century artifact, or share what liberty means to you by posting a message in a lantern on a world map. You can also take a quiz that pairs you with your Revolutionary counterpart.

Virtually tour the museums of Jamestown and Yorktown through their museum apps! There are fun features, videos and activities for kids, plus interactive gallery tours with insight into the events, artifacts and people of Jamestown. The Virginia History Trails app also puts 400 years of Virginia and American history at your fingertips. You can download this app plus the Jamestown and Yorktown Gallery apps on Google Play Store or the Apple Store. 

You can also find tons of videos (including videos made especially for kids) that feel like walking through Jamestown Settlement and talking with its historical interpreters. Learn about the food and cooking methods used by the Continental Army, follow simple recipes to make your own preserved food, download strategy games, explore the weaponry and war tactics used by both the British and the Americans during the Revolution, and so much more!

If you’re in the position of having to homeschool your kiddos right now, the site also has incredible educational resources that cover a lot of ground. Learn all about how three cultures interacted at Jamestown, the roles of men, women and children in Powhatan society, and more. 

Colonial Williamsburg

Our next tip for how to enjoy Williamsburg during quarantine centers around our city that never gets old.

With social distancing recommended around the world, Colonial Williamsburg is doing its part to stop the spread of coronavirus by temporarily closing its historical sites. The good news is, you can still escape to the 18th century from the comfort of your home. Below are links to our favorite features of the Colonial Williamsburg site.

Have you heard of the Stamp Act? If you want to immerse yourself in some seriously interesting drama, this timeline is like watching your favorite Netflix show—only all of this stuff really happened, and not too far away from where you’re sitting now.

Fascinating! How Williamsburg’s 18th-century apothecaries would have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Go live with Martha Washington.

Make colonial recipes in your very own kitchen, like Chelsea buns and carrot puffs.

Which DIY colonial craft would you try? Here’s a spring wreath, paper flowers, and a beautiful lantern.

“Did tribes get along with colonists?” and other FAQs with American Indian interpreters. (The answer to this question might surprise you!)

Historical interpreters open up about living a life devoted to telling America’s story.

And, of course, a teacher resource library (free!).

We hope our tips for how to enjoy Williamsburg during quarantine provide hours of entertainment and inspiration for your family! We know that we really enjoyed browsing these resources and learning more about our country’s past from the comfort of our couches. Hopefully, soon you’ll be able to schedule an in-person visit to these incredible places!