An Old Place That Never Ages

Why Williamsburg Rocks

As I thought about how much I appreciated my visit to Colonial Williamsburg, I could not imagine why some people find history boring. To learn history well is to learn it as a story. It is information with a beginning, middle, and end connected by the threads of time, place, and circumstances. The staff at Colonial Williamsburg understands this and it is what makes the stories they tell so compelling and relevant. But then I thought again. Perhaps the people who find history boring have never visited Colonial Williamsburg. At Colonial Williamsburg boring history is a myth.

In the end, I walked away from my visit to Colonial Williamsburg with tons of new ideas. But what stuck with me most was the concept of ancestors. Many of the people who lived in Williamsburg, famous and unknown, free and enslaved, native and immigrant, worked hard and struggled. Their goal in life was to be good ancestors. Moreover, I, like millions of others, have experienced the fruits of their labor. Colonial Williamsburg reminds us that we all can be good ancestors and the past is useful in helping us to navigate our roles; for the people of the future will some day experience the fruits of our labor.