Jamestown & Williamsburg

Sailed up the James River from Norfolk to Jamestown for the Memorial Day Holiday. Great sail with wind power the whole way causing an arrival after dark. This we normally avoid, however HD only need to pull over to the side of the river to drop the hook and not negotiate the entrance to an unfamiliar harbor, so the crew was comfortable with the plan.

 So the real reason for the arrival after dark is the 60' James River bridge which got missed in the day's planning and needs a two hour notice to open.

We anchored off Jamestown just as the three ships of the Virginia Company of London did on May 14,1607 establishing the first English speaking permanent settlement in the new world.

We did the tourist thing at Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown and got a little smarter on our Country's history.

A real weaver

A brick maker

Used to hold sand for building ramparts for defense used at Yorktown by both the Brits and colonists

Visiting Williamsburg always conjures up a 55 year old disappointment of the captains'. Seems his parents sent he and his older brother, Pem, on a night tour of Williamsburg's special buildings to get ride of them one night in 1956. While in the bakery we watched the bakers pulling fresh bread out of the wood burning brick ovens and slabbing yellow butter on the steaming treasures . The guide must have said they were using  200 year old ovens and methods. So the 7 year old little captain pulls on his high brothers arm and said " don't eat it its 200 years old". I can still smell the bread we avoided due to inside information.

Back to Norfolk to gather parcels and then up the Bay to Irvington, home of the Tides Inn.
Unfortunately not a pleasant experience as we clipped off the controls to our gas grill on the way in to the dock. Its' Australian; the parts are on the way to Annapolis with the shipping costing as much as the pieces. Then during the night as the  tide was coming in, HD caught her stainless steel rub rail on a bolt on the piling and ripped off a 6' piece which the crew repaired with new SS screws to almost good as new.
Continued to explore the  west side of  the Bay with a stop at the Solomons, just north of where the Potomac River joins the Chesapeake. Liked the natural multi-bay harbor and the feel of a no frills boating community; both commercial and pleasure. Most memorial part being the car ride of 8 miles in the dark back to HD by a friendly local lady we met.
Onto the Eastern Shore...