Colonial Williamsburg

Post-Visit Questions

Students can think about the following situations and questions after their visit to Colonial Williamsburg:

• What did you find in the capitol city that surprised you? Did the buildings and streets look the way you expected?
  


• Did you meet a person of the past? How did they speak to you? Could you understand everything they said? What words were new to you? What words that you use today would have been unknown to people of the eighteenth century?
  


• Think of all of the occupations you saw demonstrated by tradespersons around the city. What occupation would you choose to learn in the eighteenth century? Did boys/girls have a choice? Would someone choose for you?
  
  
• Where did the enslaved population live in the city? Was it important for slaves to learn to read and write? How did they share the news of the day with each other?
  


• What building held the only elected office in the colony? What were the qualifications to sit in that room?
  


• Did you see a courtroom? What crimes were considered serious in the eighteenth century? Why were the pillories in the middle of the market square?