By WP BrandStudio
September 18, 2018
Exploring this historic slice of Virginia has never felt so modern — especially through the lens of newly-updated resorts.
In Colonial Williamsburg, modernity sneaks up in surprising ways.
Workshops at Taste Studio, a demonstration kitchen at the Williamsburg Inn, often explore historic ingredients, (think spice trade favorites and heritage chocolate.) But the video-equipped setting and the interactive, immersive experience are very 21st century. Guests “can sit down and be up close to a chef who’s going to take them through a modern interpretation of cooking or a step back in time,” said Christopher Castle, director of restaurant outlets for Colonial Williamsburg Resorts, including the Williamsburg Inn.
This marriage of history and modernity extends throughout Williamsburg, Va., as well as Colonial Williamsburg Resorts, a collection of hotel properties located within and surrounding the town’s Historic Area, making them right within reach of all the action. Along with sophisticated amenities, from gourmet dining and a cutting-edge spa to historic taverns and a range of entertainment, the resort properties themselves reveal the contemporary side of this historic town.
An authentic sense of place
Williamsburg Lodge, one of six properties on the resort campus, is an Autograph Collection hotel with a modern-meets-traditional ambiance. Room renovations unveiled in August 2018 blend contemporary decor with accents that “give a connection to the history of Williamsburg without being overt,” said Cheryl Griggs, director of interior design for Colonial Williamsburg Resorts. There are 19th-century Audubon prints in contemporary frames, for instance, along with reproduction post beds — updated for 21st-century comfort — and antique-inspired Chippendale fretwork patterns, all balanced with a fresh blue-gray palette and modern finishes.
For a deep dive into the past, guests can stay at the Colonial Houses, a collection of original and reproduction homes, some of which date back to 1774. Reproduction houses feature locally-milled woodwork, and they are made to exact Colonial specifications, according to Griggs. “That’s the beauty of Colonial Williamsburg; a reproduction is done in the same way it would’ve been done in the 18th century,” she said. While each house is made in the image of the 1700s, they also feature 21st-century conveniences, such as private bathrooms, electricity and room service. Staff will even stop by to light a fire in the fireplace.
Colonial authenticity also characterizes the private events held at the resorts. Indoor and outdoor venues with modern conveniences include features like the grand ballroom-style Regency Room at the Williamsburg Inn to Bassett Hall, the 18th-century home where the Rockefellers lived when they restored Colonial Williamsburg in the 1930s and 1940s. Guests can pass through the museum-like home en route to the lawn, where tented events and receptions are held. The private venue includes horse pastures and gardens and is “one of those unique gems that not many people know about,” said Brittany Rice, director of wedding and social catering sales for Colonial Williamsburg Resorts. There, the in-house floral department, pastry chefs and event partners help couples create personalized weddings. And groups can also take advantage of planned activities, like historic tavern crawls, bachelorette spa days, and private team-building dinners at Taste Studio.
“There are so many things to do here that you can make a whole weekend out of it, rather than just one night,” said Rice.
Colonial influences — with an innovative twist
The happenings of 18th-century Williamsburg also influence the dining options at the resorts. When colonists were cut off from the spice trade, for instance, they learned to replace sugar with carrots and beets; these flavors are subtly reflected in the 19 restaurants and taverns across Colonial Williamsburg Resorts. At the Rockefeller Room, a AAA four-diamond restaurant that opened last year in a renovated 1937 space in the Williamsburg Inn, brown butter carrot puree sweetens coastal seared rockfish. “Our menu is not boldly pronounced by these flavors, but gently,” said Castle. “It’s more about creating a narrative than it is a flavor profile.”
Elsewhere on the resort campus, four historic taverns pair Colonial-inspired fare with local craft beers. The Goodwin Room at the Williamsburg Inn holds classic afternoon tea, which offers visitors three-tiered trays of treats, six days a week. The amenity is “about being in a place where you can sip slowly and hearken back to another era,” Castle said.
Evening entertainment deepens that connection with the past. “Ghosts Amongst Us” tours bring visitors inside historic buildings and face-to-face with Colonial storytellers. And a brand-new evening program, “Nimble Toes & Dancing Woes,” takes inspiration from immersive theater experiences, inviting guests to dance with costumed actors at a Colonial wedding.
“Guests really want to feel like they’re in the 18th century,” said Robert Currie, director of entertainment for Colonial Williamsburg. “People come out laughing, and they’re learning about the 18th century without being lectured to.”
“A continuum of wellness”
Resort guests receive free golf clinics at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club, which features 45 holes of championship golf on three different courses. The Gold Course, which reopened in 2017 after extensive renovations, now offers modern turf, an expanded practice putting green and eight forward tee boxes that allow golfers to play a shorter course based on their skill level. Tennis clinics are also free for resort guests.
After all that action, many guests head to the nearby state-of-the-art spa. a 30,000-square foot space that includes fitness facilities. Guests can come in for a one-hour or 90-minute treatment. Or, they can spend a full day relaxing in the steam room, lounging beside three different pools or taking a yoga class at the fitness center. Guests of the Williamsburg Lodge, Williamsburg Inn, Colonial Houses, and Griffin Hotel have free access to the fitness center and classes. Spa treatments range from a 17th-century herbal wrap and hot stone massage to a 21st-century treatment using facial-ultrasonic and microcurrent technologies to exfoliate and rehydrate skin. Light narration during services educates spa-goers on different ingredients and how they were used in the past; popular 18th-century digestive aids like ginger and orange, for example, are used in a scrub-and-massage treatment.
“It’s that continuum of wellness that we want people to experience,” said Denise Haddaway, the spa’s director.
An evolving American story
Links between past and present are constantly being refined and reflected back to guests. “Colonial Williamsburg is not only preserving its own history, but the story of America,” said Haddaway. In doing so, “we remind visitors that a simpler, more humble existence had its benefits.”
Seasonal and special events and entertainment alternately reinvigorate that bygone lifestyle and explore modern hobbies. Last spring, a new character based on Clementine Rind, the first woman public printer for the Virginia House of Burgesses, debuted in “Visit a Nation Builder,” a performance series in the Historic Area featuring key figures in the nation’s founding. This fall’s expanded entertainment lineup features leather craft workshops and a look at Revolutionary War spycraft. Special events also crop up throughout the year, including a couples golf tournament being held November 5-6, as well as the Haunting on DoG Street event from October 15 through October 31. Guests can expect ghost tours, spooky carriage rides, museum talks and a thematic Blackbeard’s Feast, which will be held in a historic tavern.
Whichever options one goes for, finding the ideal balance of history and modernity is easy here. “Coming to Colonial Williamsburg as a resort is more than just history,” said Haddaway. “It’s time to play.”
Plan your spring getaway to Colonial Williams Resorts
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZK%2Bzrc2dZKyspZm2sHvWqWZraGFtfHGFjmpvaKGeqbKzrcKtoK%2BdXZrFsbHRopynm5WoeqK6w2adq52jnXqzsc2orZqsmaS7tHnBq5yarJiaeq%2Bx1majop6VYravwM5mmqikn6O2oriMsKClpJmWurSu1KueaA%3D%3D