It was love at first sight between a young girl and a place that holds the history of the beginning days of Virginia.
More than 50 years ago, Debra Bailey took her first steps on Duke of Gloucester Street in
Colonial Williamsburg. That first trip to Colonial Williamsburg “set my soul on fire for the place and it has never stopped,” said Bailey, who grew up in Connecticut and currently lives in North Carolina.
Bailey recounts her first visit with her family in the first chapter, “Ten Years Old, $4, and
Freedom.” While her parents spent the day at the Williamsburg Pottery Factory, Bailey and her sister were given four dollars to roam around Colonial Williamsburg.
Horses that pull the carriages for the carriage rides (Contributed photo/WYDaily)
“We thought we were rich with four dollars until we tried to get lunch at one of the
Taverns,” said Bailey. “The only reason we didn’t ‘starve’ until our parents picked us up was our discovery of the Raleigh Tavern Bakeshop, and those wonderful gingerbread cakes.”
Of course, much has changed in Colonial Williamsburg since Bailey’s initial visit, but nothing has diminished her love for the place.
“I enjoy it more now, but for different reasons,” Bailey said. “Growing up, and later, while
raising my son, the visits were from a child’s perspective, an adventure in learning how another group in another time lived and did things.”
Now, Bailey said, she views Colonial Williamsburg for what it truly is, an important part of
the history that shaped the start of our country.
Gingerbread Cookie (Contributed photo/WYDaily)
“Over time, my relationship and experience with the place deepened,” Bailey said. “It went from viewing Colonial Williamsburg as this fantasy wonderland to a place where hard questions started coming up: So, colonial life was neat if you were the plantation owner or part of his family. But what was it like to be an enslaved person? A Native American who lost the fight on the Peninsula for his or her land? What were things like for women and what happened when a woman lost her husband? How did she handle making a livelihood and owning property? What were her rights?”
Bailey continues to visit Colonial Williamsburg for other reasons as well.
“I go to Colonial Williamsburg because I need to think about something important in my life or to ponder life’s meaning and directions or to explore deeper issues,” she said. “I also go there to restore or to indulge or to experience new things, like the musket-shooting program, which is on my to-do list.”
Despite Colonial Williamsburg’s recent financial woes and changes related to that, Bailey’s
admiration for the Historic Area has not waned.
Orlando Jones House garden (Contributed photo/WYDaily)
“Loving the place, I, of course, worry about the financial health,” Bailey said. “I think we all
want to just feel like everything is okay and there are no problems and Colonial Williamsburg will just always be the same and nothing has to change. But the reality is, life isn’t that way. In any aspect of our lives. Things are always changing, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.”
Bailey hopes her book will encourage others to visit Colonial Williamsburg and support it as it looks toward the future.
CW Mission Statement (Contributed photo/WYDaily)
“We need Colonial Williamsburg,” she said. “We need to hear and see and learn about people who confronted life-changing questions and risked it all to create this country. We need to be reminded of the values and goals they had in doing so. We also need to see and learn about the problems, like slavery and basic inhumanity to others, that still exist today. They have their mission statement, ‘That the future may learn from the past.’ I hope that doesn’t change because those eight words capture it all.”
“A Colonial Williamsburg Love Affair: Tales, Takes, And Tips From a Lifetime of Visits” is
available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Bailey will hold a book signing at the Barnes and Noble on Duke of Gloucester Street on April 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
