8 Things Virginians Remember From Their Fourth-Grade Field Trip to Williamsburg

Fairfax County fourth graders rolled hoops down a historic Williamsburg street on their 2026 trip.

Your class may have done the same.

Here are the things Virginians remember from their fourth-grade field trip to Williamsburg, and what you’d see on a visit today.

1. Governor’s Palace

Colonial Williamsburg says hundreds of swords and firearms decorated the entranceway of the Governor’s Palace in the 1700s.

Thomas Jefferson sketched a floor plan of the Palace’s first floor in the early 1770s.

Lords Botetourt and Dunmore, the Palace’s two royal governors, lived there.

So did Virginia’s first two elected governors.

On the grounds, you can wander through gardens and an evergreen maze.

Many people who visited as students still bring up the maze.

2. Capitol

The House of Burgesses met in Colonial Williamsburg’s Capitol until 1776.

After Parliament passed the Stamp Act, Patrick Henry spoke out against it in the Capitol.

The Governor’s Council acted as the colony’s highest court, called the General Court.

George Wythe held a moot court, or mock trial, with his law students in the old General Court Room.

A later Capitol on the same site housed Virginia’s government until the capital moved to Richmond, a move the General Assembly voted for in 1779 and finished in 1780.

As of October 2026, you can tour the Capitol, and you should plan at least 30 minutes inside.

3. Historic Trades

Cabinetmakers and wigmakers are among the more than 20 historic trades Colonial Williamsburg lists on its website.

The tradespeople use 18th-century tools and techniques.

Blacksmiths take red-hot iron from their forges, and you can watch them hammer it into tools.

Fairfax County’s Columbia Elementary fourth graders learned about blacksmithing through a live demonstration, the school reported in 2026.

Printers set type on reproduction presses.

You can interact with the tailors, too.

4. Costumed Interpreters

Colonial Williamsburg’s school groups may have small-group or private encounters with actor interpreters who portray people of Williamsburg in the 1770s.

Your class may have talked with someone playing a Williamsburg resident from that decade.

Students may meet actors portraying Nation Builders such as Washington, Jefferson and Madison, too.

On their 2026 trip, Columbia Elementary’s fourth graders met General Marquis de Lafayette.

Colonial Williamsburg lists its Voices of the Revolution program for grades 4 through 12.

The program asks students to consider whether everyone supported the fight for independence, including Patriot, Loyalist and neutral views.

Not everyone did.

5. Public Gaol

Thieves, enslaved runaways, debtors and political prisoners once paced the cells of Colonial Williamsburg's Public Gaol while they waited to be tried.

You can tour those cells on a self-guided visit, and you should plan at least 10 minutes.

Several pirates from Blackbeard's crew spent time there after their capture in 1718.

More than a dozen of Blackbeard's crew members arrived in Virginia to await trial, according to North Carolina's Queen Anne's Revenge Project.

6. Colonial Games

Trundling the hoop and trapball are among the colonial games Colonial Williamsburg lists for children and adults.

Columbia Elementary's fourth graders rolled hoops along a historic street during their 2026 trip.

Children and adults can play when the games are offered, so check the day's schedule before you go.

7. Raleigh Tavern

Raleigh Tavern is a Duke of Gloucester Street stop that Colonial Williamsburg dates to around 1717.

Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry were among the Burgesses who met in a private room there in March 1773.

The group's resolution led the House of Burgesses to form Virginia's committee of correspondence.

The governor dissolved the House of Burgesses again in 1774, and the former members reconvened at the tavern the next day.

The result?

Their motions included a call for what would become the Continental Congress.

On a visit, you can learn how ordinary people ate, drank, slept and socialized in a colonial tavern.

8. Silversmith

Colonial Williamsburg says silversmiths turn coins and outdated silverware into fashionable pieces such as cups, teapots and spoons.

You can watch them work.

The Gazette-Journal reported that the silversmith was a very popular stop for Abingdon Elementary's fourth graders on a November trip.

Virginia Studies and the Capital

If you have a fourth grader, Williamsburg shows up in their Virginia Studies course.

Under the state's 2023 standards, students explain why Virginia's capital moved from Jamestown to Williamsburg.

A later standard has them identify why it moved from Williamsburg to Richmond.

Another standard covers how people exchanged goods and services in colonial Virginia.

Recent Class Trips

Gloucester County planned free trips to Colonial Williamsburg for all of its fourth graders in October 2025, one for each of its five elementary schools.

Students would have time at the Capitol, the Governor's Palace and the trade shops.

Students were set to meet George and Martha Washington, Thomas Jefferson, General Lafayette and James Lafayette.