Books & Media

Becoming Jefferson: My Life As A Founding Father

This collectible book is written by Bill Barker, who has portrayed Thomas Jefferson in a variety of venues since 1981 and as a historical interpreter with Colonial Williamsburg since 1993. Part history and part autobiography, Mr. Barker writes about how...

Recipes from the Raleigh Tavern Bake Shop

Gingerbread cookies and other goodies from the Raleigh Tavern Bake Shop bring back delicious memories for generations of Williamsburg visitors. In this cookbook, original recipes from rare 18th-century cookbooks are presented side-by-side with their...

Colonial Williamsburg: The Guide

No visit to Colonial Williamsburg is complete without our official guide book! This first new edition of Colonial Williamsburg's official guide since 2014, this book includes information on all of Colonial Williamsburg's historic sites. This guide...

Duel in the Wilderness

Major George Washington stared grimly at the French commander facing him. The young Virginian had traveled hundreds of miles into the frontier to deliver a message from the King of England. After a dangerous journey, Washington had arrived at his...

Colonial Williamsburg Christmas: Celebrating Classic Traditions and the Spirit of the Holiday

Drawing on 18th-century traditions, Colonial Williamsburg is famous for its Christmas festivities, and the pages of this lavishly illustrated book conjure up celebrations past and present. Here are cressets glowing warmly and fireworks exploding over the...

Quill Pen

A goose feather quill pen and powdered ink were the basic writing instruments in the 18th century. Our quill pens are made from the finest quality bleached white goose pointers. The nib may be re-sharpened and re-shaped as often as necessary...

Colonial Williamsburg: The Story

It was in Williamsburg, Virginia, that American independence—and democracy—took root. And it is in the Historic Area of Colonial Williamsburg that millions have learned about the continuing relevance of America's founding ideas. Spanning...

Trend and Tradition Subscription

Trend & Tradition: The Magazine of Colonial Williamsburg is devoted to telling the stories of 18th-century America from a 21st-century point of view. Redesigned in 2016, the Foundation's quarterly publication continues to feature history articles...

Karen Cruden Festive Lamp Post Boxed Christmas Cards

Our Festive Lamp Post Boxed Christmas Cards feature original artwork by Karen Cruden. A  glowing lamp post decorated with festive fruit, greenery and ribbon stands out from illuminated Colonial Williamsburg buildings in the background. The...

Porch Gathering Christmas Cards

Each year during the holiday season, Williamsburg comes alive with blazing cressets, candle-lit windows, and most coveted of all, amazing fruit-and-foliage displays. Families from around the country, and even the world, flock to the Historic Area to...

The Williamsburg Cookbook

Once tasted, the food of Williamsburg is not forgotten. Visitors return again and again for Chowning Tavern's Brunswick Stew, Christiana Campbell's Spoon Bread, the Williamsburg Inn's Breast of Turkey Supreme and countless other delicacies. In this...

Governor's Party Christmas Cards

'Tis the season for holiday parties and the Governor's Palace hosted the most prestigious gathering in town. This set of 16 full-color, folded cards and envelopes features a Christmas Eve gathering on a snowy evening. At the time of its completion in...

Holiday Pineapple Christmas Cards

While colonists in the 18th century did not decorate their doors and homes with expensive fruits during Christmas, the tradition of decorating the Historic Area of Williamsburg with elaborate and fresh floral and fruit arrangements during the holiday...

Christmas in Market Square Christmas Cards

Vivid colors and sculpturally embossed details make this Colonial Williamsburg Christmas card stand out. On the front, a large illuminated evergreen stands in Market Square surrounded by historic structures decked in holiday wreaths. Features 16 cards...

Grand Illumination Christmas Cards

These festive Grand Illumination Christmas Cards feature a scene of fireworks bursting in the air above the Governor's Palace in the background, amidst the snow, with cressets burning and decorated homes in Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Area...

The Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook

It's six o'clock, stomachs are rumbling and suddenly you have a yearning for the Crab and Shrimp Stuffed Flounder you enjoyed at Christiana Campbell's Tavern. No problem. Pull out The Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook, roll up your sleeves, and in an...

Colonial Williamsburg Hauntings

Based on the official Colonial Williamsburg ghost tours, this book features stories from employees, residents and guests. Here are tales of unexplained alarms, moving chairs and windows, even flying checkerboards - plus spooky images of scenes guests on...

Holiday Fare Cookbook

Hot Cranberry Wassail! Cheese and Chive Crisps! Buttery Rum Pumpkin Pie! Sixty easy-to-follow recipes from Executive Chef John Gonzales Holiday-Fare Cookbook update the favorite delicious tastes of Colonial Williamsburg's recipes. Features •60+...

Reproduction Colonial Money - Set A

This set of reproduction Colonial and Revolutionary currency includes various denominations and sizes. Set A includes various denominations and sizes of Colonial Money, including one each of the following: $10 New York 1776, $8 Maryland 1774, 15s...

Gunsmith Of Williamsburg DVD

Part 4 of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archive Series: The Trades of Colonial Williamsburg The gun was a vital part of life in 18th-century Williamsburg, and this 1965 docudrama demonstrates the expertise that went into the making of each...

Snowy Village Boxed Christmas Cards by Marcia Long

Send your loved ones a warm holiday greeting with the Colonial Williamsburg Snowy Village Christmas Cards. Created by local artist, Marcia Long, these cards feature an illustration of iconic structures and imagery from Colonial Williamsburg set amongst...

Red Thunder

While cannons thundered, swords flashed, and the sky turned red with flame, Nate Chandler and his enslaved friend, James, went about the darker business of espionage. Their spy world of whispered conspiracies, secret missions alone in the dead of night,...

Bruton Parish Church Christmas Cards

A Christmas Eve stroll down Duke of Gloucester Street may find the Historic Area under a blanket of snow. Share the best of Williamsburg during the winter season with this beautiful set of boxed holiday cards. In the distance stands Bruton Parish Church...

Early Upholstery Seating

Watch a feature about our restoration expert, Leroy Graves, on CBS Sunday Morning. Leading Colonial Williamsburg conservator Leroy Graves has changed the way collectors and museums regard historic upholstery. Little upholstery from the eighteenth and...

Plants of Colonial Williamsburg

This guide to the plants in Colonial Williamsburg's gardens describes and discusses two hundred flowers, trees, herbs, and shrubs. The historical background of each plant links it with the colonial period. Brief biographies of early plantsmen explain the...

Ghosts Amongst Us

Based in part on Colonial Williamsburg's popular evening programs "Cry Witch" and "Ghosts Amongst Us"—and also including stories that have never been performed—here are the tales that chilled and amused Virginians over two hundred years ago...

Holiday Welcome Embossed Christmas Cards

The door of the Historic Area's Roscow Cole House is beautifully decorated on this set of Christmas cards. The Roscow Cole house has anchored the east end of Market Square since about 1812. It is named for the merchant who built it and owned it until...

Reproduction Colonial Money - Set B

This set of reproduction Colonial and Revolutionary currency includes various denominations and sizes. Set B includes 1 each of the following notes: 20 Dollars - United States 1778,  4 Dollars - North Carolina 1778, 8 Dollars - Massachusetts Bay...

Four Documents of Freedom

Choose this unique set for the American history buff in your life, young or old. This impressive set of four antiqued historical documents includes the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, and Abraham...

The Idea of America: Our Values, Our Legacy, Our Future

"The Idea of America backs us out of current conflicts and gives insight into the values that have made our country such a shining light to others. Now, more than ever, we need to revisit these values and the tensions they create - and work to fulfill...

Restoring Williamsburg

From our fascinating and highly readable best-selling classic, Williamsburg Before and After to our revised and expanded edition, Restoring Williamsburg combines the history of a major restoration bringing the story up to present. Sheds new...

The Art-Full Tree: Ornaments to Make Inspired by the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum

Based on art from Colonial Williamsburg's Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum's collection, each of the 33 projects in The Art-Full Tree: Ornaments to Make Inspired by the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art features an image of the original work and...

The Art of Quilting: A Coloring and Pattern Book

Both coloring and quilting tap into creativity within disciplines defined by lines, borders, and structure. The patterns in this book, all of which are taken from quilts in Colonial Williamsburg's extraordinary collection can be used not only for...

Colonial Spices and Herbs

Colonial Herbs and Spices by well-known food writer Patricia B. Mitchell is full of fascinating information, quotations, and descriptions about the typical usages of 23 of colonial America's most common spices and herbs. It offers brief descriptions of...

American Traditions Secret Decoder Cypher Wheel

The American Traditions Secret Decoder Cypher Wheel is a fun toy for kids to explore and learn the art of encoding and decoding messages. Get two and send secret messages between friends! Made of wood. Includes instructions. Recommended for ages 5 and up...

Blue Pineapple Note Cards

What better way to say "thank you" than with the traditional symbol of hospitality? Each note card features an illustration of a ripe, plump pineapple in blue and white surrounded by swirling vines. The inside is blank so you can craft your own unique...

The Journal of Major George Washington

In 1753, Virginia Governor Dinwiddie appointed 21-year-old Major George Washington to a delicate mission - deliver a letter to the local French commander demanding that he and his forces leave British Territory and bargain for support with the local...

A History of Tea

As the world's most popular beverage, tea has fascinated us, awakened us, motivated us, and calmed us for well over two thousand years. A History of Tea tells the compelling story of the rise of tea in Asia and its eventual spread to the West and beyond...

Williamsburg Watercolor Note Cards

These reproductions of original watercolor paintings of Historic Area scenes capture the look and feel of historic Colonial Williamsburg long after your visit has ended. Painted by Williamsburg artist Marcia Long, each notecard features a different...

Organic Fiber Dyeing

Traditional Dyes for Modern Fabric Lovers. Color, color, and more color-dyeing fabric was just as important to the citizens of 18th-century America in places such as Williamsburg, Virginia, as it is to today's quilters and fabric artists. Using...

Red Earthenware Inkwell

Add historic charm to your desk with this Red Earthenware Inkwell. This reproduction inkwell would have been a common site to inhabitants of Williamsburg in the 18th century. Made of more common materials, such as earthenware, or finely crafted in...

The Bookbinder in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg

Illustrated in the style of the period, each softbound booklet in this series describes a trade of eighteenth-century Williamsburg and the lives and times of the artisans who practiced it. Features An Account of the Life, Times, & Craft of a...

Civil War Williamsburg

Williamsburg is known for its central role in the American Revolution. Less known is that the city also played a role in the Civil War, suffering through a bloody battle on its doorstep and a three-year occupation. The Virginia history book Civil...

Botany - A Naturalist's Notebook

Whether you make observations close to home (how does your garden grow?) or keep detailed, accurate field notes for your Journal of Researches (like Darwin!), take along this Botany - A Naturalist's Notebook. Make at least one discovery every day! 48...

Hidden History of Civil War Williamsburg

Each year, thousands of visitors from around the country visit the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's re-created 18th-century capital of Virginia to learn about the past and walk where the Founding Fathers walked. The fact that the same ground was later...