Colonial Williamsburg Publications

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...

The Williamsburg Bray School: A History Through Records, Reflections, and Rediscovery

Seven letters that trace the arc of the Williamsburg Bray School—from its founding in 1760 to its closing in 1774—are the foundation for a collection of essays that explores history and implications of the 18th-century school for enslaved and...

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...

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...

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...

The Colonial Naturalist DVD

Part 3 of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archive Series: Colonial Life through a Lens. Filmed in 1965, this docudrama highlights Mark Catesby's first visit to the colonies, where the self-trained naturalist spent time observing his natural...

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...

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...

Rivers and Roads: Transportation in Early America

In an era when no corner of the globe has been left unexplored, and people commute hundreds of miles every day in cars, trains and buses, it's easy to lose track of how different life would be without these modes of transportation. Travel back to a time...

Four Centuries of Quilts: The Colonial Williamsburg Collection

Grand in scope and gorgeous to look at, Four Centuries of Quilts is one of the most important references on quilts and quilting available. Quilts are among the most utilitarian of art objects, yet the best among them possess a formal beauty that rivals...

The Art and Soul of African American Interpretation

The Art and Soul of African American Interpretation is the first book in which African American interpreters themselves reflect on their profession. Six experienced interpreters discuss how they research historical figures and create characters, often...

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum Booklet

Revolution & Evolution: Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum is a catalog of the 2017 Winter Antiques Show loan exhibit which is also an introduction to the extraordinary treasures of the Abby Aldrich Folk Art Museum and to the rich variety of...

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...

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,...

Painters and Paintings in the Early American South

Painters and Paintings in the Early American South by the Juli Grainger, Curator at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, gathers into one volume a large body of materials related to the paintings and the artists of the American South between 1564 and...

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...

Changing Keys: Keyboard Instruments for America

The transition from harpsichord to piano and the accompanying shift in taste between 1700 and 1830 was a musical revolution in revolutionary times. So, also, was the transition from London's monopoly on the manufacture of instruments to a burgeoning...

Why The Turkey Didn't Fly

In the Colonial Williamsburg book, Why The Turkey Didn't Fly, the answers to the following questions are revealed: Why did the eagle become our national symbol, even though Franklin preferred the turkey? How did Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Washington...

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...

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...