Discover Williamsburg Through Storytelling
By Arielle Patterson
They say you need to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes to understand their experiences. So, lace up your sneakers and join in on one of Williamsburg’s diverse and original walking tours. With so much preserved and recreated history in Williamsburg, there’s a lot to explore. These walking tours offer three centuries of extraordinary history and an endless collection of local stories, led by knowledgeable guides with years of experience.
Take a Walk on the Spooky Side
As dusk falls over the cobbled streets, you know it’s time for some eerie experiences. Since Williamsburg is full of history, the city comes with its historical haunts. If you’re in the mood for a hair-raising experience, embark on a ghostly walking tour where some of Williamsburg’s darkest haunts are uncovered.
Colonial Williamsburg offers two ghost tours that will delight and fright. Led by costumed storytellers, Haunted Williamsburg is the only ghost tour in the area that takes you inside Colonial Williamsburg’s historic buildings. Hear terrifying tales of 18th-century ghosts and modern-day encounters with the spirits. For more family-friendly frights, experience the Official Ghost Walk Junior. This tour offers all the spooky fun without any nightmares. ColonialWilliamsburg.com
Ranked in the top 10 of the “13 Bone-Chilling Haunted Tours” by US City Traveler, Colonial Ghosts has earned Trip Advisor’s Certificate of Excellence in 2019. These tours offer a genuine experience based on research, eyewitness interviews and a ghost story book connected to factual and historic events. They offer daily daytime cemetery tours and nightly ghost tours. Journey, if you dare, to the Public Hospital—America’s first “insane asylum.” Rumor has it that Dr. John Minson Galt II still haunts the grounds where he lived and worked. Colonial Ghosts also gives amateur ghost hunters a chance to use ghost hunting equipment on the Ghost Hunt tour. ColonialGhosts.com
Join Other Interesting Tours
While you’re free to explore all of the attractions around the 301-acre Historic Area on your own, you can learn even more along one of Colonial Williamsburg’s informative guided tours. There are several tours available that take you into the homes, gardens and shops of Colonial Williamsburg’s 18th-century locals. Tours at Colonial Williamsburg also include behind-the-scenes tours, tours specifically for children, tours of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg and more.
ColonialWilliamsburg.com/Explore/Tours
Follow along Williamsburg’s exclusive history tour dedicated to the African American experience with Williamsburg Walking Tours’ African American History Tour. During the 18th century, enslaved African Americans, freedmen, craftsmen and businessmen comprised half of the city’s population. This tour gives an exclusive and well-researched glimpse into the lives of African American people.
Williamsburg Walking Tours also offers a unique Civil War Tour that explores the Battle of Williamsburg. Based on the song “Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel,” written during the Civil War, this tour gives an in-depth look at the little-known stories of the Battle of Williamsburg and the soldiers who fought during the war. WilliamsburgWalkingTours.com
Take a scenic drive down the Colonial Parkway and head to nearby Yorktown for even more ambulatory history. Mobjack Bay Coffee Roasters is offering an exclusive experience to take an educational and historical stroll through Historic Yorktown and the Colonial National Historical Park. Group tours are available, along with curated private tours based on a topic of your choice, including a ghost tour option. Before your tour, be sure to grab a refreshing cup of coffee or tea from Mobjack Bay to fuel up for your Yorktown walking tour. MobjackBayCoffee.com
Whether it is your first time in Williamsburg, or your 50th, the guided walking tours offered around the area never disappoint.
