Discover Williamsburg Through Storytelling
By Arielle Patterson / Updated By Julie Matthews
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 a ghost tour 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. 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 Travelers’ Choice in 2024. 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
Experience Williamsburg’s only murder mystery dinner theatre and murder mystery pub crawl with Haunted Historical Ghost Tours, which also offers fun ghost walks for the entire family. The Trials and Travelers Tour is a family-friendly option, while the adults-only Dark History: Murder Tour takes thrills and chills to a whole other level. Each tour is full of captivating stories and interesting history about the local area. GhostColonies.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
Best Williamsburg Tours offers customized tours based on what guests wish to discover in the Historic Triangle. Learn the fascinating history behind Colonial Williamsburg, William & Mary and other amazing attractions from knowledgeable certified guides during a private or small group tour. From day and holiday tours to walking and driving tours (plus kayaking tours!), an extraordinary experience awaits with Best Williamsburg Tours. BestWilliamsburgTours.com.
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. WilliamsburgWalkingTours.com
Williamsburg Walking Tours also offers a unique Civil War History 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
Experience the National Park and Historic Yorktown by taking a stroll with an NPS certified tour guide. Just a short walk from the battlefields, located on Main Street, you will find historic buildings original to before the Revolutionary War that house Little York Confectionery home of Yorktown & Co Steamer Wagon Tours and Mobjack Coffee Roasters. As the only authorized tour providers for the National Park, you can be confident the information is vetted for accuracy and provides pass access to the park. General tours and private tour options are available. A new and unique way to explore Historic Yorktown is riding high on board their open air, shiny red replica Stanley Steamer Wagon, which departs from Little York Confectionery located in the Somerwell House c1690 and runs through the National Park Battlefields and Historic Village. Tours run multiple times a day and tickets can be purchased online or in person. The Steamer Wagon is ADA accessible with a wheel chair lift. YorktownAndCompany.com; MobjackBayCoffee.com
Whether it is your first time in Williamsburg, or your 50th, the tours offered around the area never disappoint.
