The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg: Ghosts and Interpreting the Recreated Past

by Alena Pirok

On any given night, hundreds of guests walk the darkened streets of Colonial Williamsburg looking for ghosts. Since the early 2000s, both the museum and private companies have facilitated these hunts, offering year-round ghost tours. Critics have called these excursions a cash grab, but in truth, ghosts and hauntings have long been at the center of the Colonial Williamsburg project. The Spirit of Colonial Williamsburg  examines how the long-dead past comes alive at this living-history museum. In the early twentieth century, local stories about the ghosts of former residents—among them Revolutionary War soldiers and nurses, tavern owners and prominent attorneys, and enslaved African Americans—helped to turn Williamsburg into a desirable site for historical restoration. But, for much of the twentieth century, the museum tried diligently to avoid any discussion of ghosts, considering them frivolous and lowbrow. Alena Pirok explores why historic sites have begun to embrace their spectral residents in recent decades, arguing that through them, patrons experience an emotional connection to place and a palpable understanding of the past through its people.

232 pages, Hardcover

Published September 30, 2022

Reviews

[Ry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting overview of the history and development of CW, but the focus on ghosts falls short of asking the deeper questions about why the people of this area were/are so obsessed with claiming the spirits of historical figures. If a townsperson can increase their property value by claiming the real ghost of Thomas Jefferson haunts it, isn't this just the cult of American fascism incorporating supernatural elements to sustain itself? Would love to see that explored deeper.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides an overall history of interpretation at Colonial Williamsburg, through the lens of local ghost stories. The author begins by arguing that ghost stories and folk lore were very prevalent in the area prior to the restoration of Williamsburg, which began in the 1920s. She argues that these legends were particularly common among the region's African American community, but were generally ignored by the leaders of the restoration work. I wish the author would have provided more background on what the popular legends were, and explained more about what Williamsburg was like before the restoration. She mentions that the area was poor, and never really recovered from its loss of the capital and the Civil War. But, she only describes the community at that time in the broadest of ways.

The author then begins to discuss the restoration, and its efforts to use professional museum/historical methodologies to interpret the area. She makes references to the area being haunted by the past, particularly in terms of the city's Episcopalian pastor, who led the restoration. She quotes him as talking about spiritual things that are unseen, but she doesn't mention that this echoes Biblical language. I wasn't really sure from the quotes if he was talking about what we might think of as a modern day ghost story.

The author then talks about the renewal of folk history (including ghost stories), beginning in the 1970s. She discusses early commercial ghost tours in Williamsburg, and the museum's efforts to create its own ghost tours. These began as folk history tours, and then turned into a program called "Ghosts amongst Us" in the early 2000s. This program featured stories from the 18th century being acted out in taverns during the evening. This program was apparently not that popular, so Williamsburg eventually switched to giving traditional ghost tours. They now have more dramatic Halloween programming than ever before. I had really enjoyed the "Ghosts amongst Us" tour, so I was glad to learn why it is no longer offered. Overall, I thought the book was really interesting, but I thought it should have been marketed as more of a general history of Williamsburg, with a chapter on ghost stories, since they didn't feature all that prominently in most of the book, despite the way the book was framed.

[Nate Fryburger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great overview of Colonial Williamsburg and its history. I found the details of its relationship to ghost lore-or hesitance thereof- to be quite interesting. The author provides a great look at the institutions struggle to find and sustain identity.