Travel Tuesday: Colonial Williamsburg

     A month from today I'll be setting out on vacation to Colonial Williamsburg (Virginia).  This trip will be my first time there and will be the furthest north I've ever been.  I've been planning the details of my trip and hope not to miss any must-see attractions.

     Although I didn't plan it purposefully, I'll be there during the weekend they call "Grand Illuminations," though I'll only be there for the morning of the big day (Sunday).  This is the beginning of their Christmas season, which seems like a great time to be there.

     If you've been to Colonial Williamsburg, especially during Christmas, I'd love any suggestions or tips, good or bad.  I'm very interested in learning about the everyday lives of people in the 18th century.  Here's what we've got planned so far:

• Orientation Tour
• Time for most of the "Trades," old fashioned Shops, Governors Palace and hopefully, but lastly, old homes
• Attend, "A Christmas Tale," "A Public Audience with a Founding Father," "Order in the Court," "Fifes and Drums March," "A Revolutionary Holiday," "Ghost Tavern Walk," and "Christmastide at Home."
• We have a reservation at Shields Tavern and will eat someplace cheaper the other nights
• Grab lunch at The Cheese Shop and... ? two other days
• Shop in the Market Square and Merchants Square 

    So please, please share some suggestions!

Sometimes You Just Have To Do It Yourself

     I had requested photos of the graves of my 5x Great-Grandparents, Thomas and Rachel Albea, some time ago on FindAGrave.com. I very quickly received a photo of what was left of Rachel's stone. It consisted of the top portion of her stone, which contained only her name, encased in cement. There was no response regarding Thomas' grave. After more than a year, I deleted the initial request and re-posted it, which sent out new emails to volunteers.  I was very excited to receive an email announcing that the stone had been photographed, only to be disappointed when the photo was of another Thomas Albea (a hundred years too young!). It seemed that my Thomas Albea did not have a headstone. But I wanted to find out for sure.

     So what's a genealogist to do? Plan a vacation around visiting the cemetery of course.

     With my mom, I drove 268 miles to the Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery in Harmony, Iredell, North Carolina.  There I found this picturesque church and cemetery:

     The cemetery wasn't large, but of course the stone for Rachel Albea was in the last corner of the cemetery that I looked in.  The photo that I had previously received on FindAGrave.com made it much easier to find the correct grave.  I was then able to take my own photo of Rachel's grave:

     I then looked around for Thomas' grave, which apparently two volunteers had already been unable to find. Don't know why... it was the stone to the left of Rachel.  It was hard to read, but it was the most likely choice. It took a minute to decipher, but there he was. And it had a strange yellow moss on it which, when gently brushed away, made the stone easy to read (maybe not as much in this photo, but in the closeup photo it's great).

     Sometimes you just have to do it yourself. And to commemorate the effort: a photo of me and my ancestor's grave.

I'm planning a genealogy/vacation to South Carolina. I've got three cemeteries on my list in Greenwood and the surrounding area. I've found the location of two of them, but I still need an exact location on the third one.

1. Edgewood Cemetery - in downtown Greenwood, the burial place of William A. Albea and Nina Sprouse Albea.

2. Bethel Methodist Church Cemetery - burial location of many Dorn, Witt, and Quattlebaum ancestors. Also supposed to be the burial place of Charles Ray Albea - though he's not listed on the cemetery transcription.

3. Quattlebaum Family Cemetery - This is the one where I'm not sure of the exact location. It's supposed to be on HWY 67 on the Greenwood/McCormick County line.

I was having a hard time locating the Bethel Methodist Church until I found a link to a handy website on findagrave.com. It's got DOT maps to multiple states, including Georgia and South Carolina. There are listings for a lot of cemeteries and churches, including Bethel.