Why Nobody Wants to Visit Colonial Williamsburg Anymore

Williamsburg, Virginia was rebuilt not once but twice over nine decades, becoming the largest colonial reconstruction in the country. In 1988, 1.2 million people paid to walk its recreated capital, watching blacksmiths hammer at real forges, wigmakers work real hair, and printers run real presses along Duke of Gloucester Street, past a reconstructed Governor's Palace lit each evening with real gas flame, the way it had been lit for ninety years. But the ambition that rebuilt an entire town also left it dependent on a flow of paying visitors that never stayed constant. By 2016, the nonprofit foundation behind the reconstruction — one of the wealthiest historical nonprofits in the country — was losing an average of 148,000 dollars a day, every day, for a year. By 2017, paying visitors had fallen by roughly half from that 1988 peak, and the foundation was drawing down reserves it had spent generations accumulating. Two miles away, the empty motel lots and shuttered candle store along Richmond Road wait behind a fence for a second life as a bowling alley and indoor slide. This is the story of how blacksmiths, wigmakers, and a reconstructed capital street built Colonial Williamsburg's golden age — and how a tourism economy nobody thought to rebuild brought it to an end. A full history documentary about Williamsburg, Virginia — from the peak of colonial reconstruction to the slow emptying of its golden age. Copyright & Fair Use Disclaimer • This video is a non-commercial, educational history documentary created for commentary, criticism and research. • Some archival photos and footage are used under the principles of Fair Use (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act) for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.