Colonial Virginians at Play

Colonial Virginians at Play by Carson, Jane. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780879351229.

Excerpt from the Preface: Colonial Virginians at play were the same people who engaged in more serious pursuits. The man who was his own lawyer and his own doctor also made his own fun: it was a do-it-yourself age, and amusements were uncomplicated and spontaneous. On the frontier, and among the middling and meaner sort everywhere, the Virginia colonists found their diversion in their work – hunting and fishing, riding and boating, shooting matches, social gatherings at home and church and county court. Once the wilderness was tamed, there was more time for play. The gentry remained a working aristocracy, and even among the great tidewater planters there were no playboys and no organized games in the modern sense. There were no spectator sports except horse racing and cock fighting, and the colonial Virginian rode his own horse and fought his own cocks after breeding and training them. The illustrations, taken from the archaeological, curatorial, and research collections of Colonial Williamsburg, suggest ways in which surviving objects such as toys, children’s books, and game equipment complement the written record.