One of the premier vacation destinations in Tidewater Virginia, Williamsburg is best known for its historic core, showcased in the open-air living-history museum of Colonial Williamsburg. It's also notable for harboring one of the oldest colleges in the United States, the College of William and Mary, which opened back in 1693.
History is a major draw in this city, which served as Virginia’s capital from 1699 to 1780 and is home to the site of the Jamestown colony, located on a long-inhabited Indigenous homeland. Historical sightseeing might be a major offering in Williamsburg; however, the city also offers a variety of unique activities and destinations worth exploring. Below, we detail five unique things to do in Williamsburg that can be easily fit into any visit.
1. Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg, which covers roughly 300 acres in the city’s historic core, may not seem ‘unique’ at first, as it is the area’s most famous attraction. However, it offers a distinctive experience as the world’s largest U.S. history museum, guided by its mission, ‘That the Future May Learn From the Past.’ It is also one of the nation’s most significant living-history sites, with costumed interpreters bringing the past to life among original buildings such as the William Bray School and Bruton Parish Church, as well as carefully reconstructed landmarks like the Virginia Colonial Capitol and the Governor’s Palace.
Visitors can enjoy many historical sites and activities such as demonstrations of historic trades and skills, including blacksmithing, carpentry, cooking, gunsmithing and gardening, performed by highly trained craftspeople using authentic 18th-century tools and techniques.
Learning about the lives of the colony’s enslaved and free African Americans remains a central and illuminating focus. The Colonial Williamsburg Arboretum and Gardens also highlight Colonial-era gardening practices influenced by Indigenous traditions and stand as an attraction in their own right. Be sure to visit the state champion Compton oak on Court House Green, which spans nearly 100 feet and has a trunk measuring 14 feet around.
2. Virginia Musical Museum
The Commonwealth of Virginia has had a significant influence on American music, from the roots of Tidewater Blues to the birthplace of pioneering country artist Patsy Cline. One place to explore this rich musical legacy is Williamsburg’s Virginia Musical Museum, an eclectic collection that features notable highlights such as the pipe organ played at General Douglas MacArthur’s 1964 funeral and a vintage Clenet Roadster once driven by Norfolk native Wayne Newton.
Additional artifacts include a zither used by the Carter Family, a shawl gifted by Pearl Bailey to fellow Newport News native Ella Fitzgerald and a wide selection of jukeboxes and music boxes, along with the famously eerie funhouse mannequin known as Laughing Sal.
3. President Heads
Note: PRIVATE PROPERTY: OPEN ONLY FOR ORGANIZED TOURS
The Presidents Heads display is one-of-a-kind installation is located on private property and is generally closed to the public, except for scheduled tours throughout the year and occasional photography workshops. While there has been discussion of a possible future public attraction, visitors must currently consult the official website’s event schedule for opportunities to view the display.
It stands out as one of Williamsburg’s most unusual attractions, featuring 42 massive busts of U.S. presidents, each more than 15 feet tall, running through George W. Bush and sculpted by David Adickes. The works were originally commissioned for Presidents Park, which opened in 2004 and closed in 2010. Although the sculptures were initially slated for destruction, a contractor who helped build the park chose to save them and transported the collection to his farm 11 miles away.
Adickes designed the busts in varying sizes based on a historian's survey ranking presidential performance. The eight presidents rated as “great” were made larger, while the two that ranked lowest, Ulysses S. Grant and Warren G. Harding, were made smaller. The remaining presidents, rated as “average,” are all the same size.
4. The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg: Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum & Dewitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum
Tens of thousands of artworks are part of the Colonial Williamsburg collection, many of which can be viewed for free at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum and the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum. Located just outside the living-history attraction, these institutions, collectively known as the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, offer complimentary admission and a wide range of engaging exhibits.
The folk art collection began with more than 400 pieces donated by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, wife of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and mother of Nelson Rockefeller and has since expanded significantly. The decorative arts collection similarly originated from donations by Reader’s Digest co-founders DeWitt and Lila Bell Acheson Wallace. Today, visitors can explore wooden dolls and vintage toys, firearms, maps and paintings, costumes and quilts as well as an impressive array of primarily 16th- to 19th-century currency, including silver coins produced by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1600s, among many other treasures.
5. The Archaearium
The Natalie P. and Alan M. Voorhees Archaearium is one of Williamsburg’s most distinctive attractions, featuring remarkable artifacts from the Virginia Company era of Jamestown, Virginia, established as James Fort in 1607 along the James River tidewater. Opened in 2006, this thoughtfully designed 7,500-square-foot museum overlooks the James Fort site, the first permanent English settlement in North America and regularly updates its exhibits based on ongoing archaeological discoveries.
These careful excavations have reshaped our understanding of the Jamestown colony over recent decades, including deeper insights into the ‘Starving Time’ of the winter of 1609 and spring of 1610. One of the museum’s most notable exhibits tells the story of “Jane,” a young woman whose skeletal remains, discovered in a colony trash pit in 2012 among animal bones and refuse, showed evidence of cannibalism.
The museum’s collections are wide-ranging, from breastplates, helmets and other armor to pots, bottles, drinking jugs and flagons. A writing slate still has sketches and notes from the Jamestown period. Visitors will also find Virginia’s largest collection of Colonial-era American Indian artifacts, including beads, pipes and other items from the Powhatan Chiefdom, which played a central role in Jamestown’s early history. Glass panels in the floor offer views of the 17th-century layout of the colony’s statehouse, located directly beneath the museum.
6. Water Country USA
The Mid-Atlantic Region's biggest waterpark, Water Country USA, provides something of a change of pace from the historical explorations of Colonial Williamsburg and Historic Jamestown. As one of the kid-friendly things to do in Williamsburg, this waterpark offers splashes and thrills for those seeking to cool off. The park offers rides and slides as Aquazoid Amped, Nitro Racer: Supercharged, Colossal Curl, Big Daddy Falls, Malibu Pipeline as well as Cutback Water Coaster, the first of its kind in Old Dominion. Water Country USA is associated with Busch Gardens Williamsburg, so you can nab entry and parking passes valid for both to enjoy a double-header of an amusement-park day in Williamsburg.
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