Afternoon: 4:00 p.m. Arrival/Check-in. Program registration. Class: "Introduction to Chippokes Plantation" Learn about one of the oldest working farms in the United States which has kept its original boundaries since the 1600s. First received as a land grant by Captain William Powell in 1619 and later expanded in 1646, the plantation is named after an Indian chief who befriended the earliest English settlers. Investigate the unusual architecture of the present mansion, built in 1854, and discuss the farm's history during the Civil War and through its acquisition by the Stewart family in 1918. Find out how Mrs. Stewart was able to preserve and protect this historical site so that future generations could enjoy its history and amenities.

Dinner: Enjoy a good, traditional style dinner with a Southern accent, served buffet style in a private dining area. All dinners for the week will be in this venue.

Evening: Introductions and Announcements Review of the week's activities

Lodging: Clarion Hotel Historic District

Meals Included: Dinner

Breakfast: Start the day with a generous buffet breakfast in our private dining area.

Morning: Field Trip: "Exploration of Chippokes Plantation", Enjoy a guided exploration of the beautifully landscaped formal gardens where azaleas, crepe myrtle, boxwood and seasonal flowers accent the grounds. Visit the elegant Jones Mansion, noting the Italianate architecture that is quite distinctive from the Georgian mansions further up the James River. Time permitting, explore the Chippokes Farm and Forestry Museum where more than 600 artifacts are displayed to interpret rural early American farm life. Service Work: Receive an introduction to the specific tasks that will be undertaken for the remainder of the week. Learn about the value of the PastPerfect software used by many museums and begin practicing how to use it. Observe the storage and cataloguing techniques used at the site and explore some of the avenues used to research information about artifacts found at the Chippokes site.

Lunch: Surry County, where Chippokes is located, is home to pork, peanuts, and pine, so what could be better than a lunch from the regionally renowned Edward's Ham Shop? Choose from several pork based sandwiches, or opt for a veggie selection. The box lunch includes drink, chips, and Edward's trademark pound cake for dessert.

Afternoon: Service Work: Launch into the work that you will be engaged in for the rest of the week. Activities include using PastPerfect to enter artifacts into the museum's catalogue, attaching accession numbers to items and preparing for storage artifacts that will not be immediately on display. You might also research information on items that do not have sufficient data or research information about early American, plantation, and local history that will be useful in interpreting the historical site. For the shutterbug there may be opportunities to take digital photographs of objects and scan them into the database along with relevant descriptions. Or you may assist with stabilizing important documents in acid free paper.

Dinner: Dinner will again be at the hotel in our private dining area.

Evening: Performance: "Plantation Music Traditions" Enjoy an evening of delightful music played on banjo, guitar, and other period appropriate instruments as a talented musician not only entertains you but provides a commentary explaining the origins and evolution of eighteenth and nineteenth century instruments.

Lodging: Clarion Hotel Historic District

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at your leisure in our private dining area.

Morning: Service Work: Continue assisting the curatorial staff at Chippokes with the preservation, cataloguing, and storage of artifacts.

Lunch: There's nothing like a few pizzas to turn an activity into a party and today's lunch will be catered by a local pizzeria and include a variety of toppings from which to choose. Drinks and dessert are also provided.

Afternoon: Service Work: Continue activities from the morning. Field Trip: "Bacon's Castle", In contrast to the Italianate mansion at Chippokes, explore the marvelous seventeenth century Jacobean architecture of this ancient house. In this specially arranged private excursion, take in the cruciform shape, the triple chimneys, and the curvilinear gables. Learn about the fortunes of the Allen family who lived there and the rebellion in 1676 that gave the house its name. Take in the furnishings that were part of life in the Big House, then walk through the simple dwelling that represents the quarters for the slaves who worked the land.

Dinner: Dinner will again be at the hotel in our private dining area.

Evening: Free evening to explore some of the other local sites on your own. Information will be given about choices that you can make. No transportation provided.

Lodging: Clarion Hotel Historic District

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at your leisure in our private dining area.

Morning: Field Trip: "Historic Jamestowne", Explore a site that is older than either Chippokes or Bacon's Castle. At Jamestown Island you will tread the very ground where the first permanent English settlement in North America was established in 1607. Today you can immerse yourself in the past through the Visitor Center galleries and unique audio-visual presentation of life in the early settlement. Then walk over to the dig site where, depending upon weather, you may be able to watch as archaeologists continue to unearth the remains of the original fort that was thought lost to erosion by the river until less than 20 years ago. Next take in the reproduction of the seventeenth century church where only the 1639 tower remains from the original building. Finish the visit in the Archaearium where the incredible treasure of artifacts found at the fort site are displayed and the foundation of the old statehouse that burned in 1698 can be viewed through the windows in the museum floor.

Lunch: Today's lunch will be from another local restaurant and provide a choice of sandwiches, along with drinks and dessert.

Afternoon: Free afternoon to explore the large number of other historical venues in the Williamsburg area, take in a museum, or just relax at the hotel.

Dinner: Dinner will again be at the hotel in our private dining area.

Evening: Lecture: "The African American Experience at Chippokes", Investigate the long history of African American connections to the plantation site, beginning with one of the original "twenty and odd" indentured servants traded at Jamestown for provisions in 1619. Learn about the gradual metamorphosis of servitude to slavery during the mid to late seventeenth century and life in the quarters on an early American plantation. Move on to the Antebellum period, the Civil War, and finally Reconstruction as the lives of African Americans move from slavery to freedmen and independent farmers.

Lodging: Clarion Hotel Historic District

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at your leisure in our private dining area.

Morning: Service Work: Continue projects at the plantation site.

Lunch: Once again lunch will be from Edward's Ham Shop with a whole new selection of sandwiches from turkey to pork to veggie. And, of course, there will be more of that delicious pound cake!

Afternoon: Service Work: Continue activities from the morning. Lecture: "Ancient Chippokes", While the plantation has a long recorded history, it has an even longer prehistoric story that can be told. Learn about the geology of the Tidewater region and how it arose from the bottom of the ocean as water levels dropped through the eons. Explore the history of the Indians who occupied the land for centuries before the English arrived and try to interpret their lives through the material culture that they left behind in the fields of Chippokes Plantation. Field Trip: "Sharks' Teeth and Pottery Sherds", Take a stroll along the beach of the James River below the manor house where interesting geological feature will be pointed out. You might be lucky enough to find a reminder that where you are walking was once the ocean floor!

Dinner: Dinner will again be at the hotel in our private dining area.

Evening: Performance: "How to Thrive and Prosper in Seventeenth Century Virginia", Meet a captivating lady from mid-century who will entertain you with stories of her trials and triumphs on the edge of the developing British Empire over three hundred years ago.

Lodging: Clarion Hotel Historic District

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at your leisure in our private dining area.

Morning: Service Work: Return once more to Chippokes to bring your volunteer work to a conclusion.

Lunch: As a small thank you, enjoy a special luncheon back at the hotel before you head home.

Lodging: Clarion Hotel Historic District

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch