To most people, Williamsburg, Virginia has an aura of history and tradition, an uncompromisingly eighteenth-century identity, and a specialization in the trades and handicrafts of the past. However, the fact is that Williamsburg has been a popular and successful mecca for that most modern of entertainments – the movies! – for even longer than it has been a living history museum!
Beginning in the early 1920s, Williamsburg, Virginia was seen as an interesting and promising locale for filming by major moviemaking talents. In autumn of 1923, famed director D.W. Griffith, already acclaimed for his earlier successes in Birth of a Nation and Intolerance, but later considered controversial for his film's racist portrayals of African Americans and glorification of the KKK, sent a crew to the area to film scenes for his upcoming epic of the Revolutionary era, America. This would be just the first of many major films shot in Williamsburg. As television became an increasingly popular medium, Williamsburg quickly found its way onto the small screen as well. During the 1950s and 1960s, Colonial Williamsburg served as the set for several episodes of highly rated television series. Singer Perry Como and actor John Wayne joined Colonial Williamsburg staff and other special guests to shoot Perry Como’s Early American Christmas in the Historic Area in November 1978. The 1980s brought the cast of the CBS mini-series George Washington to act in scenes at Williamsburg sites. In the 1990s, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood visited both the Governor’s Palace Kitchen and the Millinery Shop while the Good Morning America cast celebrated a colonial Christmas in Williamsburg. Colonial Williamsburg continued to serve as a dramatic backdrop during the first two decades of the 2000s for the HBO John Adams mini-series and the AMC drama Turn: Washington’s Spies.
THE HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA
The Howards of Virginia, starring Cary Grant and Martha Scott, debuted in 1940. Based upon The Tree of Liberty by Elizabeth Page, the film revolves around the experiences of Matt Howard, a frontiersman, in the years leading up to the American Revolution. Howard marries Jane Peyton, a gentry woman living near Williamsburg. The two move to backwoods Virginia and soon clash due to their differing backgrounds. Matt’s democratic leanings and Jane’s more conservative Tory views lead to estrangement as the Revolutionary War begins. However, love prevails and the two are reunited towards the end of the war.
Newly restored exhibition buildings, gardens, greens, and streets in Colonial Williamsburg offered an authentic backdrop for numerous scenes in the movie. A train composed of fifteen cars brought supplies from Hollywood, including costumes, guns, carriages, wagons, and other accessories. Many of these props are visible in the photo on the back of the case showing a scene where townspeople gather to watch members of Washington’s army pass through Williamsburg on their way to Yorktown.
WIDE WIDE WORLD
In 1956, a popular NBC documentary series, Wide Wide World, highlighted Colonial Williamsburg during a televised visit for a segment of the show. This marked the first time Colonial Williamsburg allowed portions of the Historic Area to serve as sets for a national television production. Host Dave Garroway took television audiences on journeys to many different parts of the United States, Mexico, and Canada and offered glimpses into unusual aspects of daily life and culture in these countries, ranging from seasonal and leisure activities to heritage sites and profiles of famous historical figures. The telecast aimed to provide a sense of immediacy by having live filming taking place from multiple locations at once to create the montage of segments making up a particular episode. As one of the highest rated among daytime television shows, Wide Wide World offered Sunday afternoon armchair travel to many Americans and served as the inspiration for ABC’s Wide World of Sports. The broadcast ran from October 16, 1955 until June 8, 1958.
One of the major scenes filmed at Colonial Williamsburg took place in the Governor’s Palace Ballroom, where dancers and musicians reenacted a colonial ball. Other filming locations included the Raleigh Tavern Bar Room and the Palace Dining Room. The live telecast occurred from 4 – 5:30 pm on Sunday, March 4, 1956, with multiple crews at each site. Colonial Williamsburg guests viewed the production from television screening areas in the Williamsburg Inn and Lodge.
NBC stayed in town to film another live television program at Colonial Williamsburg the next Tuesday, an episode of the Today show. Also hosted by Dave Garroway, the Today episode encompassed conversations with colonial tradesmen, demonstrations of colonial games, a cooking demonstration at the Governor’s Palace Kitchen, and a reenactment of the debate between Thomas Jefferson and Robert Gordon over the Virginia Resolution for Independence. The two televised events allowed Colonial Williamsburg to be experienced by close to forty million Americans. Cliff Paul, who served as technical director for both programs, described Williamsburg as a place with amazing community spirit "pulling for one purpose.”
LASSIE, THE VOYAGER
One of America’s favorite canines, Lassie, came to Williamsburg for three days in May 1966 for filming of the third segment of the seven part Lassie, the Voyager episodes that aired on CBS in the fall of 1966. Lassie traveled through the South trying to find her owner, Forest Ranger Corey Stuart, played by Robert Bray, after being separated during a Florida hurricane. In the script for the Williamsburg episode, Lassie visited the Raleigh Tavern baker and ate gingerbread cookies. An attorney, Jebediah Wakefield, portrayed by actor MacDonald Carey, and his dog, Drummer, befriended Lassie and came to the dog's aid when Lassie ran into trouble with a local area turkey farmer, was shot, and hid in the Governor’s Palace maze. Jebediah Wakefield defended Lassie in a trial after the farmer accused Lassie of trespassing and attempting to kill some of his turkeys. Lassie was acquitted and then left the area via Yorktown.
Williamsburg area history is presented with democracy and freedom being highlighted. Most of the Williamsburg filming called for exterior shots with interior scenes to be filmed in California.
PERRY COMO'S EARLY AMERICAN CHRISTMAS
November 1978 brought singer Perry Como and a cast of guest stars including actor John Wayne, actress Diana Canova, violinist Eugene Fodor, and Miss America - Kylene Baker, to Colonial Williamsburg for five days of filming the television special Perry Como’s Early American Christmas. Crowds lined up in the Historic Area to watch the taping of various segments that took place at Bruton Parish Church, the George Wythe House, the Raleigh Tavern, the Governor’s Palace, Chowning’s Tavern, the Milliner’s Shop, the Printing Office, and the Geddy House. Perry performed traditional Christmas carols and colonial ballads as he journeyed through different buildings, rode in a carriage down Duke of Gloucester Street, and strolled through gardens. Many Colonial Williamsburg staff members served as extras, including Harvey Credle, who portrayed an auctioneer in a scene in front of the Kings Arms Tavern. Como told reporters he felt the production was the best Christmas Show he and his team had ever done and remarked that Williamsburg is “typical of what we feel Christmas is all about.” The holiday program aired on ABC on December 13, 1978.
MISTER ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD
In May 1993, Fred Rogers, host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, visited Williamsburg to film segments for his children’s program to be aired later that year. One episode aired on September 3 and included scenes for a segment called “Then & Now.” Filming took place over two days at various Historic Area sites including the Palace Kitchen and Millinery Shop. Of course, Mr. Rogers, famous for wearing his cardigan sweater on the show, visited with many children while he was in the Historic Area.
The first episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood appeared in 1968 and the last in 2001. 1993 marked the 25th anniversary of the program.
JOHN ADAMS MINI-SERIES
Between 2005 and 2007, Colonial Williamsburg worked with Executive Producers Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman to coordinate on-site filming of selected scenes from John Adams, a seven-part mini-series that aired on HBO between March 16 and April 20, 2008. The two men toured Colonial Williamsburg in 2005 to investigate filming locations, worked on planning for proposed scenes in 2006, and brought their set designers, camera operators, and actors to the Historic Area for live filming in 2007. Based upon John McCullough’s biography of John Adams, the program won a Golden Globe for Best Television Mini-Series.
The main scene created at Colonial Williamsburg took place on the grounds of the Public Hospital and portrayed John Adams visiting the Continental Army while encamped at Harvard Yard. Other scenes filmed in the Historic Area included use of the interior of Bruton Parish Church to portray a town meeting at a Congregational church and the Public Gaol as a backdrop for a meeting between Adams and British soldiers imprisoned after the Boston Massacre.
In addition to all of these outside productions, Colonial Williamsburg itself commissioned several films in the early years of the Restoration, including silent footage of the streetscape along Duke of Gloucester Street in 1930 before much demolition or construction took place. This captured the early 20th-century look of the town before it vanished forever. The film, known as the "Harvard footage" (the filmmakers were brought in from Harvard), was shot in short segments from the back of a truck driven up and down Duke of Gloucester Street. It can be seen below. The first half of the film shows the north side of the street, then the vehicle turns and comes the other direction, filming the south side of Duke of Gloucester Street.
The first film widely distributed by Colonial Williamsburg was co-produced with Eastman Kodak, the 1943 movie Eighteenth Century Life. This looked at home life, work life, and community life in colonial-era Williamsburg. Turning their lens to the story of the Restoration itself, in 1950 the Foundation commissioned the film Williamsburg Restored, which brought cameraman Art Smith from Cornell to Williamsburg. (The image at left is from filming in the historic area in 1950.) Art Smith would go on to lead Colonial Williamsburg's audiovisual efforts for several decades.
In 1951, an in-house Audio-Visual Department was formally created to produce and distribute educational materials about Williamsburg. Jokingly referred to as “Eighteenth Century Fox,” the Colonial Williamsburg productions department went on to create dozens of films about the colonial era and Williamsburg history, including Music of Williamsburg, The Colonial Naturalist, and a series of films focusing on different historic trades.
Changing with the times to keep up with new demands and new technologies, the work of Colonial Williamsburg’s Productions department also expanded into television and internet streaming, as a dedicated in-house studio produced and broadcast “Electronic Field Trips” and other videos. The Electronic Field Trip (EFT) series began in the 1990s, and was designed to bring history lessons to students in right their classrooms. In a successful run that lasted for over 20 years, the EFT program was broadcast to students and on Public Broadcasting nationwide, and came to cover topics from the first English settlers in Virginia to the Jim Crow era, taking in history, civics, and even the application of math and science to colonial trades. Colonial Williamsburg filmmakers also contributed to many streaming videos and “vodcasts,” and assisted with the recording and technical needs at conferences and special events. All of these efforts helped broadcast Williamsburg to the wider world.
Broadcasting from Williamsburg to the Wider World
One of the earliest media used to bring Williamsburg to the world was the radio. In the 1940s, radio broadcasts from Colonial Williamsburg included an episode of Our Town Talks on ABC affiliate WRNL and an episode of Vox Pop (“The Show that Travels America”), another ABC program. October 1950 saw Med Maxwell, “America’s most traveled farm radio man,” bring his program Let's Go Visiting to Williamsburg, where he conducted interviews at the Elkanah Deane Shop, at that time interpreted as a harness maker's and forge. In more recent years a number of radio personalities and podcasters have come to the historic area to broadcast, including multiple visits from HearSay on WHRO (a Public Radio station based in Norfolk).
Audio and musical recordings by Colonial Williamsburg's performers also became an important part of the Foundation's media repertoire. From records to audio cassettes to cds to mp3s, Colonial Williamsburg has shared the sounds and traditions of Williamsburg and the 18th century with audiences through recordings including the fife and drum corps, African American music, Christmas songs, and instrumental ensembles playing period songs in historically-appropriate ways.
With the establishment of an in-house Audiovisual Department in 1951, Colonial Williamsburg began actively distributing media of its own. As Art Smith (the first director of the department) explained, the goal was not to make money on their films, but it would not be financially possible to just give them away. Unsuccessful in the search for an agent willing to charge only the bare minimum to cover the costs of distribution, Colonial Williamsburg’s own film distribution section was created. For several decades, the Foundation was able to rent and sell a variety of educational materials, including filmstrips, slides, and films, through this service.
As technology changed, so did the means of producing and distributing these items to a national audience. By the 1980s, videotape became the industry standard, and film was phased out. This helped pave the way for the creation of a video and eventually a digital-video production studio. By the turn of the 21st century, this studio was producing live-broadcast televised “electronic field trips.” With the help of stationary satellites and satellite trucks, Colonial Williamsburg was able to beam its educational programming into homes and schools across the nation. These broadcasts came to be accompanied by educational materials, teacher guides, and online learning resources.
Williamsburg as a Filmmaking Community
As we've seen, Williamsburg has a long history as a site for filmmaking and media production -- and locals were soon behind the camera as well as in front of it. From extras in the background to professional cinematographers and editors, people in Williamsburg truly built a film-making community.
In the early years, films distributed by Colonial Williamsburg were made with outside assistance. However, by the 1951 Colonial Williamsburg was ready to establish a dedicated in-house Audiovisual Department, which would create and maintain “the audio-visual library, the photographic section, slide programs, and motion pictures on Williamsburg, its history and significance.” Cameraman Art Smith, who had come to Williamsburg on the crew of an earlier film and impressed the administration with his work, was tapped to lead this new department.
Over the years, the Audiovisual Department would evolve into the Productions Department, which produced dozens of films about the colonial era and Williamsburg history. These include films about historic trades, archaeology, science in the colonial era, museum collections, and even flower arranging!
Perhaps the most famous, and certainly the biggest-budget production, was 1957’s Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot. The movie was created to be the centerpiece of a brand-new visitor center, with twin theaters specially designed for its viewing. Art Smith and his team consulted with Hollywood studios on this enormous undertaking, eventually securing a collaboration with Paramount Studios and the services of Oscar-winning director George Seaton (most famous for his work as screenwriter on Miracle on 34th Street). The movie was entirely filmed on-site at Colonial Williamsburg and the James River plantations of Tuckahoe and Westover.
This became an all-hands-on-deck effort not just for Colonial Williamsburg and its Audiovisual team but for the town and its citizens, as many were recruited to stand in as extras in various crowd and legislative scenes. The hard work paid off, as the film was a critical success and has been seen by millions of visitors in the decades since its original release.
Changing with the times to keep up with new demands and new technologies, the work of Colonial Williamsburg’s in-house productions eventually expanded into television and internet streaming, as a dedicated in-house studio produced and broadcast “Electronic Field Trips” and other videos. In a successful run that lasted for over twenty years, the Electronic Field Trip program was broadcast to students and on Public Broadcasting nationwide. During live broadcasts, students could even phone or email in questions which could be answered on-air. Earning national acclaim for their quality and content, these productions even won several Emmy awards. With a new focus on digital content during the pandemic, Colonial Williamsburg staff has also begun an active schedule of livestreamed video programming.
You can enjoy current livestreams by following Colonial Williamsburg's Facebook page here:
Almost one hundred years on from its earliest brush with the silver screen, Williamsburg continues to be a sought-after filming destination and a popular producer of media. As digital content, interactive web tours, and social media become increasingly popular, ever more avenues are opening for Williamsburg to take center stage!
This exhibit opened in July of 2021 and will be available to visit at the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library through the end of 2022. The Library is open, free of charge, Monday-Friday from 9am to 5pm.
The exhibit was curated by Jenna Simpson, Donna Cooke, Tracey Gulden, and Marianne Martin. The exhibit committee wishes to thank the following individuals for their assistance with the exhibition: Judy Marx and Wayne Reynolds (Media Collections); Melinda Evans (Designs by ME); Jim Armbruster, Jan Gilliam, Colleen Kennedy, and David Mellors (Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg). In addition, we wish to acknowledge former members of Colonial Williamsburg's Audiovisual Department, Photographic Services Department, and Division of Publications, Productions and Learning Ventures for their dedication to producing award-winning educational media for Colonial Williamsburg.