Fantastic Tour - Recommend it - The tour was absolutely amazing. Our tour guide Heather Pfeifer was fantastic. She was very knowledgeable and made the tour very interesting. I learned much about the restoration of Williamsburg. I full recommend this tour.

An Entertaining, Educational and Fun Time for All! - I recently took the tour, The Reverend and the Millionaire, and found it to be a most enjoyable experience. Our tour leader was engaging, knowledgeable and fun!! The tour provided a behind-the-scenes view into the late 19th-century and early 20th-century preservation of Virginia's old capital city of Williamsburg and the founding of what is now Colonial Williamsburg. Though our guide shared images of the town and its buildings before restoration which were fascinating, this is really a tour about people, connections and a man with a vision. We learned about Reverend Goodwin's dream of restoring the town, his efforts to find a benefactor and how he enticed millionaire John D. Rockefeller Jr. to embrace his dream. Our tour leader shared many funny and poignant anecdotes that brought to life these men, various townspeople and others involved in this great restoration endeavor. Our leader also encouraged dialog and questions among the group, so it felt like a group of friends learning together. I highly recommend this tour. It was a very memorable afternoon.

Highly Recommend! - An engaging and informative walking tour! Our guide, Heather, was very knowledgeable, and it was evident that she enjoys what she does. The tour began on the Palace Green and introduced us to some of the individuals who were instrumental in the initial efforts to preserve this portion of local colonial history which leads to the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg. You will be introduced to the key figures in the restoration, the historical significance to sites and why they were reconstructed or restored. I loved that Heather brought photos along to show what some of the sites looked like before they were restored and that she discussed how changes are still made today as new documentation comes to light. Do wear comfortable shoes as it is a walking tour, but I found that Heather went at a comfortable pace and stopped at significant places along the way. Don’t be afraid to ask questions as that’s how everyone learns, and those questions can lead to even more discoveries! Well done, Heather and the Shades of Our Past team! I’ll definitely return for your other tours!

Interesting but not inspiring. - The reverend and the millionaire is the story of the movement to save Colonial Williamsburg as a historical landmark. With so much amazing history, Williamsburg is worth preserving. The speaker was knowledgeable and was able to share pictures of some sleepy little southern burg that was transformed into the amazing historical site it is today. That being said the tour was interesting, but not inspiring. I have come to expect stories of our nations founding and found the founding of a living history park to be small and unimportant.

Old meets new - First, this is a walking tour. Be prepared! The guide walked fast. She was well prepared and loud enough to be heard in the back. I got a little confused with all the dates but loved the old photos she shared. I learned new information even though I've been coming to Williamsburg for years. Glad I went.

Visionary walk down DOG Street - This educational and entertaining tour effectively recounts how the cash-poor Reverend Doctor W.A.R. Goodwin shared his inspiring vision of Colonial Williamsburg with millionaire John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who financed its restoration. Just getting to walk down the restored main street of the former Colonial Capital of Virginia with an excellent tour guide and congenial group is fun. The kids will even want to put down their cell phones! It would help to enlarge the “before” and “after” photos. The tour contains many thrilling facts about how the Revolution began, and there is enough name-dropping, from Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry to Henry Ford and FDR, to pack a wallop for anyone who takes the tour. Curious, history-minded folks will be truly inspired. Come visit a living, working, historic town filled with people as varied as Benjamin Franklin and Steven Lafayette, a tavern server. You might even run into a handsome, jaunty General George Washington, as he lounges in front of Raleigh’s Tavern. We did!! Unlike a theme park with fictional characters like Mickey Mouse, you’ll be exposed to real people who are portraying historical citizens of Colonial Williamsburg, from regular folks to Presidents. The characters you encounter will be ready, willing, and able to answer your questions on all levels. If you bump into the Marquis de Lafayette, for example, and ask him if his sword is sharp, he’s likely to pull it out to show you