The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg — Attraction in Williamsburg

The exhibits were excellent, but the staff ruined the experience!

We visited with our three young boys and every staff member besides Robert (he was excellent) and another woman made us feel like they didn’t want kids in the museum at all.

I should preface this with the fact that we do museums with our kids often. We’re aware of the do’s and don’ts - museum etiquette, if you will - and monitor the kids closely while visiting. We’ve visited countless museums across the country where we felt welcome.

We were spoken to by the security over five separate times. Despite the fact that we were always within an arms reach of the boys.

At one point my four year old stepped to the railing of the second level to look down at the exhibits on the second level and a staff member speed walked over to tell him get away from the bars (which were about four inches wide and I was standing right behind him).

Later, my wife put our two year old on her shoulders as she was leaving an exhibit and a staff member SPRINTED from the other side of the exhibit to tell her she wasn’t allowed to carry children on her shoulders… Because it was a safety risk.

The cherry on top was while I was walking my two year old and four year old through the musical instruments and literally as I entered the exhibit I watched the staff member spot us walking in and stalk over to stand over our shoulder, watching the boys like a hawk. I told the boys loudly not to touch anything otherwise the security would yell at us and he walked a few steps away, but the entire time he never took his eyes off of us and it felt like he was just waiting for us to make a mistake so he could step in. This despite the fact that I was next to them the whole time and nobody touched anything they weren’t supposed to. The whole experience was incredibly unpleasant and gave the impression that they just didn’t want kids in the museum. Pretty sad considering we really love taking the boys to museums and other than the attitude from the staff we really loved all the exhibits in the museum.

Hopefully this was a one-off, but I would consider skipping this one if you’re a parent. Mind you, we had not one, but TWO sets of grandparents with us, so 6 adults to 3 kids. This would be a 1 star review if the exhibits weren’t...

This museum experience was one of the worst I’ve ever had in both America and Europe. Upon entering, you’re immediately informed that your bags and water must be locked in a free locker. Never told why. What if it was a medical necessity and you bag was needed. Simply greeting you and taking away your personal belongings without a reason is unacceptable.

Interestingly, you can bring water to the Louvre, right next to the Mona Lisa (which I believe is a far more priceless artifact than the items at the Williamsburg museum), but not here. There’s even a café past the lockers where you can buy food and drinks, but you’re not allowed to bring your beverages there. If you want to drink something with a snack, you’d have to buy one there.

And don’t even get me started on the small backpacks. Is it being considered that I’m going to conceal the artifacts, such as the sofas and chest of drawers in my small backpack, or maybe the large grandfather clocks? To make matters worse, you practically have a private escort by security or staff the entire time. You can almost feel their breath on your neck.

The artifacts here are from New York City and other places, but there are very few from Williamsburg. And the entire Williamsburg section is closed. Perhaps there should be some signage or notification before you arrive that bags and beverages are not allowed in, and the Williamsburg exhibit is not open until 2026.

If you’re looking for your New York City artifacts, go somewhere else. Skip this building and enjoy what’s offered in colonial Williamsburg! This is the museum using the Williamsburg name to...

Went and saw a Laufey concert here. Laufey was great but the venue was the worst that I have ever been to. We were in row KK on these flimsy folding chairs all at the same height. Our chairs were on uneven ground though, which made them rocky and have even worse views. The stage was short too so I could only see the artist like 15% of the time when I craned my neck. Honestly I don't even think that being much further forward would have been that much better. I would say if you can't get seats in the first 12 rows or so or an aisle seat just go for the lawn seating. All the staff was really nice but I'm pretty sure they were all volunteers. Additionally we were unable to find information about the venue's bag policy, parking, or anything about the event at all. It also took us more that an hour to get in. And the start time listed on the emails was 2.5 hours earlier than the actual start time and in fact was just the time they opened the gates. Also as a heads up there is little to no...