What is the wisdom of autumn? What is the wisdom of harvest time, of the waning sun, the coloring trees, the first frosts, the gleaned fields? What is the wisdom of fire? What does the beauty of autumn have to teach us of wisdom in the retiring season of our lives? In this class of informal conversation set in America’s oldest college classroom, where the sons of American founders and American Indians boys once sat and studied together, we ask the age-old questions of life. How are we to live? How shall we be happy? What is the meaning in our time of a true Elder Wisdom?

Of all conceptions born of medieval Europe, the most powerfully charged and widely adopted is the mind-altering idea of the university. Arising a thousand years ago, this one revolutionary idea has spread to nearly every nation in the world and all seven continents. The ancient campus of William & Mary centers upon the oldest academic buildings in the United States. The university preserves in brick and mortar the ancient human aspiration to universal knowledge, the ultimate object of which is the unity of the individual soul. In this walking tour we examine the local origins of a universal idea. 

This ninety-minute-long walking tour of the town and gardens along Palace Street in Colonial Williamsburg examines the city through the philosopher's eyes. Do gardens have meaning? Is architecture more than shelter and decoration? Is there a difference in Williamsburg and what difference does it make to us? What role can a city play in the pursuit of wisdom? Registration and Colonial Williamsburg Good Neighbor Pass required.

Henry Thoreau's beautiful essay “Walking” describes the art of walking as “Holy-Landing,” a crusade undertaken to reclaim the paradise of our beginnings. “We should go forth on the shortest walk,” he says, “in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return.” America once stood for a paradise regained of boundless forest and stream: a mythic landscape preserved from the beginnings of time. In this narrated woodland walk through the majestic Bassett Woods at Colonial Williamsburg, we seek the sources of American wisdom in the ancient forests that shaped the early nation.

Have you ever longed for life in the woods? It is a longing that takes us back to our American beginnings. The woods are more than trees and earth and sky, the woods are a way of seeing. In this class we draw on the seven years of solitude lived in the woods at the Innermost House in California to examine our lives here in Williamsburg. What beginnings lay just beneath the surface of our lives here, hidden in the plain sight of home? What meanings exist to be read just behind our everyday experiences, illuminated by an Innermost Way of Seeing? Registration required.

In anticipation of 2026 and the celebration of Colonial Williamsburg's 100th anniversary, we offer this philosophical walking tour through Merchant Square as the epicenter of a nationwide movement to seek America's way forward in what was best about its past. What was being revived in the Colonial Revival period, and what has it to do with our lives today? Please join us in this exploration of the Colonial Revival movement that remains our precious "link among the days." 

Join us for an insightful panel discussion where we delve into the complexities and challenges of portraying enslaved women in historical narratives. Moderated by Sheila Arnold. Admission ticket required. For more information, visit colonialwilliamsburg.org

Join us for a special panel discussion featuring Master Blacksmith Darryl Reeves, his apprentice, Korina Roca, and the New Orleans Master Crafts Guild Co-Founder and CEO Jonn Hankins. Moderated by CWF Master Blacksmith, Ken Schwartz. Admission ticket required. For more information, visit colonialwilliamsburg.org

To commemorate the triumphant spirit of the African American journey, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation will host its second annual Juneteenth Sunrise Service at the majestic Compton Oak, a landmark tree symbolizing life, endurance, shelter, and joy. Special keynote address by world-renowned poet and writer Nikki Giovanni. Free admission. For more information, visit colonialwilliamsburg.org

Of all conceptions born of medieval Europe, the most powerfully charged and widely adopted is the mind-altering idea of the university. Arising a thousand years ago, this one revolutionary idea has spread to nearly every nation in the world and all seven continents. The ancient campus of William & Mary centers upon the oldest academic buildings in the United States. The university preserves in brick and mortar the ancient human aspiration to universal knowledge, the ultimate object of which is the unity of the individual soul. In this walking tour we examine the local origins of a universal idea. 

Dr. Anika T. Prather earned her B.A. from Howard University in elementary education. She also has earned several graduate degrees in education from New York University and Howard University. She has a Masters in liberal arts from St. John’s College (Annapolis) and a PhD in English, Theatre and Literacy Education from the University of Maryland (College Park). Her research focus is on building literacy with African American students through engagement in the books of the Canon, central to the educational mission of Innermost House. Join Dr. Prather live for this vital presentation.

This ninety-minute-long walking tour of the town and gardens along Palace Street in Colonial Williamsburg examines the city through the philosopher's eyes. Do gardens have meaning? Is architecture more than shelter and decoration? Is there a difference in Williamsburg and what difference does it make to us? What role can a city play in the pursuit of wisdom? Registration and Colonial Williamsburg Good Neighbor Pass required.

Terry Tempest Williams is the author of numerous books, including the environmental literature classic, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place. Her most recent book is The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks, which was published in June 2016 to coincide with and honor the centennial of the National Park Service. Her writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Orion Magazine, and numerous anthologies worldwide as a crucial voice for ecological consciousness and social change. Watch the Recording Here.

Please join Peter Henriques, Professor Emeritus of History from George Mason University and leading authority on George Washington, for this summary series of seven lectures detailing the seven stages of Washington's life. Professor Henriques is the author of many books and articles on Washington, has served on the Editorial Board for the George Washington Papers and on the Mount Vernon Committee of George Washington Scholars, and presently guides the Innermost House Foundation as a member of the Advisory Council. Colonial Williamsburg event ticket required.

Please join Peter Henriques, Professor Emeritus of History from George Mason University and leading authority on George Washington, for this summary series of seven lectures detailing the seven stages of Washington's life. Professor Henriques is the author of many books and articles on Washington, has served on the Editorial Board for the George Washington Papers and on the Mount Vernon Committee of George Washington Scholars, and presently guides the Innermost House Foundation as a member of the Advisory Council. Colonial Williamsburg event ticket required.

Please join Peter Henriques, Professor Emeritus of History from George Mason University and leading authority on George Washington, for this summary series of seven lectures detailing the seven stages of Washington's life. Professor Henriques is the author of many books and articles on Washington, has served on the Editorial Board for the George Washington Papers and on the Mount Vernon Committee of George Washington Scholars, and presently guides the Innermost House Foundation as a member of the Advisory Council. Colonial Williamsburg event ticket required.

Henry Thoreau describes the art of walking as “Holy-Landing,” a crusade to reclaim the paradise of our beginnings. “We should go forth on the shortest walk in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return.” In this field trip to the woods of Surry County, we seek the sources of American home in the “Virginia House,” a transient building form now lost to history. Admixed of European, Native American, and African elements, this earliest of American dwellings is now being reconstructed using authentic historic methods and materials in the Native forests of our first minglings. Registration here.

Please join Peter Henriques, Professor Emeritus of History from George Mason University and leading authority on George Washington, for this summary series of seven lectures detailing the seven stages of Washington's life. Professor Henriques is the author of many books and articles on Washington, has served on the Editorial Board for the George Washington Papers and on the Mount Vernon Committee of George Washington Scholars, and presently guides the Innermost House Foundation as a member of the Advisory Council. Colonial Williamsburg event ticket required.

Please join Peter Henriques, Professor Emeritus of History from George Mason University and leading authority on George Washington, for this summary series of seven lectures detailing the seven stages of Washington's life. Professor Henriques is the author of many books and articles on Washington, has served on the Editorial Board for the George Washington Papers and on the Mount Vernon Committee of George Washington Scholars, and presently guides the Innermost House Foundation as a member of the Advisory Council. Colonial Williamsburg event ticket required.

This hour-long walking tour of the town and gardens along Palace Street in Colonial Williamsburg examines the city through the philosopher's eyes. Do gardens have meaning? Is architecture more than shelter and decoration? Is there a difference in Williamsburg and what difference does it make to us? What role can a city play in the pursuit of wisdom? Registration and Colonial Williamsburg Good Neighbor Pass required.

Please join Peter Henriques, Professor Emeritus of History from George Mason University and leading authority on George Washington, for this summary series of seven lectures detailing the seven stages of Washington's life. Professor Henriques is the author of many books and articles on Washington, has served on the Editorial Board for the George Washington Papers and on the Mount Vernon Committee of George Washington Scholars, and presently guides the Innermost House Foundation as a member of the Advisory Council. Colonial Williamsburg event ticket required.

Please join Peter Henriques, Professor Emeritus of History from George Mason University and leading authority on George Washington, for this summary series of seven lectures detailing the stages of Washington's life. Professor Henriques is the author of many books and articles on Washington, has served on the Editorial Board for the George Washington Papers and on the Mount Vernon Committee of George Washington Scholars, and presently guides the Innermost House Foundation as a member of the Advisory Council. Colonial Williamsburg event ticket required.

Henry Thoreau’s experiment at Walden Pond is as inseparable from the small house he built there as it is from the pond itself. But what was the meaning of the house at Walden? In this course, we take the Walden hut as our North Star in a triangulation of points spanning the American Wisdom Tradition from before the beginning to after the end. We examine the Virginia House in the Tidewater, the Walden hut in Concord, and the Innermost House in California to locate an archetypal form central to the New World culture of philosophical simplicity: the Primitive Hut in America. Registration required.

Have you ever longed for life in the woods? It is a longing that takes us back to our American beginnings. The woods are more than trees and earth and sky, the woods are a way of seeing. In this class we draw on the seven years of solitude lived in the woods at the Innermost House in California to examine our lives here in Williamsburg. What beginnings lay just beneath the surface of our lives here, hidden in the plain sight of home? What meanings exist to be read just behind our everyday experiences, illuminated by an Innermost Way of Seeing? Registration required.

Have you ever longed for life in the woods? It is a longing that takes us back to our American beginnings. The woods are more than trees and earth and sky, the woods are a way of seeing. In this class we draw on the seven years of solitude lived in the woods at the Innermost House in California to examine our lives here in Williamsburg. What beginnings lay just beneath the surface of our lives here, hidden in the plain sight of home? What meanings exist to be read just behind our everyday experiences, illuminated by an Innermost Way of Seeing? Registration required.

This hour-long walking tour of the town and gardens along Palace Street in Colonial Williamsburg examines the city through the philosopher's eyes. Do gardens have meaning? Is architecture more than shelter and decoration? Is there a difference in Williamsburg and what difference does it make to us? What role can a city play in the pursuit of wisdom? Registration and Colonial Williamsburg Good Neighbor Pass required.

Is there a compelling tradition of wisdom in American life? The world looks to the example of America for many things—for independence, for ideals of freedom and equality, for industry, wealth, and opportunity—but seldom for wisdom! Yet through the length of American history runs a current of “plain living and high thinking” that draws upon the world’s many wisdom traditions, at last to reflect that ancient light back to the world as something radically new. A highly visual introduction to the American Wisdom Tradition. Register here.

Through the formative century of American letters, Ralph Waldo Emerson was "the wisest American.” This course will seek to recover the wisdom of the "Sage of Concord" as a means of bringing America's larger wisdom tradition into focus, from the founding period to the closing of the western frontier.
Registration required.

At the heart of the earliest tradition of English settlement in North America lay what was perhaps the first independently American house-type to emerge from English precedent on New World soil, the “Virginia Frame” house. How could thousands of such houses and the civilization they represent have once populated the whole Chesapeake region, and then disappeared almost without a trace? What can the Virginia House tell us about who we would become as Americans? Classroom and optional field trip. Register here.