DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum

Wow, what a place. If you go to Williamsburg you have to include this in your trip. They have a dizzying variety of colonial and American items, weapons, clocks, furniture, clothing, toys, art. Really every aspect of life. I'm not a big fan of the layout, it is hard to tour in a methodical way, you have to backtrack to see every room and I think you'd want to see every room.

Cafe at the Museum: This review is about the cafe at the Colonial Williamsburg Museums. I'll write another review about the museums. I'd like to give the cafe 3.5 stars. We occasionally enjoy lunch at the cafe after a walk around the historic area or before a program at the museum's Hennage Auditorium. It's bright with a wall of windows and a relaxing environment to enjoy lunch or a snack. This counter service restaurant offers soups, salads, and sandwiches, along with desserts. The corn chowder is delicious!! We also like the garden vegetable soup. Our favorite sandwich is the Cubano panini, which is usually good. You can order half sandwich and a cup of soup or small salad. Today, though, the sandwich was a little too doughy and lacked its usual sweetness. For dessert, we ordered the wonderful rum cream pie and packed it up in a clam shell container to take home. Their drink case has many options, including beer and wine. You don't need a Colonial Williamsburg or museum ticket to dine here. It's a fine spot to enjoy lunch or snack during busy seasons when the other restaurants in Colonial Williamsburg have long lines or waiting lists.

This is a CAFÉ review. It was awful. Club sand which was cold, dry and seemed to have been in a fridge unwrapped. Cheese dried out and roll was dry as dust. Had to ask them to make it fresh.

An interesting choice as part of the Colonial Williamsburg museum pass, I enjoyed my time here at the DeWitt Wallace.A lot to see and a tremendous amount of reading involved. Lots of history and background along with the exhibits and artifacts. There's a happy medium between too little and too much, I found this to be leaning over towards too much. But that's just my preference.Music, clothing, lots of furniture, paintings, firearms even a display dedicated to firefighting during Colonial times. Interesting, for sure.Easy to spend half a day here, I was a bit tired of it after 90 minutes.[Review 12168 overall, 1952 of 2019.]

We thought this was a beautiful and well done museum. We opted out of the tour guide and took an hour and a half to browse. My wife really enjoyed the Musical instruments display and the China and Silver displays. I liked the music and the archeological displays. I was really fascinated by the above ground mental hospital portion, the rest of the museum is huge and appears to us to be underground (you don't even know it's there until you take the steps or elevator down to it). Well worth a visit.

I was in need of a relaxing 3 hour museum stroll and finished part of the first level. The collections were fascinating. The cafeteria is open until 3pm - I walked twenty minutes after the cafe closed. Admission prices are fair. Mask requirements are in place.

Wonderful museum. Something for everyone. Must see. Admission included in most colonial Williamsburg tickets or get a separate pass. Regular updates to the exhibits. We come here several times a year and always see something new.

What a fantastic placeI did not have time to check in yesterdaySo much to see and so little timeI took my aunt and we went on three different tours in the museumFirst - decorative arts highlights given by Barbara Smith a volunteer (all three ladies that gave us the tours where volunteers)Very nice and informative Second - Introduction to folk art Abby Aldridge Rockefeller museum located inside the Dewitt WallaceI believe the lady's name was AmandaThat also was very informative and interestingThird- Focus on furniture The material world of the early southLovely lady by the name of Ann took us around and gave us information on restoration where a lot of the pieces were acquired or on loan from different families and homesSo many things to see and a nice little cafe inside the museum for lunchDefinitely worth the $12.99 admission price

My one day pass entitled me to two museums. I choose the Dewitt Decorative Arts Museum. Incorporated in the same building is the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum and Public Health Hospital circa 1773 Museum. These three museums are considered one museum. For my other museum I choose Basset Hall which was John D. Rockefeller's Retreat. My visit was in late April and the museum did not open until 10 am and closed at 7 pm. They have a museum café )sandwiches, soup, beverages and desserts) which is nice for a break. There is a lot of reading. The DeWitt Wallace has a lot of American and British antiques. Furniture, metals, ceramics, glass, paintings, prints, firearms and textiles from the 17th, 18th and 19th century. The museum store has items which reflect the museum's collection, as well as, music and books. I particularly enjoyed Mapping America's Roads from the Revolution to Independence, Silver Mine to Masterpiece with Paul Revere silver, keyboard instruments (1700-1830) with Spinets, and Military and Civilian Weapons. The Hennage Auditorium has a lecture series but you have to check the daily schedule for time and subject. Their online site has an interactive showcase of various objects in their collection with picture and full descriptions so bring you smart phone. This museum is really worth the time spent and ideal for a rainy day. The Colonial Williamsburg free shuttle makes a stop right in front of the museum. If you are going to see a museum, see this one. The museum is handicapped accessible.Show less

DeWitt Wallace is one of the museums located inside the Art Museums building at CW. If you have a CW ticket (single day pass or annual) you have free admittance to the museums too. They're worth checking out, and a really cool complement to the living history of CW itself. If you don't have a CW ticket, it costs $14.95 for the art museums - probably worth it if you're into this kind of thing, and/or are facing a rainy day in Williamsburg. We came to DeWitt Wallace primarily to check out the fashion exhibit - they have a really cool selection of clothing pieces from colonial America on display, well balanced with information and other visuals (like pieces of fabrics and other components) to help you understand what you're seeing and put it in context. 100% recommend.If you're interested in learning more about the seemingly subtle meaning communicated by various artistic choices in Colonial America, this museum is definitely worth checking out. The exhibit on pottery/china, for instance, got me really fascinated by the trajectory of pottery finishing and decorating techniques and how that impacted food storage and the wealth/luxury conveyed by particular pieces. It deepened my understanding of china I saw on display in CW houses - which I have to say I had literally never considered before.DeWitt Wallace is kind of wrapped up and around the Folk Arts Museum, which would be confusing except it doesn't really matter which one you're in at any given moment - they're both cool and accessible with the same ticket.The food hall is really top notch for a museum - arguably better than most (all?) the food options in central CW itself. The gift shop is also pretty cool, and has a more varied selection than most of the CW shops. Swing by both if you're at the museum.