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Accessibility

A Guide for Visitors with Disabilities

Colonial Williamsburg extends a special welcome to visitors with disabilities. If you have special needs, please let us know.

Admission tickets are discounted 50% to guests with disabilities. This offer is only available at on-site ticketing centers.

Our 21st-century Visitor Center, hotels, restaurants, and shops are largely accessible, and we are prepared to make special accommodations. Special parking arrangements are available.

18th-century architecture may present difficulties for some visitors with disabilities. Interpreters in the Historic Area will be glad to provide directions to accessible areas.

Visitors with Visual, Hearing or Mobility Limitations

Visitors with Visual Impairments

The Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Companion Braille Edition brochure is available at the Visitor Center.

Licensed guide dogs are permitted in all of Colonial Williamsburg's buildings.

Visitors with visual impairments may make use of the headset sound track that describes the on-screen action in the historic film Williamsburg – The Story of a Patriot. Ask the usher for assistance in setting up the headset.

Visually impaired visitors may also make advance arrangements for an escort by contacting the Visitor Services Coordinator.

Visitors with Hearing Impairments

"Colonial Williamsburg: A Guide for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Visitors" is available free of charge at the Visitor Center or through the Visitor Services Coordinator.

Closed captioned televisions are available at Inn, Lodge, Woodlands, Governors Inn. Battery-operated strobe light fire alarms, TDD machines, amplifier handsets, and shake-awake alarm clocks are available at all hotel front desks.

A printed synopsis of the orientation film Williamsburg: the Story of a Patriot is available at the Visitor Center, as are headsets with adjustable volume control. The East theater has a rear screen projection system that allows guests to see a captioned version of the film. Please ask the usher for assistance.

Headsets with adjustable volume control are also available for lecture programs in the Hennage Auditorium at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, the Kimball Theater, and the Virginia Room of the Williamsburg Lodge.

Colonial Williamsburg will contract with one of several signing interpreters available to accompany hearing-impaired visitors through the Historic Area. Arrangements for this service must be made two weeks in advance through the Visitor Center. Service animals are permitted in all buildings.

Visitors with Limited Mobility

View a map of accessible sites (1.6 Mb, PDF), and a building list with detailed accessibility information.

Folding wheelchairs are available at the Visitor Center and rented on a first-come first-served basis for a $7.00 fee. A credit card imprint is required as a deposit. No motorized chairs are available. The King's Arms, Shields, and Chowning's Taverns have ramps and handicapped-accessible restrooms.

Most buildings in the Historic Area have entrance steps, but most interior doorways are wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair. Many of the exhibition buildings have second floors that are interpreted, and stairs are often steep and narrow. Photographic interpretations of many exhibition buildings are available upon request. Colonial Williamsburg’s shuttle buses are ADA accessible.

Wheelchair-accessible restrooms are located in the following buildings:

Visitor Center
Williamsburg Lodge
Merchants Square Information Station
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum
Bassett Hall
Public Hospital and DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum
Adjacent to the Magazine on Francis Street
Botetourt Street between Duke of Gloucester St. and Nicholson St.
Palace grounds near the Wheelwright
Between the Capitol and Waller Street

Consult the list of exhibition sites when planning your tour. Upon your arrival at Colonial Williamsburg, consult This Week at Colonial Williamsburg for days and hours of operation.

Visitor Services

We want you to enjoy your visit to Colonial Williamsburg. Please make us aware of your special needs.

Visitor Services Coordinator
Visitor Center Administrative Office
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
P. O. Box 1776
Williamsburg, Virginia 23187-1776

Call (757) 220-7645 or (800) 246-2099

TTY (757) 565-8620 or TTY (800) 637-4677

Visitors with wheelchairs will find the streets, most gardens, and outdoor activities in the historic area easily accessible. While portable ramps and wheelchair lifts are available at selected exhibitions, many of the buildings require at least a few steps.