a two-week cruise on the williamsburg. initially along the eastern seaboard, but heavy storms made him change course and head south to bermuda. every detail was front page news. >> this is probably the presidential living room. >> reporter: but the vessel that hosted winston churchill became a ghost ship. plants now grow from its floor boards. the presidential fireplace, disappeared. the gally, barely recognizable. truman's favorite sun deck, twisted debris. after truman, the williamsburg fell on hard times. eisenhower didn't want it. it was mothballed, changed names, even became a floating restaurant in new jersey. shipped to italy in 1994 for repairs, the shipyard went bankrupt. it's been here ever since. he believes that the williamsburg with so much american history in it, must go home, and he's trying to get the message out. >> you have a certain number of millionaires, certain number of billionaires, if they would donate 25 euros each, you raise a lot of money. >> reporter: the current italian owners want to refit it

anyway, urban outfitters urging customers at its williamsburg store to belly up to the bar and keep buying. just as tommy bahamas has also discovered, keeping customers buying. what do you think? >> you know, wedding dresses come, when your mother went to buy wedding dreeses, you make a little champagne and then you try on dresses and you don't find what cost. >> it really does make sense. very smart move into this area. >> i don't know. what do you think, they've? >> i think if you get under the hood, traditional retail, brick and mortar retail is suffering. you have to find what things they can do better that you can do online. part of it strikes me as if your member a decade ago, the whole entertainment phenomenon. were they doing needing to do more than just give you food. here they are saying we are going to give you something you can't get on amazon. on amazon, they can't do a marquee. here's one, we are going to make the in-person experience meaningful and differentiated. it is not a bad idea to be on the whole dying in theater thing, i thought it was great but then i decided it was

this is short of the beating heart of williamsburgs. all of the political activity, the social activity, they're really living the center of it in this fantastic 18th century house that they were living in as john tyler is resurrecting his political career. they have they moved here when le tisha was running the household. she was running their various plantations. right here she suffered a stroke in 1839. that partly paralyzed her. although she was still able to retain control of the family account, of all the family business while john tyler was getting back involved in politics. it's right here in this space that john tyler learned that he was elected vice president to william henry harrison. it's also here in the spring of 1841 where he was informed that he became 10th president of the united states. it was here that le tisha tyler learned that she became the first lady of the united states. >> when her term was over, julia tyler and the president retired to their plantation along the james river. >> the tylers was born in charles c

this is the beating heart of williamsburg even in the 1830's. all the social activity, they are really living at the center of it in this fantastic 18th- century house. after they moved here, when letitia is running the going to behe is operating out of a house. she is running their various plantations all over the place. 1839.ffered a stroke and she is still able to retain control of the family at counts, of all the family business while john tyler was getting back involved. he went to was elected as vice president. it is here in the spring of 1841 when he was informed that he became 10 president of the united states. letitia tyler learned that she became the first lady of the united states. over,when her term was juliett tyler and the president retired to the plantation a long be james river. atte john tyler was born greenway. he purchased this house at the end of his presidential term. he came down here once before he was able to retire. he brought with him julia gardiner. she said the hand of god in nature have been counted to my sharewood f

our second guest, returning to us from an earlier program, taylor sturmer, a historian for colonial williamsburg. welcome to the conversation. the election.ut anybody who thinks there is hard knuckle politics today, look at the election of 1884 that brought grover cleveland into the white house. pretty rough stuff. what was it like? guest: politics is brutal. we do think about earlier elections in american history in which they are taking swings at each other like jefferson and , but in 1800 election politics in 1880s, with the growth of the newspapers, is personal, visceral, and because of the way political parties developed, they are able to take these swipes at each other that we would find surprising today. in 1884, all of these things are coming out in 1884 election because you have two candidates who could not be more different. you have grover cleveland on the -- he hasho had been very little political experience of this sort. he was mayor of buffalo in 1881, elected governor of new york in two years later, he is the democratic nominee for president. that is all the major political experi

. >> reporter: williamsburg is one of brooklyn's oldest industrial areas. and now home to one of its coolest hotels. the wyatt. >> it started about six years ago. it had to do with beer and the back of a napkin and the idea that brooklyn didn't have a hotel that really represented brooklyn. >> reporter: peter lawrence took on the project of converting a 1901 factory into a modern-day hotspot that preserves the building's past life. >> we left everything we could. all the columns, all the beams inside the rooms you have the existing feeling that's been there for 100 years and the timber was probably 100 years old when they put it in. >> reporter: the 72 guest rooms also incorporate the original materials. while giving visitors a taste of new brooklyn. >> like all the rooms in the hotel, we tried to incorporate some of the great talent that's in our neighborhood and in our community. so the wallpaper's done by a graphic designer named dan who's in our neighborhood. we have a really well-stocked mini bar filled with all sorts of interesting locally produced tr