Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-09-24
HISTORIC WILLIAMSBURG.
A Town That Was Chartered Over Two Hun
dred Years Ago.

OEeO Tears Ago.
WHERE VIRGINIA LEGISLATORS FORMERLY NET
THE SCENE OF TWO wARs-aEN. WASHING
ToN's HKADeuARrERs-rHx OLDEST VILLAGE
IN THE COUNTRY.
Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
WILLIAMSBURG, Va, Sept 19, 1892.
WILLIAMSBURG AND THAT PORTION
w OF the peninsula Immediately adjoining
it is among the most interesting localities on
the continent. As early as 1899 an act was
passed directing the building Of the capitol Of
Virginia at Williamsburg, Fat the middle tlan-
tation, and the governor was authorized to
incorporate the city. It derived its name from
King William the third.
The city was chartered in 1922, the seat Of
government having been removed from James
town in 100. The legislative body held its
meetings in the College Of William and Mary I'M
til the completion Of the capitol building in
17O4 The first capitol building having been de-
stroyed by fire the legislature, or house of bur
gesses, again held Its sessions in the college
building from 174S to 1852.
The capital was removed to Richmond in 1880
The capitol building at Williamsburg was again
burned In 1880, and the governors house. or
palace, as it was called. was burned in 1881
Williamsburg is situated in the upper por-
| ton Of the peninsula. 1t is located in the two
counties Of York and James City, its principal
street forming the dividing line between the
two counties. It is the county town Of James
CITY county. 1t is forty-eight miles from Rich
mond and reached from there by the Chesa-
peake and Ohio railroad Yorktown is twelve
miles distant, Norfork sixty-eight and James
town seven miles. 1t occupies a ridge of land
about equi-distant from the York and James
rivers, both Of which are about four miles away
Two creeks, one Of which flows into the James
and the other into the York are within short
distance Of the town.
Its construction is different from any town or
city In the United States 1t was originally in
tended to lay 1t of so as to form q monogram
OF the letters W and NJ in honor Of William and
Mary, the then reigning sovereigns Of Great
Britain. Its main street, called Duke Of Glouces-
ter street, running east and west, is three
fourths OF mile long and 160 feet wide and is
skirted on either side by rows of shade trees.
At the head or east end of the street stood the
old capitol blu ilding and at the west the College
OF William and Mary In this old capitol build
ing Patrick Henry delivered some Of his most
famous speeches. Near the site Of the capitol
was the old clerks house, now used as q private
residence. On Scotland street stood the old
colonial palace, the remains Of which can still
be seen. The date when it was destroyed is not
known.
The structure known as Lord Dunmore's pal
ace was famous building before and during
revolutionary times. 1t was located in beauti-
full grounds covering $50 acres. It was su-
perbl;y furnished and adorned with portraits of
| ing were still standing up to the beginning Of
the civil war, but were torn down BY the Union
| troops and used in building barracks. On the
foundation Of this old historic building there
has been erected the Grammar and Matte
School. This school was endowed before the
revolution by Mrs. Mary Whaley as a school for
poor boys, but no building was erected until
1870.
wAsHINGToN's HEADQUARTERS.
On what is known as Palace Green there still
| stands the former residence Of Chancellor
Wythe, which was occupied by Gen. Washing
ton As mis- headquarters in September. 1871. on
his visit to the Marquis de Lafayette. before
the arrival Of the allied American and French
armies en- route to attack Lord CORVALLIS at
Yorktown. 1t Is large double house. two
stories high, in good state of preservation,
and now occupied as a residence by Col Harri-
| son. quaint old court house. still in USE
| erected in l7l0. is on Duke of Gloucester street
in Court House Green.
In rear of this stand three old colonial
houses. One the residence of the cele-
brated Attorney General of the United States,
William Writ. and is now occupied by Dr. Chas
Washington Coleman. Another was known a.
the Peachy house, and the third was the home of
Edmund Randolph, Secretary of State under
Washington. From HIM it descended to his
kinsman, st. George Tucker then to Beverley
fucker. 1t is still in possession Of the Tucker
family.
One of the most interesting buildings in the
town is the Bruton Parish Church. the oldest
| church in Use in Virginia, having been organ
lied in 1882. 1t is built in the form of a cross
of brick, and surrounded by thick brick wall
1t has communion service vessels of the time of
Queen Anne and George the third. There are
| four mural tablets in its halls and in the sur
rounding church yard are the graves of many of
the leading people of the old regime
Many handsome tombs with armorial bear
ings may be seen and a number of very quaint
| Inscriptions.
Nearly opposite the court house, few yards
from the main street, is the old magazine or
| powder horn. This was erected by Gov
| Spottswood. in l1l6 for the storage of ammu-
| milton for his expedition over the Blue Ridge
mountains. in command of the Knights Of the
| Golden Shoe. 1t has recently been restored
and is now the property of the Virginia
Antiquarian Society. The first insane asylum
| erected on the continent. the Eastern
Lunatic Asylum. occupies beautiful grounds
| not far from the college. 1t was
erected In 1869. In the western part of the
| town is the site of tt celebrated old Raleigh
Tavern. In this tavern the famous Apollo
| room, where the court balls and social assem-
bies OF the colony were held. Here Jefferson
and his college friends used to dance. It was
in this room that the house of burgesses reas
sembled after Its dissolution by Earl Dunmore.
| Near Williamsburg is Green Spring. once the
residence of Sir William Berkeley but now the
| site is occupied by a modern dwelling house.
| But by far the most interesting building on
the peninsula, or in Virginia, is the College of
| William and Mary. In its antecedents it il the
| Oldest institution of learning in the United
States. In actual operation it is next to Harvard
| University. In this college the system of lee
/ turing was first introduced by DIR. William
| Small in 1758 1t the first college in Amer
| lea to establish a chair of municipal law under
Chancellor George Wythe in 1779 which was
next in time to the bi-nenan filled by Sir Will
lam Blackstone, being the second of the kind in
the English-speaking world. 1t was the first to
| announce the elective system of study Q779).
1t was the first to unite in one college the fac
ulties embraced in the idea Of a university,
| title which was formally assumed in 1882 Fin
ally it was first to establish u chair of history
and political science, which it did in 1922 The
movement which founded and chartered the
| college was led by its first commissary, James
Blair, the house of burgesses, the council, the
| governor of the colony, the merchants of Lon
don, the bishops Of England and King William
and Queen Mary. The alumni Of William and
Mary have given to the bar two eminent Attor-
ney Generals Of the United States, to the House
Of Representatives Of the Congress of the United
States seventy members, to the Senate fifteen
members, to Virginia and other states fifteen
governors. to the country one historian, to the
state and county thirty-seven judges, to the
H ER LIFE AS Pr