The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-01-02
HISTORIC WILLIAMSBURG.
Interesting Features of Romantic Old
 Virginia Town.

l eASoili0l LLAC ICiLuSlICS tO IHiSIdle llOIIl
 rural. districts to the feverish and con-
 gested life of the cities. Men who
 think and write of the problems of life on subjects of economic and social re-
 form, are advocating the life of the
 country as most natural and happy.
 Probably to this current of thought is | due a revived interest in the old towns
 of Maryland and Virginia. Whatever
 the cause, the old capital deserves her
 share of notice. Excelling in historic | interest, no town of its class can sur l pass 1t in picturesqueness, healthful-
 ness or the general conditions which go
 to make an ideal rural life. Indeed, Williamsburg has a charm peculiarly | its own There is no one who has ever
 dwelt here but longs some day to re-
 turn. The casual carries away a Vii l sion of repose, of quaint houses buried
 amid flowers and trees and of wide old
 streets, whose dewy verdure and shade will return to haunt him amid the rush
 and heat of the city. From Colonial
 times to the Revolution it was the
 scene of stirring events, and the spirit
 of that romantic past seems to pervade | llIS fSIy dllIlOSpllCI6. lHSSS SdIIlC pih
 grassy streets once echoed the footsteps
 of men whose names are familiar to
 every school-boy and whose utterances
 and actions shaped the destiny of the
 nation.
 I one strolls the length of the famous
 Duke of Gloucester street he will see
 places with which are associated some | of tha most YY1op,aptouc avantc in tho
 history of the country. Under the
 spreading elms of William and Mary
 stands the statue of Lord Botetour,
 the best-beloved of the governors, and
 one can imagine the shade of the great
 Hugh Blair scholar, reformer and
 founder of the college, walking about | beneath their shadows. Duke Of
 Gloucester street is mile in length,
 and looking from the college through l the vista of trees toward the other end 1 of the street one can see the sight of
 the House of Burgesses, the two histor- l ic buildings-one of legislation, the
 other of learning-once facing each
 other. Throughout the town are pie 1 tueesque old mansions, some dating
 back to that period when Governor
 Nicholson removed the capital thither,
 and bearing that air of stately exclu-
 siveness which marked a time of social aristocracy. Many of these houses are owned by. the descendants of families l distinguished in the lietrary and politi- l cal world. Here is the old Bruton church, solemn and imposing in the
 dignity of it's age and traditions. To Sfc hn nf courtly old planters, and it's pews were
 filled with gentle dames-the flower of Colonial beauty. It is possible Jeffer- son often came here-smiling sarcasti- | cally at the pageantry of the 'aristo- 1 crats," yet eager to catch a smile from l his Belinda" the fascinating Miss
 Burwell. The church servived the struggle of non-conformity against the
 establishment when Edmund Pendleton
 was it's friend and Jefferson it's foe, and
 still stands as national landmark.
 Around the corner is the Palace Green,
 starred in spring-time with innumera-
 ble buttercups. This is the site of the l Governors palace-the nucleus of gave ! ty and fashion for this once gay town. 1 Farther down, near the Capitol, stood 1 the Raleigh Tavern" the rendezvous
 of the young bloods gathered in town
 for races or balls, and later the haunt
 of Lee, Patrick Henry, Jefferson and
 Randolph, who met in the Apollo
 Room" to consult and plan. Thither
 the indignant burgesses, when dis 1 solved, hastened to assemble and pass 1 laws under the very eyes of the irate l iyo{ ba still stands the Powder Horn-the scene
 of Virginia's "Gunpowder Plot'-built 1 in 1715 by Governor Spotswood, who started from this town on his famous
 expedition to the Blue Ridge and it's smiling valley. This happened rapidly during those days which preceded the
 Revolution, and one can picture the 1 steady march of the British marines | through the darkness to seize the pow der by Lord Dunmore's orders, the ex- citement and fury of the crowds in the
 streets next day, the cali to arms and the threats and denunciations hurled at | the councillors hastening to the palace. | Other visions from the far past come of Bacon, bold, impetuous. daring, stopping here years before the town | was planned and it was simply the | Middle Plantation" to administer the
 oath of allegiance to his followers; of
 Governor Spotswood starting forth with his retinue to explore an unknown l region; of Dunmore, fleeing through the forests for his life; of Washington, dig nified and calm, and Jefferson alert and determined, passing toward the House of Burgesses, whose walls, long
 since crumbled, resounded to the i'm passioned eloquence of Patrick Henry. 1 On some of these old porches the beau- tiful Miss Burwell may have sat and chatted with her irate lover. Governor Nicholson. whom the rejected and whose devotion was exceeded only by his bad manners.
 In the golden October weather of 17S1 | the whole town turned out to see and cheer a never to- be- forgotten sight l the march of the troops. ragged provin- cials and debonair Frenchmen, on their way to capture Cornwallis.
 The glory of that past lives in song
 and story; the Tavern" the Palace"
 and the Capitol have long since crum- bled and disappeared, but many of the old ancestral homes, built of timbers 1 which defy decay, still stand They are loved for their memaries and asso- citations. and receive a devoted care al-
 most unknown in city life. In conse-