The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1942-01-08
F Fascinating History of the Old
Center Of the Colony Of Virginia

Park service. They now are being
physically united by the Colonial
National Historical Park highway,
which has already been built from
Yorktown to the outskirts of Will
liamsburg and is designed to be ex-
| tended to jamestown.
The. voices which echo from de-
serted jamestown, from the wilder
ness outposts of Middle Plantation,
and from Yorktown, must be heard
If the voices which speak through
Williamsburg restored are to be
understood.
The lone, ivy-mantled church tow
er at jamestown marks the be-
ginning of the long vista through
which Williamsburg must be viewed
if it is to be seen in true perspec-
tive, for its glory is reflected upon
Williamsburg.
Jamestown became the first per-
manent English settlement in
America when, on May Is, 1907, the
colonists landed there and named
their place Of settlement for King
| James.
There they built a church and
later a statehouse and simple
homes. There, in 1919, convened in
the church the first representative
legislative assembly held in the
New world. There they tried COM
munal government, which was soon
followed by starving time" There
they had dealings with autccratic
governors and took part in Bacon's
| Rebellion in 1676.
How Williamsburg Was Created.
During this rebellion jamestown
was burned and Sir William Berke-
ley, the royal governor, who had
roundly damned education, print
ing presses, and Bacon and his fol-
lowers, made the rebellion of 1916
the prophecy of the Revolution of
1776.
Seasoning Sickness" and the
abundance of other trials and dis
contents, eliminating in the fire
which in 1898 again destroyed the
statehouse, brought to a climax the
thought of abandoning jamestown
for a more nearly central location
for the capital of the colony.
Near jamestown, midway be-
tween the James river and the
York, was Middle Plantation, soon
to become Williamsburg.
The seeds of this place had been
sown by the Indians on a rampage
in 1922, during which fully one.
third of the English settlers in Vir-
ginia were massacred.
Consequently, at a "Grand AS.
sembly of the Council and Bur.
| gesses holden at James City
(Jamestown), in 1858, it was or
dered: that a palisade be built
across the peninsula from estua.
ries of the James River and the
York" (about six miles), so that a
region of safety for the inhabitants
and their cattle might be secured
extending eastward to Old Poin,
Comfort, at the end Of the PENN.
sula.
College OF William and Mary.
| Meanwhile, Middle Plantation hac
been chosen as the site of the sec
ond college in what is now the
United States.
The College OF william and Mary
was destined to play dominating
part in the history of Virginia, ir
the establishment of Williamsburg
as the second capital of colonia
| Virginia, and in the elimination 0.
the thought of the restoration o
Williamsburg.
In 1858 Rev. DR.. James Blair
commissary in Virginia of the Lore
Bishop of London, and also minister
of the church at jamestown, OBJ
tanned from King William ant
Queen Mary the royal charter fol
the building of the College O.
William and Mary in Virginia. TIL,
General Assembly ordered: ".
that Middle Plantation be the plac,
for erecting the said college of VII
liam and Mary in Virginia and tina
the said college be at that plac,
erected and built as neare The
church now standing in Middl,
Plantation old fields as convent
ence will permit !"
And SO the college was set dowl
near the church and its location
largely determined the site ant
plan of the future city of Williams
burg.