Williamsburg

Bruton Parish Church

Church · 331 Duke of Gloucester St, Williamsburg, VA 23185

One of America's oldest Episcopal churches, built 1715 and still an active congregation. Attended by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason, Peyton Randolph, and virtually every prominent figure in colonial Virginia. The church served as the civic center of colonial Williamsburg's religious life, and its proximity to the Capitol and Governor's Palace made it inseparable from Virginia's political culture. George Wythe, Jefferson's law mentor, is buried in the churchyard.

College of William & Mary — Wren Building

Landmark · College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23185

The second-oldest institution of higher learning in the American colonies, founded 1693. The Sir Christopher Wren Building (original structure, rebuilt after fires in 1705 and 1859) housed the college throughout the Revolution and is the oldest college building in continuous use in the United States. George Wythe taught America's first law professorship here, training Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and Henry Clay. The college was disrupted by the war — the Wren Building served as a French military hospital after Yorktown — but survived as the seedbed of Virginia's revolutionary legal and political thought.

Colonial Williamsburg Magazine

Landmark · Magazine & Guardhouse, Williamsburg, VA 23185

The octagonal powder magazine built 1715 at the center of Williamsburg, which became the flashpoint of the Virginia Revolution. Royal Governor Dunmore had royal marines remove the colony's gunpowder from this building in the early morning of April 20, 1775 — the same date as Lexington and Concord. The seizure provoked Patrick Henry's march on Williamsburg with Hanover County militia and precipitated the collapse of royal authority in Virginia. The magazine survived and stands today as one of the most significant original structures in Colonial Williamsburg.

Colonial Capitol Building

Government · Colonial Capitol, Duke of Gloucester St, Williamsburg, VA 23185

Reconstructed colonial Virginia Capitol at the east end of Duke of Gloucester Street, where the House of Burgesses met from 1705 until the capital moved to Richmond in 1780. The chamber where Patrick Henry delivered his Stamp Act resolutions in 1765, where George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights was debated, and where Virginia's revolutionary conventions authorized the push for independence. The original building burned in 1747; the reconstruction (1934) faithfully replicates the H-plan original based on documentary evidence.

Governor's Palace

Historic House · Governor's Palace, Palace Green, Williamsburg, VA 23185

The official residence of Virginia's royal governors, completed 1722 and home to seven governors including Lord Dunmore, the last royal governor. Dunmore fled here in June 1775, abandoning the palace and effectively ending royal authority in Virginia. During the Yorktown siege in 1781 it served as a hospital for French and American wounded. The original burned in 1781; the reconstruction (1934) is based on the original floorplan and an architectural drawing by Thomas Jefferson.

Peyton Randolph House

Historic House · 113 N Nicholson St, Williamsburg, VA 23185

Home of Peyton Randolph, Speaker of the House of Burgesses and first President of the Continental Congress. One of the finest colonial houses in Williamsburg and a hub of Virginia political life in the 1760s and 1770s. Washington and Rochambeau used the house as a headquarters during the staging of allied forces at Williamsburg before the Yorktown siege in September 1781. The house is one of Colonial Williamsburg's most historically significant structures, featuring interpretation of both the Randolph family and the enslaved people who lived and worked there.

Raleigh Tavern

Tavern · 131 Duke of Gloucester St, Williamsburg, VA 23185

The most important tavern in colonial Virginia, where dissolved sessions of the House of Burgesses reconvened informally to continue their debates beyond royal authority. In 1769, when Governor Botetourt dissolved the Burgesses for protesting the Townshend Acts, the members reconvened at the Raleigh Tavern and adopted the Virginia non-importation association. In 1773 the Burgesses met here again and formed a Committee of Correspondence. Phi Beta Kappa was founded in the tavern's Apollo Room in December 1776 — a student intellectual society at the College of William & Mary that became America's first Greek-letter academic honor society.