Williamsburg

“ Thus was the great affair which agitated all Williamsburg for more than forty-eight hours arranged to the perfect satisfaction of all parties: though we must except that large and influential body the quidnuncs, who, as every body knows, are never satisfied with any thing which comes to an end without a catastrophe. ”

“ Soon after his accession to the government, he procured the assembly and courts of judicature to be removed from Jamestown, where there were good accommodations for people, to Middle Plantation, where there were none. There he flattered himself with the fond imagination of being the founder of a new city. He marked out the streets in many places so as that they might represent the figure of a W, in memory of his late majesty King William, after whose name the town was called Williamsburg. ”

“ As we drive along we cut out [Pg 242] cubic pieces of the pink delicacy. Never have we tasted such a water-melon. It has not been wilted by a long, hot train journey, but has just come from the field, and is fresh and delicious.
At Williamsburg we stay at the Colonial Inn, a most pleasant hostel, on old Duke of Glouchester Street. Williamsburg, known then as Middle Plantation, was the settlement to which the Jamestown settlers moved when they found Jamestown Island too damp and malarial for permanent occupancy. It is one of the most interesting Colonial towns in the United States. ”

“ At the period of which I was dreaming, Williamsburg was the capital of the province, with a wide street named in honor of the Duke of Gloucester, and a college named after their late majesties, William and Mary, with a jolly Raleigh tavern and a stately Governor’s Palace ”

“ In the world of the eighteenth century, devoid of radio, television, or the bulky daily paper, the substance of political debate came from such pamphlets. It was also an era which took its political philosophy seriously, and the author of a pamphlet could count on wide readership among the planter-aristocrats who controlled the machinery of government. Williamsburg, as the colony’s capital and its political and intellectual center, was the obvious city to lend its imprint to the speculations of Virginia’s pamphleteers. ”

“ Eleven advertisements placed in Williamsburg’s weekly newspaper, the Virginia Gazette, from 1768 to 1783, remain the sole evidence of the business venture of Robert Gilbert, boot and shoemaker. The story they tell reveals the hazards faced by most craftsmen in eighteenth-century Williamsburg: debts piling up, excess stock on hand, shortage of capable and reliable help, and a market that dried up when the capital moved to Richmond in 1780. ”

“ When the Virginia Assembly first met in 1699 at Middle Plantation (soon to be renamed Williamsburg) , its members listened to speeches delivered by several students at the brand new College of William and Mary. Urging that the colony’s capital should be moved thence from Jamestown, one of the students pointed out that Middle Plantation already contained “as many substantial housekeepers ... as is to be found again in the whole County.” He specifically listed a smith’s shop as 13 one of several “great helps and advances made towards the beginning of a town.” ”

“ There was planned and builded Williamsburg, which was to be for nearly a hundred years the capital of Virginia. It was named for King William, and there was in the minds of some loyal colonists the notion, eventually abandoned, of running the streets in the lines of a huge W and M. The long main street was called Duke of Gloucester Street, for the short-lived son of that Anne who was soon to become Queen. At one end of this thoroughfare stood a fair brick capitol. ”

“ They live, he says, “in the same neat manner, dress after the same modes, and behave themselves exactly as the gentry of London; most families of any note having their coach, chariot, Berlin or chaise, and dwelling,” as he finally says, “comfortably, genteelly, pleasantly, and plentifully in this delightful, healthful, and (I hope) thriving city of Williamsburg.”
Cooke, in his “History of the People of Virginia,” describes Williamsburg at about the middle of the last century in the winter as the scene of much that was [Pg 29] brilliant and attractive in Virginia society. ”

“ April 1716, Williamsburg.—The first day, Governor Spotwood and I set out from Williamsburg about eight of the clock in the morning, and we went to Jamestown in a four-wheeled chaise. Jamestown is eight miles from Williamsburg, and situated close upon James River. This town consists chiefly in a Church, a Court House, and three or four brick houses, it was the former seat of the Government, but now it is removed to Middle Plantation, which they call Williamsburg. ”

“ The inhabitants have not yet recovered from the disturbances of war, and many houses are still in ruins or half repaired. The spars of the ships sunk in the river to block the passage are yet to be seen. We returned the same day to Williamsburg, to set out the next morning for the South. Seven miles from Williamsburg, on the Southern road, we came to James River, and after much delay were obliged to turn back to Williamsburg because of an unfavorable wind at the ferry. ”

“ With the courage born of the desperateness of the situation the citizens of Williamsburg set about repairing the devastation wrought by the invader. Wrecked homes and desolated families followed fast in the wake of the British army. From field and hills the militia assembled to repel their approach, leaving the crops to the care of the men too old for service, the women who bravely shouldered tasks too heavy for delicate frames, and the few negroes who remained faithful to their owners. ”

“ The Eastern State Hospital for the Insane was opened here in 1773, but its original building was burned in 1885. Among several colonial residences are the George Wythe House, which was the headquarters of Washington during the siege of Yorktown in 1781, and the Peyton Randolph House. The principal industries are the manufacture of men's winter underwear, lumber and ice, and the shipment of lumber and farm and garden produce.
Williamsburg, originally named Middle Plantation from its position midway between the York and James rivers, was founded in 1632. ”

“ Well, Williamsburg was meaningful and constructive in several ways. The leaders of the seven free industrialized nations met in a private, informal setting—one that encouraged some of the best talks among the allies in recent years. We were determined, as sincere and well-intentioned individuals, to talk through our problems, to rise above bickering and discord so, together, we could forge a common strategy for growth and jobs to ensure the better future our people deserve. ”

“ A craftsman who had financial resources large enough to buy a lot in Williamsburg and build a shop on it would seem to have been in business already at another location. Such may have been the case when Alexander Craig, just before midcentury, acquired a lot on the road out of Williamsburg to Yorktown—not far from where the tanyard would soon thereafter be established. ”

“ In crossing a river, Washington fell from the raft into deep water, amid the floating ice, but fought his way out, and he and his companion passed the night on an island, with their clothes frozen upon them. So through peril and privation, and various dangers, stopping in the midst of it all to win another savage potentate, they reached the edge of the settlements and thence went on to Williamsburg, where great praise and glory were awarded to the youthful envoy, the hero of the hour in the little Virginia capital. ”

“ Yet, even though there was such rout and revel at Williamsburg and kindred towns, it was in the houses of the great planters that one saw the true Virginia social existence, that one found the Virginia woman of the time in her truest apparition. Under the influences of the coming of the Cavaliers and the Huguenots--for the descendants of the latter perpetuated the restless gaiety of their forsaken land rather than the austerities of the faith which had been the cause of their exile--there had arisen in Virginia something of a cult of the social function. ”

“ Months afterward they stood on the western range of the Great North mountains towering above the picturesque Shenandoah Valley, and from the summit of one of the loftiest peaks, where, until then, the foot of a white man had never trod, they viewed the vast expanse of plain and forest with glistening eyes. Returning to Williamsburg they told of the wonderful richness of the newly discovered country and thus opened the way for the venturesome pioneer who was destined to overcome all difficulties and make a home in the western world. ”

“ Since Williamsburg was the capital of the colony of Virginia, during legislative sessions the playhouse was particularly crowded with important personages of the government and their friends. George Washington enjoyed dramatic presentations very much and on numerous occasions visited the Williamsburg Playhouse. Just before the American Revolution, however, as political, economic and social relationships between the Americans and the British were being severely strained, most forms of entertainment including the playhouse were prohibited. ”

“ On the 15th of May 1776, the Virginia Convention in session here passed resolutions urging the Continental Congress to declare for Independence. In 1779 Richmond became the seat of the state government, and in 1832 fire destroyed the last of the old capitol at Williamsburg with the exception of the foundations, which since 1897 have been cared for by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. In the Peninsula campaign of the Civil War the Battle of Williamsburg was fought on the 5th of May 1862 on the south-eastern outskirts of the city. ”

“ I will consider of it first. Many and great are the comforts of a single state, and neither of the reasons you urge can have any influence with an inhabitant, and a young inhabitant too, of Williamsburg. ”

“ Any man could get two thousand acres by service to the colony, could build, plough, reap, save, buy servants, and roll in his own coach to sit as burgess. There was but one seat of learning—at Williamsburg. ”

“ The British loss was five officers wounded, and seventy-five privates killed and wounded. ****
The Americans, under La Fayette, remained in the vicinity of Williamsburg until the arrival of the combined armies, nearly two months afterward, on their way to besiege Cornwallis at Yorktown. b Dec 20, 1848 I arrived at Williamsburg at noon, (b) and proceeded immediately to search out the interesting localities of that ancient and earliest incorporated town in Virginia. They are chiefly upon the main street, a broad avenue pleasantly shaded, and almost as quiet as a rural lane. ”

“ We have militia still in front of our right and left, and a good look out on the river. Our provisions may come to the capital landing. Williamsburg and its strong buildings are in our front. I have upon the lines General Muhlenberg with one thousand men, four hundred of whom are Virginian regulars, and one hundred dragoons. In borrowing White's unequipped horses we may add one hundred hussars. ”

“ But no evidence has been found that any Williamsburg cabinetmaker augmented his work force with indentured servants.
Formal apprenticeship of Negro slaves was not uncommon, and many examples can be cited of Negroes who became skilled workers even without the formality. The largest number in and around Williamsburg seem to have been carpenters, but other crafts had skilled and semi-skilled practitioners who were slaves. ”

“ How strangely history repeats itself, that, after eighty-one years, we should be looking out on the map the Rapid Ann and the Chickahominy, and Williamsburg and Fredericksburg, just as our fathers did in 1781,—that the grandchildren of the men who marched under Lafayette from Baltimore to Richmond, by the forced march which saved that infant capital from the enemy, should be marching now, with a more Fabian tread, to save the same Richmond from worse enemies! ”

“ Williamsburg does not contain above a hundred and fifty houses, and is the only town we have yet seen in Virginia worth mentioning not situated on the banks of any river. What makes the situation of this place valuable, is the neighbourhood of James and York rivers, between which grows the best tobacco in the whole State, and for this reason it seems to have been built where it is: I do not think, nevertheless, that it will ever be a place of any great importance; the towns of York, James, Norfolk, and Edenton, being more favourably situated for trade, will undoubtedly eclipse it. ”

“ Small gold and silver bodkins were used by the wives of the planters for the purpose of keeping the headdress in place.
Plantation life towards the end of the century, as at an earlier date, gave few opportunities even for the most moderate display. There were no towns where, as at Williamsburg in the following century, the families of the leading citizens of the Colony might gather at certain seasons and show off in considerable state the contemporaneous fashions. ”

“ The capital had been moved from Jamestown to the spot where Bacon had taken the 75 oath against England—then called Middle-Plantation, and now Williamsburg. The cavalcade wheeled into Gloucester Street, and Colonel Dale pointed out to Dave the old capitol at one end and William and Mary College at the other. Mr. Henry had thundered in the old capitol, the Burgesses had their council-chamber there, and in the hall there would be a ball that night. ”

“ ANOTHER GREAT SPEECH BY PATRICK HENRY
The people of Virginia are again greatly aroused. King George has caused Parliament to send English soldiers to Boston to force the unruly people of Massachusetts to obey some of his commands, against which they had rebelled. Virginia has stood by her sister colony, and now the royal governor of Virginia, to punish her, has prevented the House of Burgesses from meeting at Williamsburg. ”