Colonial Williamsburg is really a living history museum about life in 18th century Colonial America. Most of the buildings were in severe disrepair and restored in the 1930s thanks to its benefactor John D. Rockefeller. There are still several original structures, which I have marked as such in my descriptions below. We spent pretty much all day here. It was very educational.
Colonial Capitol.Courtroom.House of Burgesses.Charlton’s Coffeehouse – 1750 – In October 1765 this was the scene of resistance to the Parliament’s Stamp Act.Edinburgh Castle Tavern.John Crump House – 1719.Nicholson Store – ORIGINAL STRUCTURE – supplied uniforms to the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.Shields tavern – 1708.Scrivener Store – 1762.Pasteur & Galt Apothecary – 1775.Alexander Craig House – ORIGINAL STRUCTURE – 1755.Alexander Purdie House – 1767 – Purdie launched the Virginia Gazette in 1774.King’s Arms Tavern – 1772 – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Nelson and other Revolutionary leaders met here.King’s Arms Barber Shop – 1770s.Raleigh Tavern – The Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg was the meeting place for radical members of the House of Burgesses in 1769 when the Governor of Virginia dissolved them for seeming contempt.Charlton House – ORIGINAL STRUCTURE – 1769. Edward Charlton was a wigmaker whose clients include Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, Peyton Randolph, and Patrick Henry.John Carter’s Store – 1765.The Golden Ball -1765 – James Craig from London was a jeweler and silversmith. The golden ball was universally recognized as the sign of a jeweler.Margaret Hunter Milliner – ORIGINAL STRUCTURE – Hunter made hats, cloaks, mounted fans, and various accessories.Russell House – 1745 – William Russell was Clerk of the Virginia Court of Admiralty and the Williamsburg Circuit Court.Wetherburn’s Tavern – Merriment and conviviality were specialties of the house at Wetherburn’s Tavern which was one of the most successful in the 1750s. The tavern and the dairy out back are both original buildings.Tarpley, Thompson & Company Store – 18th century fashion with ready-made coats, waistcoats, breeches, petticoats, short gowns, cloaks, mitts, caps, beautifully decorated straw hats and more.Prentis House – Home of successful merchant William Prentis and his wife Mary Brooke Prentis. their store is a block to the west.William Pitt Store – Sold hats, clothing, housewares and other goods during the Revolutionary War.Brick House Tavern.Blacksmith Shop.William Waters House -1750 – home of wealthy planter William Waters.William Waters Storehouse – 1750.Holt’s Store – 1760 – general store; and Hunter’s Store – 1772 – Grocer M Dubois sold variety of goods including coffee, sugar and scotch snuff.Post Office and Printing Office – printers John Dixon and William Hunter published the original Virginia Gazette, did printing work, and sold stationery and books here during the Revolutionary War.George Pitt House – George Pitt inherited this property in 1757. he operated an Apothecary Shop, “The Sign of the Rhinoceros” on this site until the mid 1770s.Orlando Jones House and Office – Orlando Jones, grandfather of the future Martha Washington, owned this house until 1719.Prentis Store – ORIGINAL STRUCTURE – merchant William Prentis oversaw construction of this store in 1740. His family managed the business until 1779. This is the oldest commercial building in town.George Reid House – ORIGINAL STRUCTURE – Merchant George Reid built this house around 1790. He incorporated a significant amount of material from the 1740s that previously stood on the property.William Lightfoot Kitchen.Chowning’s Tavern. We ate lunch here.Colonial fare.Peter Hay’s Shop – Apothecary Peter Hays dispensed drugs and provided surgical, midwifery, and general medical services here. he also sold spices, cooking oils and teas.Market Square Tavern.Magazine – constructed in 1715 as storage for the arms and ammunition dispatched from London for the defense of the colony. Just before the Revolution, it was the scene of a famous confrontation between Williamsburg residents and the royal governor, when his soldiers absconded with the colony’s gunpowder.Inside tours were cancelled due to COVID fear.James City County Courthouse and the Hustings Court of the City of Williamsburg – 1771.The courtroom.Side room.Pillory, locks and whipping post.Greenhow Tenement – 1782 – Tenement (rental property).Shoemaker’s Shop – 1773 – Shoemaker George Wilson advertised “the best sorts of English leather for all manner of men’s shoes and pumps”.Mary Dickinson Store.John Greenhow Store & House – Merchant John Greenhow kept a store in the left half of this building and lived in the right half from 1755-1787. He sold everything from textiles to window glass.John Greenhow Lumber House – Merchant John Greenhow used this building to store furniture, barrels, and other items that were too bulky to keep in his adjacent store.Custis Tenement – John Custis IV built a rental property here by 1717. His daughter-in-law, Martha Custis, and her second husband George Washington, managed it from 1759-1778.Colonial Garden.Bruton Parish Church – 1715.Hartwell Perry’s Tavern – John Custis IV built a rental property here about 1717. Hartwell Perry purchased the building after the Revolutionary War, and used it as a tavern from 1782-1800.Taliaferro-Cole Shop – ORIGINAL STRUCTURE – Coachmaker Charles Taliaferro made riding chairs and harnesses in the late 1770s. In 1804, Jesse Cole purchased the shop and used it as a post office and general store.Taliaferro-Cole House – ORIGINAL STRUCTURE – Charles Taliaferro erected the right side of this building as a retail store in the 1770s. Businessman Jesse Cole expanded it into its present residential form in 1804.Corner of Duke of Gloucester Street and Palace Green.Palace Green.Grissell Hay Lodging House – ORIGINAL STRUCTURE – Dr. Peter Hay lived here in until his death in 1766, leaving steep debt. To make ends meet his widow, Grissell, took in lodgers until the late 1770s.Peyton Randolph House – for more than 50 years this was the home of Peyton Randolph, who was the first president of the Continental Congress. His father, Sir John Randolph (the only Colonial Virginian to be knighted) lived here until his death in 1737.Catherine Blaikley House – Mrs. Blaikley lived here 1736-1771. Her obit called her “an eminent midwife…who…brought upwards of three thousand children into the world”.John Blair House – ORIGINAL STRUCTURE – John Blair held a number of political positions between 1728 and 1771. His house is among the oldest in town. The right section dates 1720-1723, the left added in 1737.George Wythe House – mid-18th century home of George Wythe, tutor and friend of Thomas Jefferson, he was the first Law Professor at an American College, and the first signer of the Declaration of Independence. George Washington used the house as his headquarters in 1781 before the Siege of Yorktown.Out buildings at the George Wythe House.Elkanah Deane – Coachmaker Elkanah Deane purchased the property in 1772. He advertised that he could build and repair all types of coaches and carriages, as well as “paint and gild them to the best manner”.Shop of Kenneth McKenzie, ca. 1755.Governor’s Palace.Entrance foyer of the Governor’s Palace.Governor’s Palace Gardens.The Wren Building, College of William & Mary. The Brafferton – 1723 – College of William & Mary.President’s House – College of William & Mary. Statue of James Monroe – William & Mary alumnus, and 5th President of the US (1817-1825).
