step into the past It’s a quiet morning in a colonial town in 1775 A farmer passes by on his way to bring his crops to Market Square Standing in the doorway of her shop a woman leans on her broom and watches children play marbles on the steps of the church A slave opens a window onto the street humming a tune The sound of marching feet carries through the spring air as soldiers practice their drills in the town square 4
Welcome to revolutionary Williamsburg In this place the world of 1775 lives on You can visit this place and see the past brought to life Today Williamsburg is a living history museum that lets us step back in time and learn what life was like more than two hundred years ago A Multicultural City At the time of the American Revolution half of Williamsburg’s residents were enslaved Blacks These slaves worked for white masters but they had families and traditions of their own Many new immigrants from Europe came through the bustling city too There were even Cherokee boys attending a school to civilize them When courts were in session the town was busy with people from all across the Virginia colony The village grew into a bustling center of government trade and culture In a reenactment Cherokee are trading with a colonial 5
an important city During the early 1600s many people left Great Britain to come to America In 1607 a group of British men and women settled in the Virginia colony The colony was ruled by Great Britain It was the first British colony in North America Jamestown was the first capital in the colony The Wren Building at the College of William Mary is the oldest college building in continuous use in the U S 6
Williamsburg grew into another important city in Virginia Originally a small village called Middle Plantation it was the home of the College of William Mary one of the first colleges in the colonies Some people thought the site would make a better capital than Jamestown Students at the College of William Mary made speeches saying their town should be the capital Soon the students got their wish In 1699 the main government building in Jamestown burned down Officials agreed to move the capitol building to higher ground instead of rebuilding The new capital was renamed Williamsburg after King William III of England The small town quickly grew into a busy center of government trade and culture One of the reasons the college students wanted to change the capital was because there were so many mosquitoes in Jamestown Those mosquitoes spread disease and made life unpleasant IT’S A FACT 7
