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'{{Infobox NRHP | name = Capitol | nrhp_type = nhldcp | partof = [[Williamsburg Historic District (Williamsburg, Virginia)|Williamsburg Historic District]] | partof_refnum = 66000925<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref> | image = Williamsburgcapitol.jpg | caption = Reconstruction of the first Capitol at Williamsburg | location= [[Williamsburg, Virginia]] | locmapin = Virginia | built = 1934, based on 1705 original | architecture = [[Colonial Revival]] | added = October 15, 1966 | governing_body = [[Colonial Williamsburg]] | refnum = }} The '''Capitol''' at [[Williamsburg, Virginia]] housed the [[House of Burgesses]] of the [[Colony of Virginia]] from 1705, when the capital was relocated there from [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]], until 1779, when the capital was relocated to [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]]. Two capitol buildings served the colony on the same site: the first from 1705 until its destruction by fire in 1747; the second from 1753 to 1779. The earlier capitol was reconstructed in the early 1930s as part of the restoration of [[Colonial Williamsburg]]. The reconstruction has thus lasted longer than the combined total of both original capitol buildings.<!--a total of 80 years as of February 2014--> ==History== ===First Williamsburg Capitol (1705–1747)=== In 1698, the Capitol building in [[Jamestown, Virginia]] burned. Following the fire, the government of Virginia decided to relocate inland, away from the swamps at the Jamestown site. A better Capitol building was constructed by [[Henry Cary, Jr.|Henry Cary]], a contractor finishing work on the College of William and Mary's [[Wren Building]] (the legislature's temporary home). Begun in 1701, the Capitol was completed in 1705, although the legislature moved in in 1704.<ref name="1985 Williamsburg Guidebook" /> In 1714, the [[Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Virginia)|Governor's Palace]] was constructed between the College and the Capitol. The Colonial Capitol was a two-story H-shaped structure, functionally two buildings connected by an arcade. Each wing served one of the two houses of the Virginia legislature, the [[Virginia Governor's Council|Council]] and the [[House of Burgesses]]. The first floor of the west building was for the General Court and the colony's secretary, the first floor of the east for the House of Burgesses and its clerk.<ref name="Buildings of Virginia">{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Richard Guy|title=Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=363–364}}</ref> As a result of the fires that had destroyed several prior Virginia capitols, Cary built the first Capitol without fireplaces. In 1723, chimneys were added for fireplaces to help keep the Capitol dry. On January 30, 1747, the building burned and only some walls and the foundation remained.<ref name="1985 Williamsburg Guidebook" /> DONT YOU KNOW THIS STUFF!!!! ===Second Williamsburg Capitol (1753–1779)=== [[File:Second Capitol at Williamsburg Virginia.jpg|thumb|1845 engraving based on then-surviving drawings of the second capitol at Williamsburg (viewed from Duke of Gloucester Street)]] Governor [[Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet|William Gooch]] urged that the Capitol be rebuilt, but many legislators preferred relocating the government to a city more accessible to trade and navigation. In the meantime, the burgesses met again at the nearby Wren Building. Finally, in November 1748, reconstruction of the Capitol was approved (by only two votes: 40 to 38). The burgesses met inside for the first time on November 1, 1753. In this building, [[Patrick Henry]] delivered his Caesar-Brutus speech against the [[Stamp Act]] on May 29, 1765. Henry, [[George Washington]], [[George Mason]], [[George Wythe]], [[Richard Henry Lee]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and others played parts in the legislative maneuvering that ended in revolution. As fighting began in the North, the building featured discussion concerning Mason's [[Virginia Declaration of Rights]], his Virginia constitution, and Jefferson's first attempt at a bill for religious freedom. On June 29, 1776, Virginians declared their independence from [[Great Britain]] and wrote the state's first constitution, thereby creating an independent government four days before Congress voted for the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] in Philadelphia on July 4. The Capitol at Williamsburg served until the [[American Revolutionary War]] began, when Governor Thomas Jefferson urged it that the capital be relocated to Richmond. The building was last used as a capitol on December 24, 1779, when the [[Virginia General Assembly]] adjourned to reconvene in 1780 at the new capital, Richmond. After the capital of Virginia was moved to [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] in 1780, the old Capitol was used by British forces. After the [[Siege of Yorktown|Battle of Yorktown]], and the surrender of [[Lord Cornwallis]], it fell into disrepair and was dismantled for its materials. ==Reconstruction== [[File:Colonial Williamsburg Capitol.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of the first Williamsburg capitol]] The building that stands now in [[Colonial Williamsburg]] is the third Capitol on that site. Early in the 20th century, the Reverend Dr. [[W. A. R. Goodwin]] undertook restoration of historic [[Bruton Parish Church]] (c. 1711) where he was rector. His dreams of restoring other buildings of the old colonial capital city led to his affiliation with [[Standard Oil]] heir and [[philanthropist]] [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.]] and the creation of [[Colonial Williamsburg]]. The reconstructed Capitol and [[Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Virginia)|Governor's Palace]] join the [[Wren Building]] of the [[College of William & Mary]] as the three main structures of the restoration. The architects charged with the restoration of Williamsburg chose to reconstruct the first capitol based on superior documentation of its design and its unique architecture compared to the second Capitol.<ref name="Buildings of Virginia" /><ref name="1985 Williamsburg Guidebook">{{cite book|last=Olmert|first=Michael|title=Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg|year=1985|publisher=Colonial Williamsburg Foundation|isbn=0-87935-111-X|pages=52–61}}</ref> Later architectural historians have since shown that parts of the reconstruction were embellished or conjectural, being based more on contemporary architectural ideas than actual historic evidence (chiefly foundations.) However, the reconstructed Capitol is now itself valued as a [[Colonial Revival]] interpretation and work of architecture.<ref name="Buildings of Virginia" /> The reconstruction opened to the public on February 24, 1934.<ref>{{cite book|last=Greenspan|first=Anderson|title=Creating Colonial Williamsburg: The Restoration of Virginia's Eighteenth-Century Capital|date=2009|isbn=978-0-8078-3343-8|publisher=The University of North Carolina Press|location=Chapel Hill|pages=38-39|edition=2nd}}</ref> ==See also== *[[Virginia State Capitol]] (Richmond) ==References== {{Reflist}} == External links == {{Commons category}} *[http://www.history.org/Almanack/places/hb/hbcap.cfm Colonial Williamsburg, Capitol web page] {{coord|37.271258|-76.69329|region:US_type:landmark|display=title}} {{Colonial Williamsburg}} [[Category:Landmarks in Virginia|Capitol]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Williamsburg, Virginia]] [[Category:Government buildings completed in 1705]] [[Category:Former state capitols in the United States|Virginia]] [[Category:Colonial Williamsburg]] [[Category:Visitor attractions in Williamsburg, Virginia]] [[Category:Historic district contributing properties in Virginia]]'