College of William and Mary - Colonial Echo Yearbook (Williamsburg, VA)

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piyiMMjyiMMMMiMMMMi! Cfte Colonial Ccjbo, 1921 W5S ' -i - ' -i5A!Wi«gji3iSfiiSga35«rams Cfje Poor Debtors Prison Somewhat back from the village street stands the hum- ble little building which, time out of mind, has gone by this pathetic name. It was built in 1744 on what was then Market Square, and for ' ' ye commit- ment of Debtors, Criminals, and Offenders. Falling into increasing squalor and dilapi- dation, it was reclaimed and restored late in the eighteen nineties. The whirligig of Time brought to the Old Prison an amusing reversal of fortune. In Williamsburg ' s Days of Forty-Nine. Vi hen the Penni- man Plant crowded the old town, tourists rubbed their eyes to read over its gloomy portals the cheerful inscription : John Doe and Rich. rd Doe, Real Estate and Rentals. WALK RIGHT IN. Page 34 ' 3S '

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m Cjjr Coloninl OBrbo, 1921 ' 4 ©ttc of m mn Capitol First Capitol Building erect- ed in 1702; burned in 1746. Second Building erected in 1751, burned in 1832. The Monument, erected in 1897, bears this inscription : THE OLD CAPITOL Here Patrick Henry kin- dled the flames of revolution by his resolutions and speech astainst the Stamp Act, May 29-30, 1765. Here. March 12, 1773, Dab- ney Carr offered, and the House of Burgesses of Vir- ginia unanimously adopted, the resolutions to appoint a com- mittee to correspond with sim- ilar committees in the other colonies — the first step taken toward the union of the States. Here, May 15, 1776. the Con- vention of irginia, through resolutions drafted by Edmund Pendleton, offered by Thomas Nelson, Jr.. and advocated by Patrick Henry, unanimously called on Congress to declare the colonies free and indepen- dent States. Here, June 12, 1776, was adopted by the Convention the immortal work of George Ma- son — the Declaration of Rights — and on June 29. 1776. the first written constitution of a free and independent State ever framed. SS arr ( ' k;Vf] Page 23

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I 11 Cf)C Colonial Ccfto, 1921 i I ■ ;■ B;. p M J ousc Just to the north of Bruton, and facing east upon the Pal- ace Green, stands The Wythe House. erected in 1760; and falling, in the year before the Revolution, to the possession of the illustrious lawyer of that name, the Colonial Cap- ital ' s foremost citizen. Signer of the Declaration. Chancellor of the State of Virginia, first professor of law in the Col- lege, and repeatedly offered by President Washington the post of justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The old house was the scene of sumptuous hospitality, and its stout walls echoed the merry voices of the leaders of social life in the colony. Cy- nics have scoffed at the innum- erable houses claiming to have been Washington ' s Headquar- ters; but the old Wythe House can read its title clear to that distinction. If one have sufficient faith, he may, in the chilly October nights, in a certain room in this old mansion, in the big old four-post tester, hover- ing between sleeping and wak- ing, hear the stately footfall of the great commander, and see his serene features pass slowlv by. n i MfiSr ' marMrt Srs iTi ' tiis tie irt trtKtfiSr».trt -trtt Page 25