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

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Zbt Colonial OBcbo, 1921 8 i i IB CDe prcsiDcnrs Ipouse In 1732, one month after the dedication of the Old Chapel, the foundation of the Presi- dent ' s House was laid in the presence of a large concourse of towns-people, students, and gentry from the country. As the President wrote his Chan- cellor, the bishop of London: The Faculty laid the first five bricks in order opposite the Brafferton. » These two buildings will appear at a small distance from the East Front of the College, before which is a garden planted with Evergreens kept in very good order. In the months pre- ceding the Yorktown cam- paign, the President ' s House was occupied by Lord Corn- wallis but no damage was done by the British troops to either of the three buildings. In Oc- tober, after the surrender at Yorktown, French officers then occupying the house, it was badly damaged by fire, but re- stored by the ill-fated Louis XVI out of his own purse. »ft»i ' T »r »tr« r?» ia r «Kiy y»«vM « ■ ■ fiTifff lflriBr Page 21

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MMMyiMM i yi i MM M g CljE Colonisl BtiiO, 1021 5S 2DID 16raffc«on Built in 1723, as directed in the will of the Honorable Robert Boyle, eminent in the history of early English sci- ence, out of the proceeds of the sale of his Brafiferton estate in the North Riding of Yorkshire, the Brafferton started its career as a dormi- tory and school for chosen Indian youth of promise, who were to be kept in meat, drink, washing, clothes, medi- cine, books and education from the first beginning of letters till they should be ready to be sent abroad to convert the Indians. With the stoppage of the supply of indigenous material, the Brafiferton became the abode of pale-faces; but for more than a century, if one may judge by blood-curdling yells which periodically ema- nate from its historic walls, the spirit of the youthful braves has still hovered over the m ; and figures clad in war paint and tomahawk may un- der cover of darkness still be seen to steal forth from this, the original wigwam, taking the warpath in true Indian file. With the ruthless march of progress, room after room of the old Indian school is fall- ing to use as prosaic offices; but old Braffertonians of by- gone years will ever smile, and feel their hearts grow youth- ful again, as memories of High Jinks in the old build- ing come back to them. I I i i I I Page 20

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Ct)E Colonial dccbo, 1921 JMM M jimmi dtM j M ' !3riiton I atisft Cfturcf) The site of Bruton is near that of Old Middletown Church, which it superseded, and which dated from 1658 ; and its name was taken in compliment to the Governor Berkeley ' s native place in Somersetshire. The original building of Bruton was con- tracted to be erected for £150 and sixty pounds of good sound merchantable sweet-scented to- bacco, to be leveyed of each tythable in the parish for three years together. With the es- tablishment of the College, and the removal of the seat of government from Jamestown, Bruton became the Court Church of the Colony, the Cathedral Church of the Old Dominion. The present building was completed in 1714. With the Revolution, it fell on evil days. In the half century following, the interior was completely changed, all vestiges of hated royalty being stripped away. In 1906. the original arrange- ment and equipment of the in- terior was restored, all being in accordance with the origi- nal designed w ' hen Alexander Spotswood was royal governor. Between the College and Bruton, relations have ever been close. The students, re- gardless of church affiliations, have ever had an abiding af- fection and feeling of proprie- torship in Bruton, second only to that they fee! for the Col- lege itself. iB JS?i;fr iffr ' i? 1Sli7 iflyaifr 5S? ! Page 22