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

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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JMM M jimmi dtM j M ' !3riiton I atisft Cfturcf) The site of Bruton is near that of Old Middletown Church, which it superseded, and which dated from 1658 ; and its name was taken in compliment to the Governor Berkeley ' s native place in Somersetshire.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

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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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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