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83-596: Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia . Its 301-acre (122 ha) historic area includes several hundred restored or recreated buildings from the 18th century, when the city was the capital of the Colony of Virginia ; 17th-century, 19th-century, and Colonial Revival structures; and more recent reconstructions. The historic area includes three main thoroughfares and their connecting side streets that attempt to suggest

166-449: A body of material that had long been dismissed as homespun craft to a nationally-recognized and highly-regarded form of American art." The original building opened in May 1957, with Mitchell Wilder as Director, and was expanded in 1992 before being moved and expanded again in 2007, each time to accommodate its growing collection. Abby Rockefeller's collection of 424 pieces became the basis of

249-577: A chapel at Toano . He had maintained his Williamsburg ties, periodically visiting the graves of his first wife and their son, using William & Mary's library for historical research, and vacationing. He saw the ongoing deterioration of colonial-era buildings. He renewed his connections with the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, whose membership included prominent and wealthy Virginians, and he helped to protect and repair

332-647: A collection that now includes more than 7,000 folk art pieces dating from the 1720s to the present. A further expansion at its current location is projected to open in 2019. Having opened originally as the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection (AARFAC), the facility changed names in 1977 to the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center (AARFAC) and again in 2000 to Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum . Now co-located with

415-634: A different time and place and perform everyday household tasks, crafts, and occupations. The goal is to demonstrate older lifestyles and pursuits to modern audiences. Household tasks might include cooking on an open hearth , churning butter , spinning wool and weaving , and farming without modern equipment. Many living museums feature traditional craftsmen at work, such as a blacksmith , pewtersmith , silversmith , weaver , tanner , armorer , cooper , potter , miller , sawyer , cabinet-maker , woodcarver , printer , doctor, and general storekeeper . The North American open-air museum, more commonly called

498-604: A living-history museum, had a different, slightly later origin than the European, and the visitor experience is different. The first was Henry Ford 's Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan (1928), where Ford intended his collection to be "a pocket edition of America". Colonial Williamsburg (opened in 1934), though, had a greater influence on museum development in North America. It influenced such projects through

581-468: A new more accessible, street-level entrance on Nassau Street. The 424 objects, collected by Abby Rockefeller between 1929 and 1942 remain the core of the collection, however the museum has grown into containing more than 3,000 objects today. The first year after its opening the museum came to include, besides Rockefeller's collection, works assembled by J. Stuart Halladay and Herrell Thomas, Holger Cahill , Edith Gregor Halpert, and John Law Robertson. Now

664-723: A printing shop, a shoemaker, a blacksmith, a cooperage , a cabinetmaker, a gunsmith, a wigmaker, and a silversmith. There are merchants selling tourist souvenirs, books, reproduction toys, pewterware, pottery, scented soap, etc. Some houses are open to tourists, including the Peyton Randolph House, the Geddy House , the Wythe House, and the Everard House , as are such public buildings as the Courthouse,

747-530: A son of Abby and John D. Rockeller Jr., was a frequent visitor and was particularly fond of Carter's Grove in the late 1960s. He became aware of some expansion plans elsewhere on the Peninsula of his St. Louis -based neighbor, August Anheuser Busch, Jr. , head of Anheuser-Busch . By the time Rockefeller and Busch completed their discussions, the biggest changes in the Williamsburg area were underway since

830-461: Is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings". In the loosest sense, an open-air museum is any institution that includes one or more buildings in its collections, including farm museums, historic house museums , and archaeological open-air museums . Mostly, "open-air museum" is applied to a museum that specializes in the collection and re-erection of multiple old buildings at large outdoor sites, usually in settings of recreated landscapes of

913-426: Is a 1930s beaux arts approximation of the 1705 building at the east end of the historic area. It was designed by the architectural firm Perry, Shaw & Hepburn , who had it rebuilt as they thought it should have been, not as it was, despite objections and archaeological evidence to the contrary. The modern reconstruction is off-center, its floorplan is skewed, and its interior is overly elaborate. The 1705 original

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996-723: The Courthouse , the Wythe House , the Peyton Randolph House , the Magazine, and the independently owned and functioning Bruton Parish Church (all originals). Colonial Williamsburg's portion of the historic area begins east of the College of William & Mary 's College Yard. Four taverns have been reconstructed for use as restaurants and two for inns. There are craftsmen's workshops for period trades, including

1079-652: The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum , both collections retain their respective names — and are together known as the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. After collecting a formative group of American folk art pieces under the advisement of consultants and art dealers, art patron Abby Aldrich Rockefeller anonymously loaned part of her folk art collection to the Museum of Modern Art exhibition American Folk Art: The Art of

1162-604: The Ludwell–Paradise House in Williamsburg. Four years later, she donated the collection to Colonial Williamsburg, where it remained in the Ludwell-Paradise House until 1956. In 1956, after the 1948 death of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and two years after her husband announced he would endow a Williamsburg museum bearing the Rockefeller name, their son David Rockefeller augmented the collection at

1245-746: The Revolutionary City programs. The Visitor Center near the Colonial Parkway features a short film, Williamsburg: the Story of a Patriot , which debuted in 1957. Visitors may park at the Visitor's Center, as automobiles are restricted from the restored area. Wheelchair-accessible shuttle bus service is provided to stops around the perimeter of the Historic District of Williamsburg, as well as Jamestown and Yorktown, during

1328-674: The Second Continental Congress to propose national independence. Its likeness only exists in a period woodcut and in architectural renderings considered but shelved by the Restoration. The present building was dedicated with a ceremonial meeting of the Virginia General Assembly on February 24, 1934. Virginia's state legislators have reassembled for a day every other year in the Capitol. Of

1411-525: The malaria and the mosquitoes at the Jamestown Island site. Interested Middle Plantation landowners donated some of their holdings to advance the plan. Middle Plantation was renamed Williamsburg by Governor Francis Nicholson in honor of William III of England . Nicholson said that "clear and crystal springs burst from the champagne soil" of Williamsburg. He had the city surveyed and a grid laid out by Theodorick Bland taking into consideration

1494-538: The 1600s, but it burned on October 20, 1698. The legislators consequently moved their meetings to the College of William & Mary in Virginia at Middle Plantation , putting an end to Jamestown's 92-year history as Virginia's capital. In 1699, a group of College of William & Mary students delivered addresses during graduation exercises endorsing proposals to move the capital to Middle Plantation, ostensibly to escape

1577-553: The 18th-century practice of using fireworks to celebrate significant occasions. In the 1990s, Colonial Williamsburg implemented the Teaching Institute in Early American History, and Electronic Field Trips. Designed for elementary and middle/high school teachers, the institute offers workshops for educators to meet with historians, character interpreters, and to prepare instructional materials for use in

1660-467: The 18th-century setting. At the same time, this preserves the natural environment around Queen's Creek and protects a significant archaeological site. It is a tangible and important example of how the Foundation is protecting the vital greenbelt surrounding Colonial Williamsburg's historic area for future generations". The Colonial Parkway, which includes a tunnel running beneath the historic area,

1743-603: The AARFAM left the South English Street building and co-located the growing folk art collection with the nearby DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum — on Francis St. between Nassau and South Henry Streets, near Merchants Square . There, the collection occupied an expansion of 10,400 square feet of exhibition space with 11 galleries, entered via a notably circuitous arrival sequence beneath Colonial Williamsburg's adjacent Public Hospital of 1773 building. With

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1826-586: The AARFAM's relocation, the original building (with its oval garden) and the 1992 addition (with its fountain garden) became associated with the Spa of Colonial Williamsburg . The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation announced in 2014 a $ 40 million addition to the Dewitt Wallace/Abby Aldrich structure to break ground in April 2017 and open in 2019 — to include a new 65,000sf wing and to feature

1909-803: The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (now called Preservation Virginia ), the Colonial Dames of America , the Daughters of the Confederacy , the Chamber of Commerce, and other organizations; and John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller . Along with Jamestown and Yorktown , and the Colonial Parkway , Colonial Williamsburg is part of the Historic Triangle in Virginia, The site

1992-481: The Bruton Parish Church that was riven by factions. He helped harmonize the congregation and assumed leadership of a flagging campaign to restore the 1711 church building. Goodwin and New York ecclesiastical architect J. Stewart Barney completed the church restoration in time for the 300th anniversary of the founding of America's Anglican Church at nearby Jamestown, Virginia , in 1907. Goodwin traveled

2075-844: The Capitol, the Magazine, the Public Hospital, and the Public Gaol . Former notorious inmates of the Gaol include pirate Blackbeard 's crew who were kept there while they awaited trial. Colonial Williamsburg operations extend to Merchants Square , a Colonial Revival commercial area designated a historic district in its own right. Nearby are the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum and DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum , operated by Colonial Williamsburg as part of its curatorial efforts. The Jamestown statehouse housed Virginia's government in

2158-570: The Common Man in America, 1750–1900 which ran from November 30, 1932, through January 14, 1933 in New York. The exhibition would later tour six US cities, and in 2017, Antiques Magazine wrote that "whether or not there was unanimous agreement on the importance of folk art in that story, the category could no longer be ignored." In 1935 Rockefeller loaned part of her folk art collection to

2241-555: The Dames of Colonial America to invest. He eventually obtained the support and financial commitment of John D. Rockefeller Jr. , the wealthy son of the founder of Standard Oil . Rockefeller's wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller also played a role. Goodwin returned to the Bruton Parish pulpit in 1926, keeping his college positions. Rockefeller's first investment in a Williamsburg house had been a contribution to Goodwin's acquisition of

2324-757: The East Coast raising money for the project and establishing philanthropic contacts. Among the 1907 anniversary guests was J. P. Morgan , president of the Episcopal church's General Convention meeting that year in Richmond. Goodwin accepted a call from wealthy St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Rochester, New York in 1908, and pastored there until his return in 1923 to Williamsburg to become a College of William & Mary fund-raiser and religious studies professor, as well as pastor of Yorktown 's Episcopal church and

2407-515: The Future: Colonial Williamsburg's Animals , explains the importance of, as well as details how interpreters are a part, of this program. Colonial Williamsburg is a partly pet-friendly destination. Leashed pets are permitted in specific outdoor areas and may be taken on shuttle buses, but are not permitted in buildings except the visitor center. The Grand Illumination is an outdoor ceremony and mass celebration involving

2490-499: The George Wythe House for next-door Bruton Church's parish house. Rockefeller's second investment was the purchase of the Ludwell–Paradise House in early 1927. Goodwin persuaded him to buy it on behalf of the college for housing in the event that Rockefeller should decide to restore the town. Rockefeller had agreed to pay for college restoration plans and drawings. He later considered limiting his restoration involvement to

2573-783: The Kingsmill planned resort community, and McLaws Circle, an office park. Anheuser-Busch and related entities from that development plan comprise the area's largest employment base, surpassing both Colonial Williamsburg and the local military bases. With its historic significance to American democracy , it and the surrounding area was the site of a summit meeting of world leaders, the first World Economic Conference in 1983, and hosted visiting royalty, including King Hussein of Jordan and Emperor Hirohito of Japan. Queen Elizabeth II paid two royal visits to Williamsburg during her reign, once in October 1957 and again, in May 2007, both to celebrate

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2656-643: The Ludwell-Paradise House with another 54 folk art objects his mother had donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art . The collection remained open to the public at the Ludwell Paradise House until January 1, 1956." In conceiving a new location for the collection, the Rockefellers had worked with pioneer collector in the field of American decorative arts and folk art, Nina Fletcher Little who in

2739-540: The Magazine. He and other William & Mary professors saved the John Blair House from demolition to make way for a gasoline station, and they turned it into a faculty club. In 1924, the college launched a building and fund-raising drive, and Goodwin adopted Barney's proposal for saving other houses in the historic section of the town for use as student and faculty housing. He worked for two years to interest individuals such as Henry Ford and organizations such as

2822-646: The Nordic Museum. Skansen, opened to the public in 1891, was a more ambitious undertaking, including farm buildings from across Sweden , folk costumes, live animals, folk music, and demonstrations of folk crafts. The second open-air museum in the world to open its doors was also in Sweden: Kulturen in Lund in 1892 . In 1894 the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History ( Norsk Folkemuseum )

2905-544: The UK), Colonial Williamsburg is unusual for having been constructed from a living town whose inhabitants and post-Colonial-era buildings were removed. Also unlike other living history museums, Colonial Williamsburg allows anyone to walk through the historic district free of charge, at any hour of the day. Charges apply only to those visitors who wish to enter the historic buildings to see arts and crafts demonstrations during daylight hours, or attend scheduled outdoor performances such as

2988-477: The Visitor's Center. In addition to considerations regarding highway travel, Williamsburg's brick Chesapeake and Ohio Railway passenger station was less than 20 years old and one of the newer ones along the rail line, it was replaced with a larger station in Colonial style that was located just out of sight and within walking distance of the historic area, on the northern edge of Peacock Hill . Farther afield

3071-591: The anniversaries of the founding of nearby Jamestown . Colonial Williamsburg is an open-air assemblage of buildings populated with historical reenactors (interpreters) who explain and demonstrate aspects of daily life in the past. The reenactors work, dress, and talk as they would have in colonial times. While there are many living history museums (such as Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts , Old Salem in Winston-Salem , or Castell Henllys in

3154-456: The approximately 500 buildings reconstructed or restored, 88 are labelled original. They include outbuildings such as smokehouses, privies, and sheds. The foundation reconstructed the Capitol and Governor's Palace on their 18th-century foundations and preserved some below-ground 18th-century brickwork, classifying them as reconstructions. It rebuilt William & Mary's Wren Building on its original foundation, which burned four times in 230 years and

3237-562: The asylum supported the "500 Lazies" of the college and town. Colonial-era buildings were modified, modernized, neglected, or destroyed. Development that accompanied construction of a World War I gun cotton plant at nearby Penniman and the coming of the automobile blighted the community, but the town kept its appeal to tourists. By the early 20th century, many older structures were in poor condition, no longer in use, or were occupied by squatters. The Reverend Dr. W. A. R. Goodwin became rector of Williamsburg's Bruton Parish Church in 1903 for

3320-529: The atmosphere and the circumstances of 18th-century Americans. Costumed employees work and dress as people did in the era, sometimes using colonial grammar and diction. In the late 1920s, the restoration of colonial Williamsburg was championed as a way to celebrate patriots and the early history of the United States. Proponents included the Reverend Dr. W. A. R. Goodwin and other community leaders;

3403-409: The brick College Building and the then decaying Bruton Parish Church buildings. The grid seems to have obliterated all but the remnants of an earlier plan that laid out the streets in the monogram of William and Mary , a W superimposed on an M. The main street was named Duke of Gloucester after the eldest son of Queen Anne . Nicholson named the street north of it Nicholson Street, for himself, and

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3486-441: The classroom. Electronic Field Trips are a series of multimedia classroom presentations available to schools. Each program is designed around a particular topic in history and includes a lesson plan as well as classroom and online activities. Monthly live broadcasts on local PBS television stations allow participating classes to interact with historical interpreters via telephone or internet. Living-history museum Open air

3569-479: The college and an exhibition enclave, and he did not commit to the town's large scale restoration until November 22, 1927. Rockefeller and Goodwin initially kept their acquisition plans secret because they were concerned that prices might rise if their purposes were known, quietly buying houses and lots and taking deeds in blank. Goodwin took Williamsburg attorney Vernon M. Geddy, Sr. into his confidence, without exposing Rockefeller as silent partner. Geddy did much of

3652-541: The continent as Mystic Seaport , Plimoth Patuxet (formerly Plimoth Plantation), and Fortress Louisbourg . The approach to interpretation tends to differentiate the North American from the European model. In Europe, the tendency is to usually focus on the buildings. In North America, many open-air museums include interpreters who dress in period costume and conduct period crafts and everyday work. The living museum is, therefore, viewed as an attempt to recreate to

3735-488: The darker aspects of the American past (e.g., slavery and other forms of injustice). Even before such critiques were published, sites such as Williamsburg and others had begun to add more interpretation of difficult history. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum (AARFAM) is the United States' first and the world's oldest continually operated museum dedicated to

3818-411: The day, in favor of pedestrians, bicyclists, joggers, dog walkers, and animal-drawn vehicles. Surviving colonial structures have been restored as close as possible to their 18th-century appearance, with traces removed of later buildings and improvements. Many of the once missing colonial structures were reconstructed on their original sites beginning in the 1930s. Animals, gardens, and dependencies add to

3901-443: The early 1950s suggested "the ceilings be lowered and the interior become a series of domestic-scaled spaces. She did the first research on the collection, made attributions of paintings, and wrote the first catalogue of the collection." The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection opened in May 1957 in a new two-story, purpose-built Georgian/Federal Revival brick building with a prominent oval garden — located just outside

3984-589: The environment, such as kitchens, smokehouses, and privies. Some buildings and most gardens are open to tourists, with the exception of buildings serving as residences for Colonial Williamsburg employees, large donors, the occasional city official, and sometimes College of William & Mary associates. Prominent buildings include the Raleigh Tavern , the Capitol , the Governor's Palace (all reconstructed),

4067-557: The first of two periods. He was born in 1869 at Richmond to a Confederate veteran and his well-to-do wife and reared in rural Nelson County at Norwood. He was educated at Roanoke College , the University of Virginia , the University of Richmond , and the Virginia Theological Seminary . He first visited Williamsburg as a seminarian sent to recruit William & Mary students. He became rector at age 34 of

4150-454: The founding of Williamsburg, occupation by British forces, or visits from Colonial leaders of the day, including General George Washington . Some of the costumed interpreters work with animals. The Colonial Williamsburg Rare Breed Program helps to preserve and showcase animals that would have been present during the colonial period. John P. Hunter's book on the topic, Link to the Past, Bridge to

4233-508: The fullest extent conditions of a culture , natural environment , or historical period . The objective is immersion, using exhibits so that visitors can experience the specific culture, environment or historical period using the physical senses. Performance and historiographic practices at American living museums have been critiqued in the past several years by scholars in anthropology and theater for creating false senses of authenticity and accuracy, and for neglecting to bear witness to some of

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4316-578: The historic district of Colonial Williamsburg at South England Street, adjacent to the Williamsburg Inn . At this time (1957), the Ludwell-Paradise House, despite being the original real estate purchase by John Rockefeller to create Colonial Williamsburg, became a private residence." In 1992, the museum inaugurated a 19,000-square-foot single-story brick addition featuring a prominent planted wood and brick pergola and an adjoining fountain garden, designed by architects Roche-Dinkeloo . In 2007,

4399-652: The history of everyday living by people from all segments of society. The idea of the open-air museum dates to the 1790s. The first proponent of the idea was the Swiss thinker Charles de Bonstetten , and was based on a visit to an exhibit of sculptures of Norwegian peasants in native costumes in the park of Fredensborg Palace in Denmark ,"Valley of the Norsemen". He believed that traditional peasant houses should be preserved against modernity, but failed to attract support for

4482-713: The idea. The first major steps towards the creation of open-air museums was taken in Swedish union ruled Norway in 1881, when the Swedish union King Oscar II transferred four historic farm buildings and the stave church from Gol to the royal manor at Bygdøy near Oslo (Christiania) for public viewing. This, in turn, in 1884 and 1885 inspired Artur Hazelius , founder of the Nordic Museum in Stockholm , to establish his own open-air museum Skansen , adjacent to

4565-407: The last to be forced out was a locally popular drugstore complete with lunch counter. Beginning in the earliest period of the restoration, Colonial Williamsburg acquired acreage in Williamsburg and the two counties which adjoin it, notably to the north and east of the historic area to preserve natural views and facilitate the experience of as much of the late 18th-century environment as possible. This

4648-642: The museum contains works of portraiture, Southern and African American folk art, sculpture, fraktur , and textiles. It includes representative works of well renowned artists, such as Eddie Arning , Wilhelm Schimmel , Erastus Salisbury Field , Edward Hicks , Lewis Miller , Albert Hoffman , Louis Joseph Bahin and Ammi Phillips . Various exhibitions of the museum regarded 18th and 19th-century painters such as Zedekiah Belknapp, James Sanforth Elsworth, and Asabel Lynde Powers. The museum includes notable 18th-century watercolor paintings such as The Old Plantation , by South Carolina slave owner John Rose. One of

4731-447: The needs of the new United States. The government moved to Richmond on the James River in 1780, under the leadership of Governor Thomas Jefferson, to be more central and accessible from western counties and less susceptible to British attack. There it remains today. With the seat of government removed, Williamsburg's businesses floundered or migrated to Richmond, and the city entered a long, slow period of stagnation and decay, although

4814-449: The one south of it Francis Street. For 81 years of the 18th century, Williamsburg was the center of government, education, and culture in the Colony of Virginia . George Washington , Thomas Jefferson , Patrick Henry , James Monroe , James Madison , George Wythe , Peyton Randolph , Richard Henry Lee , and others furthered the forms of British government in the Commonwealth of Virginia and later helped adapt its preferred features to

4897-446: The opening of the first town museum, The Old Town in Aarhus , Denmark , in 1914, town culture has also become a scope of open-air museums. In many cases, new town quarters are being constructed in existing rural culture museums. Living-history museums, including living-farm museums and living museums , are open-air museums where costumed interpreters portray period life in an earlier era. The interpreters act as if they are living in

4980-404: The past, and often including living history . Such institutions may, therefore, be described as building museums. European open-air museums tended to be sited originally in regions where wooden architecture prevailed, as wooden structures may be translocated without substantial loss of authenticity. Common to all open-air museums, including the earliest ones of the 19th century, is the teaching of

5063-624: The peak summer season. The costumed interpreters have not always worn Colonial dress. As an experiment in anticipation of the Bicentennial , in summer 1973 the hostesses were dressed in special red, white, and blue polyester knit pantsuits. This confused and disappointed visitors, so the experiment was dropped at the end of summer, and for the Bicentennial, docents wore historical costumes. Many reenactments by Colonial Williamsburg's historical interpreters wearing period costumes are posted online. In addition to simple period reenactments, Colonial Williamsburg, at various times, features themes, including

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5146-440: The position of a butterfly pinned to a card in a glass cabinet, or like a mummy unearthed in the tomb of Tutankhamun ?" To gain the cooperation of people reluctant to sell their homes to the Rockefeller organization, the restoration offered free life tenancies and maintenance in exchange for ownership. Freeman sold his house outright and moved to Virginia's Middle Peninsula . Rockefeller management decided against giving custody of

5229-423: The preservation, collection, and exhibition of American folk art . Located just outside the historic boundary of Colonial Williamsburg , Virginia , AARFAM was founded with a collection donated by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and an endowment from her widower, John D. Rockefeller Jr. , heir to the Standard Oil fortune and co-founder of Colonial Williamsburg . With her seminal collection, Abby Rockefeller "elevated

5312-429: The project remained keen. Colonial Williamsburg dedicated its headquarters in 1940, naming it The Goodwin Building. About 30 years later, when Interstate 64 was planned and built in the 1960s and early 1970s, from the designated "Colonial Williamsburg" exit, the additional land along Merrimack Trail to Route 132 was similarly protected from development. Today, visitors encounter no commercial properties before they reach

5395-403: The project to the state-run college, ostensibly to avoid political control by Virginia's Democratic Byrd Machine , but they restored the school's Wren Building , Brafferton House , and President's House. Colonial Williamsburg pursued a program of partial re-creation of some of the rest of the town. It featured shops, taverns, and open-air markets in a colonial style. The first lead architect in

5478-484: The project was William G. Perry of Perry, Shaw & Hepburn , with Arthur Asahel Shurcliff as the chief landscape architect. An Advisory Board of Architects was selected to provide guidance for the project. Prominent architects who served on the advisory board included Robert P. Bellows, Fiske Kimball , A. Lawrence Kocher , Philip N. Stern, Merril C. Lee, W. Duncan Lee , Marcellus E. Wright Sr. , Edmund S. Campbell, Orin M. Bullock Jr. , and R. E. Lee Taylor. During

5561-402: The remains of 1620s Wolstenholme Towne , a downriver outpost of Jamestown. The Winthrop Rockefeller Archaeology Museum, built just above the site, showcased artifacts from the dig. Colonial Williamsburg operated Carter's Grove until 2003 as a satellite facility of Colonial Williamsburg, with interpretive programs. The property has since been sold. Between Carter's Grove and the Historic District

5644-403: The restoration began 40 years before. Among the goals were to complement Colonial Williamsburg attractions and enhance the local economy. The large tract consisting primarily of the Kingsmill land was sold by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to Anheuser-Busch for planned development. The Anheuser-Busch investment included building a large brewery, the Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park,

5727-485: The restoration, the project demolished 720 buildings that postdated 1790, many of which dated from the 19th century. Some decrepit 18th-century homes were demolished, leading to some controversy. The Governor's Palace and the Capitol building were reconstructed on their sites with the aid of period illustrations, written descriptions, early photographs, and informed guesswork. The grounds and gardens were almost all recreated in authentic Colonial Revival style. The Capitol

5810-468: The simultaneous activation of thousands of Christmas lights each year on the first Sunday of December. The ceremony, Goodwin's idea, began in 1935, loosely based on a colonial (and English) tradition of placing lighted candles in the windows of homes and public buildings to celebrate a special event, such as the winning of a war or the birthday of the reigning monarch. The Grand Illumination also has incorporated extravagant fireworks displays, loosely based on

5893-527: The title research and legal work related to properties in what became the restored area. He later drafted the Virginia corporate papers for the project, filed them with the Virginia State Corporation Commission , and served briefly as the first president of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. That much property changing hands was noticed by newspaper reporters. After 18 months of increasingly excited rumors, Goodwin and Rockefeller revealed their plans at county and town meetings on June 11 and 12, 1928. The purpose

5976-536: The town maintained much of its 18th-century aspect. It was captured by General George McClellan in 1862 and garrisoned during the Civil War , so the town escaped the devastation experienced by other Southern cities. Williamsburg relied for jobs on The College of William & Mary, the Courthouse, and the Eastern Lunatic Asylum (now Eastern State Hospital ); it was said that the "500 Crazies" of

6059-458: Was Carter's Grove Plantation . It was begun by a grandson of wealthy planter Robert "King" Carter . For over 200 years, it had gone through a succession of owners and modifications. In the 1960s after the death of its last resident, Ms. Molly McRae, Carter's Grove Plantation came under the control of Winthrop Rockefeller 's Sealantic Foundation, which gave it to Colonial Williamsburg as a gift. Archaeologist Ivor Noel Hume discovered in its grounds

6142-524: Was an H-shaped brick statehouse with double- apsed , oarsmen-circular southern facades, but it burned in the 1740s and was replaced by an H-shaped rectangular edifice. In the second building, Patrick Henry protested against the Stamp Act and first spoke against King George. George Mason introduced the Virginia Bill of Rights there, and from it Virginia's government instructed its delegates to

6225-469: Was described as a "rural, wooded sense of arrival" along corridors to the historic area. In 2006, announcing a conservation easement on acreage north of the Visitor Center, Colonial Williamsburg President and Chairman Colin G. Campbell said its restrictions protected the view and preserved other features: "This viewshed helps to set the stage for visitors in their journey from modern day life into

6308-490: Was founded in Oslo by Hans Aall , inspired by Skansen. Aall bought a large tract of land adjacent to King Oscar's royal collections, probably with a merger between them in mind. The open-air Norsk Folkemuseum was opened at Bygdøy in 1902. In 1907 the royal collections were incorporated after the death of King Oscar and the dissolution of the union with Sweden . Most open-air museums concentrate on rural culture. However, since

6391-421: Was instrumental in such efforts. Nevertheless, some in the Rockefeller organization, regarding him as meddlesome, gradually pushed Goodwin to the periphery of the Restoration and by the time of his death in 1939 Colonial Williamsburg's administrator, Kenneth Chorley of New York, was indiscreetly at loggerheads with the local reverend. Goodwin's relationship with Rockefeller remained warm, however, and his interest in

6474-402: Was much modified; it saved some above-ground brickwork and classified the result as original. On the western side of the city, beginning in the 1930s, retail shops were grouped under the name Merchants Square to accommodate and mollify displaced local merchants. Increasing rents and tourist-driven businesses eventually drove out all the old-line community enterprises except a dress shop. One of

6557-527: Was once used for conferences by world leaders and heads of state. In 1960, it was designated a National Historic Landmark District . The core of Colonial Williamsburg runs along Duke of Gloucester Street and the Palace Green that extends north and south perpendicular to it. This area is largely flat, with ravines and streams branching off on the periphery. Duke of Gloucester Street and other historic area thoroughfares are closed to motorized vehicles during

6640-563: Was planned and built through farmland and woods about a mile north of town. Shortly thereafter, when Route 143 was built as the Merrimack Trail (originally designated State Route 168) in the 1930s, the protected vista was extended along Route 132 in York County to the new road, and two new bridges were built across Queen's Creek . Goodwin, who served as a liaison with the community, as well as with state and local officials,

6723-418: Was planned and is maintained to reduce modern intrusions. Near the principal planned roadway approach to Colonial Williamsburg, similar design priorities were employed for the relocated U.S. Route 60 near the intersection of Bypass Road and North Henry Street. Prior to the restoration, U.S. Route 60 ran down Duke of Gloucester Street through town. To shift the traffic away from the historic area, Bypass Road

6806-427: Was the largely vacant Kingsmill tract, as well as a small military outpost of Fort Eustis known as Camp Wallace (CW). In the mid-1960s, CW owned land that extended from the historic district to Skiffe's Creek , at the edge of Newport News near Lee Hall . Distant from the historic area and not along the protected sight paths, it was developed in the early 1970s, under CW Chairman Winthrop Rockefeller. Rockefeller,

6889-458: Was to obtain the consent of the citizens and enlist them in the project. The restoration project required a new high school and two public greens. The city retained ownership of its streets, an arrangement that forestalled later proposals to raise revenue by charging an admission fee. Some townsmen had qualms. Major S. D. Freeman, retired Army officer and school board president, said, "We will reap dollars, but will we own our town? Will you not be in

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