Middle Plantation (Virginia)

Middle Plantation Williamsburg (after 1699)
Fort and Town
Wren Building of the College of William & Mary in downtown Williamsburg
Location in Virginia
Coordinates: 37°16′15″N 76°42′27″W / 37.2707°N 76.7075°W / 37.2707; -76.7075
Present Country	United States of America
State	Virginia
Established	1632
Renamed	1699
Named for	King William III of England (Williamsburg)

Middle Plantation in the Virginia Colony was the unincorporated town established in 1632 that became Williamsburg in 1699. It was located on high ground about halfway across the Virginia Peninsula between the James River and York River. Middle Plantation represented the first major inland settlement for the colony. It was established by an Act of Assembly to provide a link between Jamestown and Chiskiack, a settlement located across the Peninsula on the York River.

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Hi I’m John Green, this is Crash Course US History and today we're going to tell the story of how a group of plucky English people struck a blow for religious freedom and founded the greatest, freest and fattest nation the world has ever seen. These Brits entered a barren land containing no people and quickly invented the automobile, baseball and Star Trek and we all lived happily ever after. Mr. Green, Mr. Green, if it is really that simple, I am so getting an A in this class. Oh, me from the past, you're just a delight. [INTRO] So most Americans grew up hearing that the United States was founded by pasty English people who came here to escape religious persecution, and that's true of the small proportion of people who settled in the Massachusetts Bay and created what we now know is New England. But these Pilgrims and Puritans, there's a difference, weren’t the first people or even the first Europeans to come to the only part of the globe we didn't paint over. In fact they weren’t the first English people. The first English people came to Virginia. Off topic but how weird is it that the first permanent English colony in the Americas was named not for Queen Elizabeth’s epicness but for her supposedly chastity. Right anyway, those first English settlers weren't looking for religious freedom, they wanted to get rich. The first successful English colony in America was founded in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. I say "successful" because there were two previous attempts to colonize the region. They were both epic failures. The more famous of which was the colony of Roanoke Island set up by Sir Walter Raleigh which is famous because all the colonists disappeared leaving only the word Croatoan on carved into a tree. Jamestown was a project of the Virginia Company which existed to make money for its investors, something it never did. The hope was that they would find gold in the Chesapeake region like the Spanish had in South America, so there were a disproportionate number of goldsmiths and jewelers there to fancy up that gold which of course did not exist. Anyway, it turns out that jewelers dislike farming so much so that Captain John Smith who soon took over control of the island once said that they would rather starve than farm. So in the first year, half of the colonists died. Four hundred replacements came, but, by 1610, after a gruesome winter called the starving time, the number of colonists had dwindled to sixty-five. And eventually word got out that the new world’s one-year survival rate was like twenty percent and it became harder to find new colonists. But 1618, a Virginia company hit upon a recruiting strategy called the head right system which offered fifty acres of land for each person that a settler paid to bring over, and this enabled the creation of a number of large estates which were mostly worked on and populated by indentured servants. Indentured servants weren't quite slaves, but they were kind of temporary slaves, like they could be bought and sold and they had to do what their masters commanded. But after seven to ten years of that, if they weren't dead, they were paid their freedom dues which they hoped would allow them to buy farms of their own. Sometimes that worked out, but often either the money wasn't enough to buy a farm or else they were too dead to collect it. Even more ominously in 1619, just twelve years after the founding of Jamestown the first shipment of African slaves arrived in Virginia. So the colony probably would have continued to struggle along if they hadn't found something that people really loved: tobacco. Tobacco had been grown in Mexico since at least 1000 BCE, but the Europeans had never seen it and it proved to be kind of a "thank you for the small pox; here's some lung cancer” gift from the natives. Interestingly King James hated smoking. He called it “a custom loathsome to the eye and hateful to the nose" but he loved him some tax revenue, and nothing sells like drugs. By 1624 Virginia was producing more than 200,000 pounds of tobacco per year. By the 1680s, more than 30 million pounds per year. Tobacco was so profitable the colonists created huge plantations with very little in the way of towns or infrastructure to hold the social order together, a strategy that always works out brilliantly. The industry also structured Virginian society. First off, most of the people who came in the 17th century, three-quarters of them were servants .So Virginia to give a microcosm of England: a small class of wealthy landowners sitting atop a mass of servants. That sounds kind of dirty but it was mostly just sad. The society was also overwhelmingly male; because male servants were more useful in the tobacco fields, they were the greatest proportion of immigrants. In fact they outnumbered women five to one. The women who did come over were mostly indentured servants, and if they were to marry, which they often did because they were in great demand, they had to wait until their term of service was up. This meant delayed marriage which meant fewer children which further reduced the number of females. Life was pretty tough for these women, but on the upside Virginia was kind of a swamp of pestilence, so their husbands often died, and this created a small class of widows or even unmarried women who, because of their special status, could make contracts and own property, so that was good, sort of. Ok. So a quick word about Maryland. Maryland was the second Chesapeake Colony, founded in 1632, and by now there was no messing around with joint stock companies. Maryland was a proprietorship: a massive land grant to a single individual named Cecilius Calvert. Calvert wanted to turn Maryland into like a medieval feudal kingdom to benefit himself and his family, and he was no fan of the representational institutions that were developing in Virginia. Also Calvert was Catholic, and Catholics were welcome in Maryland which wasn't always the case elsewhere. Speaking of which, let's talk about Massachusetts. So Jamestown might have been the first English colony, but Massachusetts Bay is probably better known. This is a largely because the colonists who came there were so recognizable for their beliefs and also for their hats. That’s right. I’m talking about the Pilgrims and the Puritans. And no, I will not be talking about Thanksgiving... is a lie. I can’t help myself, but only to clear up the difference between Pilgrims and Puritans and also to talk about Squanto. God I love me some Squanto. Let's go to the Thought Bubble. Most of the English men and women who settled in New England were uber-Protestant Puritans will believed the Protestant Church of England was still too Catholic-y with its kneeling and incense and extravagantly-hatted archbishops. The particular Puritans who, by the way did not call themselves that; other people did, who settled in new England were called Congregationalists because they thought congregations should determine leadership and worship structures, not bishops. The Pilgrims were even more extreme. They wanted to separate more or less completely from the Church of England. So first they fled to the Netherlands, but the Dutch were apparently too corrupt for them, so they rounded up investors and financed a new colony in 1620. They were supposed to live in Virginia, but in what perhaps should have been taken as an omen, they were blown wildly off course and ended up in what's now Massachusetts, founding a colony called Plymouth. While still on board their ship the Mayflower 41 of the 150 or so colonists wrote and signed an agreement called the Mayflower Compact in which they all bound themselves to follow "just and equal laws" that their chosen representatives would write-up. Since this was the first written framework for government in the US, it's kind of a big deal. But anyway the Pilgrims had the excellent fortune of landing in Massachusetts with six weeks before winter, and they have a good sense not to bring very much food with them or any farm animals. Half of them died before winter was out. The only reason they didn't all die was that local Indians led by Squanto gave them food and saved them. A year later, grateful that they had survived mainly due to the help of an alliance with the local chief Massasoit, and because the Indians had taught them how to plant corn and how to catch fish, the Pilgrims held the big feast: the first Thanksgiving. Thanks Thought Bubble! And by the way, that feast was on the fourth Thursday in November, not mid-October as is celebrated in some of these green areas we call not America. Anyway Squanto was a pretty amazing character and not only because he helped save the Pilgrims. He found that almost all of his tribe, the Patuxet had been wiped out by disease and eventually settled with the Pilgrims on the site of his former village and then died of disease because it is always ruining everything. So the Pilgrims struggled on until 1691 when their colony was subsumed by the larger and much more successful Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Massachusetts Bay colony was chartered in 1629 by London merchants who, like the founders of the Virginia Company, hoped to make money. But unlike Virginia, the board of directors relocated from England to America which meant that in Massachusetts they had a greater degree of autonomy and self-government than they did in Virginia. Social unity was also much more important in Massachusetts than it was in Virginia. The Puritans' religious mission meant that the common good was, at least at first, put above the needs or the rights of the individual. Those different ideas in the North and South about the role of government would continue... until now. Oh God. It's time for the mystery document? The rules are simple. I read the mystery document which I have not seen before. If I get it right, then I do not get shocked with the shock pen, and if I get it wrong I do. All right. "Wee must be knitt together in this worke as one man, wee must entertaine each other in brotherly Affeccion, wee must be willing to abridge our selves of our superfluities (su-per-fluities? I don't know), for the supply of others necessities, wee must uphold a familiar Commerce together in all meekenes, gentlenes, patience and liberallity, ... for wee must Consider that wee shall be as a Citty upon a Hill, the eies of all people are uppon us; soe that if wee shall deale falsely with our god in this worke wee have undertaken and soe cause him to withdrawe his present help from us, wee shall be made a story and a byword through the world." All right, first thing I noticed: the author of this document is a terrible speller or possibly wrote this before English was standardized. Also, a pretty religious individual and the community in question seems to embrace something near socialism of bridging the superfluous for others' necessities. Also it says that the community should be like a city upon a hill, like a model for everybody, and because of that metaphor, I know exactly where it comes from: the sermon A Model of Christian Charity by John Winthrop. Yes! Yes! No punishment! This is one of the most important sermons in American history. It shows us just how religious the Puritans were, but it also shows us that their religious mission wasn't really one of individualism but of collective effort. In other words, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one. But this city on a hill metaphor is the basis for one kind of American exceptionalism: the idea that we are so special and so godly that we will be a model to other nations, at least as long, according to Winthrop, as we act together. Lest you think Winthrop’s words were forgotten, they did become the centerpiece of Ronald Reagan’s 1989 farewell address. Okay so New England towns were governed democratically, but that doesn't mean that the Puritans were big on equality or that everybody was able to participate in government because no. The only people who could vote or hold office were church members, and to be a full church member you had to be a “visible saint", so really, power stayed in the hands of the church elite. The same went for equality. While it was better than in the Chesapeake Colonies or England, as equality went...eh, pretty unequal. As John Winthrop declared, "Some must be rich and some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity, others mean and in subjection." Or as historian Eric Foner put it "Inequality was considered an expression of God's will and while some liberties applied to all inhabitants, there were separate lists of rights for freemen, women, children and servants." There was also slavery in Massachusetts. The first slaves were recorded in the colony in 1640. However, Puritans really did foster equality in one sense. They wanted everyone to be able to read the Bible. In fact, parents could be punished by the town councils for not properly instructing their children in making them literate. So when Roger Williams called for citizens to be able to practice any religion they chose, he was banished from the colonies. So was Ann Hutchinson who argued the church membership should be based on inner grace and not on outward manifestations like church attendance. Williams went on to found Rhode Island, so that worked out fine for him, but Hutchinson, who was doubly threatening to Massachusetts because she was a woman preaching unorthodox ideas, was too radical and was further banished to Westchester, New York where she and her family were killed by Indians. Finally somebody doesn't die of disease or starvation. So Americans like to think of their country as being founded by pioneers of religious freedom who were seeking liberty from the oppressive English. We've already seen that's only partly true. For one thing, Puritan ideas of equality and representation weren't particularly equitable or representational. In truth, America was also founded by indigenous people and by Spanish settlers, and the earliest English colonies weren't about religion; they were about money. We'll see this tension between American mythology and American history again next week and also every week. Thanks for watching; I’ll see you next time. Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan Muller, our script supervisor is Meredith Danko, the associate producer is Danica Johnson, the show is written by my high school history teacher, Raoul Meyer and myself, and our graphics team is Thought Bubble. If you have questions about today's video or really about anything about American history, ask them in comments; the entire Crash Course team and many history professionals are there to help you. Thanks for watching Crash Course. Please make sure you are subscribed and, as we say in my home town, don't forget to be awesome.

Overview

Middle Plantation's growth was encouraged by the completion in 1634 of a continuous fortification, or palisade, across the peninsula a distance of about 6 miles (9.7 km) between Archer's Hope Creek (later renamed College Creek), which drained southerly to the James River and Queen's Creek, which drained northerly to the York River. Also in 1634, James City Shire was established by the House of Burgesses to include Middle Plantation and the surrounding area. James City Shire soon thereafter became James City County, the oldest county in the United States.

As the small town grew, a new Bruton Parish Church was constructed there. In 1693, Middle Plantation was selected as the site of the new College of William & Mary. After serving as a temporary meeting place several times during contingencies of the 17th century when the Capital of the Colony had been located at Jamestown, Middle Plantation became the new Capital of the Virginia Colony in 1699. It was soon renamed Williamsburg in honor of King William III of Great Britain, and is today the site of the Historic District known as Colonial Williamsburg.

Royal Governor Sir Francis Nicholson described Middle Plantation as a place where "clear and crystal springs burst from the champagne soil."^{[citation needed]}

Geography

Middle Plantation was located on a ridge at the western edge of a geographic plateau of the Tidewater Region of southeastern Virginia, from which the land of the coastal plain slopes eastward down to sea level at the lower end of the Virginia Peninsula. At this point, the land portion of the Peninsula was relatively narrow between two creeks which drained into the James River and the York River. As much of the lower peninsula to the east was becoming settled, this was a natural point for the English settlers who established Jamestown and the Virginia Colony beginning in 1607 to build a line of defense during early conflicts with the Native Americans.

History

Concept of a defensive palisade across the peninsula

The idea of a palisade or fortification across the peninsula was discussed as early as 1611. Sir Thomas Dale, then governor, in a letter to the Earl of Salisbury, recommended the establishment of a fortified settlement at Chiskiack, some twenty miles (32 km) up the York River from Point Comfort. But, during the era of relative peace, which began with the marriage of John Rolfe and Pocahontas in 1614, nothing was immediately done to implement the suggestion.

The idea of building a palisade was renewed around 1623, following the Indian Massacre of 1622. At that time, 73 of the settlers were slain in Martin's Hundred at Wolstenholme Towne, situated on the James about 6 miles (9.7 km) below Jamestown. The survivors were so alarmed and weakened that they temporarily abandoned the settlement. Governor Francis Wyatt and his council wrote to the Earl of Southampton that they had a plan of "winning the forest" by running a pale between the James and York from Martin's Hundred to Chiskiack.

In 1626, Samuel Mathews, of Denbigh and William Claiborne, of Kecoughtan, offered to build the palisades and construct houses, at short intervals, between Martin's Hundred and Chiskiack. They attached conditions and costs, and historians do not believe their offer was accepted.

Development along north side of the peninsula

There was little development along the north side of the peninsula adjacent to the York River by the English settlers before 1630, and no action on a cross-peninsula palisade had taken place. Under Governor John Harvey, at a meeting held at Jamestown, October 8, 1630, Governor Harvey and the Governor's Council,

"for the securing and taking in a tract of land called the forest, bordering upon the cheife residence of ye Pamunkey King, the most dangerous head of ye Indyan enemy," did "after much consultation thereof had, decree and sett down several proportions of land for such commanders, and fifty acres per poll for all other persons who ye first yeare and five and twenty acres who the second yeare, should adventure or be adventured to seate and inhabit on the southern side of Pamunkey River, now called York, and formerly known by the Indyan name of Chiskiack, as a reward and encouragement for this their undertaking."

Under this order, houses were built on both sides of King's Creek, and extended rapidly up and down the south side of the York River. By September, 1632, population on the south side of the York River had become considerable enough to claim two representatives in the General Assembly.

Chiskiack and York

The region on the York River was divided into two plantations, one retaining the old name, Chiskiack (an Indian name), and the other to be named York. The latter was settled by Sir John Harvey at the mouth of Wormeley's Creek, about three miles (5 km) below the present Yorktown.

Years later, Captain Nicholas Martiau, a French engineer employed by the colony, patented the land embracing the site of Yorktown. When, in 1680, the General Assembly authorized the establishment of 10 ports, it directed that one be here, between the two settlements of Chiskiack and York. Thus, the town of Yorktown at once assumed importance. Soon, both Chiskiack and York became two of the lost towns of Virginia.

1632: Middle Plantation patented

The plan of running a palisade across the peninsula was no longer deferred. Dr. John Potts blazed the way by obtaining on July 12, 1632 a patent for 1,200 acres (4.9 km²) at the head of Archer's Hope Creek, midway between Chiskiack and the James River. On September 4, 1632, the General Assembly directed that land should be offered to all persons settling between Queen's Creek and Archer's Hope Creek, as it had been offered two years before to inhabitants at Chiskiack.

In February, 1633, the Assembly enacted that a fortieth part of the men in "the compasse of the forest" east of Archer's Hope and Queen's Creek to Chesapeake Bay (essentially all of the lower peninsula) should be present "before the first day of March next" at Dr. John Potts' plantation, "newlie built," to erect houses and secure the land in that quarter. Work on the palisade had commenced by March 1, 1633. [2] With this labor, palisades, six miles (10 km) in length, were run from creek to creek, and, on the ridge between, a settlement to be called Middle Plantation was made. It represented the first major inland settlement for the colony.^[1]

A healthful site chosen for Middle Plantation

The doctor would have certainly recognized the sanitary advantages of the country around Middle Plantation. As the ridge between the creeks was remarkably well drained, there were few mosquitoes. The deep ravines penetrating from the north and south made the place of much strategic value. Also, the only practical road down the Peninsula was over this ridge, and this road was easily defended. At Middle Plantation, some years later, this road was later to be called Duke of Gloucester Street.

1634: Palisade across the Peninsula completed

By 1634, the palisade (or stockade) was completed across the Virginia Peninsula, which was about 6 miles (9.7 km) wide at that point between Queen's Creek which fed into the York River and Archer's Hope Creek, (since renamed College Creek) which fed into the James River. The new palisade provided some security from attacks by the Native Americans for colonists' farming and fishing lower on the Peninsula.

The palisade is partially described in the following extract from a letter written in 1634, from Jamestown, by Captain Thomas Yonge:

a strong palisade ... upon a streight between both rivers and ... a sufficient force of men to defence of the same, whereby all the lower part of Virginia have a range for their cattle, near fortie miles in length and in most places twelve miles (19 km) broade. The pallisades is very neare six miles (10 km) long, bounded in by two large Creekes. ... in this manner to take also in all the grounde between those two Rivers, and so utterly excluded the Indians from thence; which work is conceived to be of extraordinary benefit to the country ...

1635-1693: life at Middle Plantation

As Middle Plantation was developed midway between the heads of Queens Creek and Archer's Hope (later renamed College Creek), settlers moved into the region in considerable numbers, establishing homesteads. Among these was Rich Neck Plantation. Not much is known of the early years of the settlement; the palisades made it a place of refuge from Indian attack. [3]

On April 27, 1644, the second major Indian massacre occurred in the Colony. At that time, the Chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, Opechancanough, was captured. Although this event was to represent the high-water mark of hostilities with the Natives, in 1646, Captain Robert Higginson was directed to run a new pale at Middle Plantation, as the old was out of repair.

By the 1650s, Middle Plantation began to look both populated and wealthy. Colonel John Page, a merchant who had emigrated from Middlesex, England with his wife Alice Lucken Page in 1650, was largely responsible for building Middle Plantation into a substantial town. In an era of wooden buildings, brick was a sign of both wealth and permanence. Page built a large, brick house in Middle Plantation and began encouraging the growth of the area. The Ludwell brothers (Thomas and Phillip) also built a substantial brick home, even larger than that of Page.^[2] The houses which Page and the Ludwells built were among the finest in the colony. The Pages' eldest son, Francis built another brick house nearby. By the third quarter of the seventeenth century, Middle Plantation began to look like a place of importance.

Bacon's Rebellion

During Bacon's Rebellion (1675), Middle Plantation was second only to Jamestown as the center of the political upheaval. On August 3, at the house of Major Otho Thorpe at Middle Plantation, Nathaniel Bacon held a convention of the leading men, including four councillors. They adopted resolutions stressing independence from the people in power. The people pledged themselves to resist the Royal Governor, Sir William Berkeley to the utmost, and to oppose any force sent out from England. Historians note that it was a struggle for power between Bacon and his followers and the more established settlers represented by Berkeley. During the resulting conflict, Governor Berkeley retreated to the Eastern Shore. After Bacon died of natural causes later that year, Berkeley soon regained power and returned to the Peninsula.

After Bacon's death and the suppression of his followers, Middle Plantation was the site of the execution of William Drummond. Berkeley suggested he may have been "the original cause of the whole Rebellion."^{[citation needed]} The same day on which Drummond was executed, the rebel Jean Baptista, a Frenchman, was also hanged there. Berkley also hanged many other colonists who had been involved in the uprising. Upon learning of the many executions, King Charles II was so displeased by the scale of retaliation that he recalled the Royal Governor to England.

During the Rebellion, most of Jamestown was burned to the ground. The House of Burgesses moved temporarily to Middle Plantation while the reconstruction of the old parliament house was underway.

Peace with the Natives

Succeeding Berkeley on May 5, 1677, Acting Governor Sir Herbert Jeffryes invited the weroances of the neighboring Indian tribes to his camp to seek a lasting peace.

On May 29, 1677, King Charles II's birthday, attendees included the queen of the Pamunkey, her son, Captain John West; the queen of the Weyanoke, the king of the Nottoways,King Shurenough of the Manakins (Monacans), and the king of the Nansemonds. By the articles which they all signed, the Indian leaders agreed to live in due submission to the English people. As a guarantee of good treatment, Jeffryes presented each of them with a coronet or frontlet adorned with false jewels. (One of the frontlets, presented to the queen of Pamunkey, is now held by the Virginia Historical Society).

As Bacon's forces had destroyed the statehouse and all other buildings at Jamestown, the first General Assembly summoned after the rebellion was held in February, 1677, at Berkeley's residence, Green Spring Plantation. In October, the assembly met at Major Otho Thorpe's house in Middle Plantation. That year, the Assembly discussed idea of moving the capital from Jamestown, but instead rebuilt the state house at Jamestown.

Churches, Bruton Parish

In 1633, shortly after Middle Plantation was established, a parish of the Church of England with the same name, Middle Plantation Parish was established. The colonists soon built a wooden church. In 1644, Harrop Parish in James City County became active, and it united with Middle Plantation Parish in 1658 to form Middletown Parish. Marston Parish, founded in 1654 in adjacent York County merged with Middletown Parish in 1674 to form the new Bruton Parish.

The name "Bruton Parish" honored the prominent Ludwell family and Governor Sir William Berkeley, whose ancestral homes were at Bruton in Somerset, England. Reverend Roland Jones was the first minister of Bruton Parish. In 1678, Colonel John Page (Middle Plantation), a wealthy colonist, donated a plot of land about 144 feet (44 m) by 180 feet (55 m) and funds for building a brick church and for the surrounding churchyard at Middle Plantation.^[3]

Other subscribers pledged additional funds. About 60 feet (18 m) by 24 feet (7.3 m), and the brick church was completed in 1683 and dedicated the next year at the Epiphany. The first brick Bruton Parish Church was of Gothic design with supporting buttresses. Soon the vestry authorized a steeple and a ring of bells. Royal approval of the structure came in 1694 when the Governor, Sir Edmund Andros, gave the parish a large silver server (paten). The church was replaced by a larger building finished in 1715 which is still extant.^[4]

1693: The College of William & Mary

After years of campaigning, a long-sought dream of the colonists came to fruition in 1693 following a mission to London by the Reverend Doctor James Blair, the highest ranking representative of the Church of England in the colony. Blair returned with the charter for a new college, and selected land adjacent to Middle Plantation as the site. There they established The College of William & Mary, named for the reigning King and Queen of England. The College opened in temporary buildings in 1694. It was given a seat in the House of Burgesses and was supported by taxation of a penny per pound on tobacco exported from Maryland and Virginia.

Sir Christoper Wren Building, formerly known as the College Building, was built between 1695 and 1699 and remains the oldest academic building in continuous use in the United States.

1699: named the new capital of the Virginia Colony

On October 20, 1698, the statehouse (capitol building) in Jamestown burned for the fourth time. Once again removing itself to a familiar alternate location, the legislature met at Middle Plantation, this time in the new College Building.

While meeting there, a group of five students from the College of William and Mary submitted a well-presented and logical proposal to the legislators outlining a plan and good reasons to move the capital permanently to Middle Plantation.

Despite the periodic need to relocate to Middle Plantation, throughout the seventeenth century, Virginians had been reluctant to move the capital from its "ancient and accustomed place." After all, Jamestown had always been Virginia's capital. It had a state house (except when it periodically burned) and a church, and it offered easy access to ships that came up the James River bringing goods from England and taking on tobacco bound for market. [4]

However, the students argued that the change would escape the dreaded malaria and mosquitoes that had always plagued the Jamestown site. The students pointed out that, while not located immediately upon a river, Middle Plantation offered nearby access to two deepwater (6-7' depth) creeks leading to a choice of two rivers. Other advocates of the move included the Reverend Dr. Blair and Sir Francis Nicholson. Nicholson succeeded Sir Edmund Andros as governor of Virginia. The earlier work of several prominent individuals like John Page, Francis Page, Thomas Ludwell, Philip Ludwell, and Otho Thorpe in building their fine brick homes and creating a substantial town at Middle Plantation also played a major role. And, there was of course, the new College of William and Mary with its fine brick building.

The proposal for the move was received favorably by the House of Burgesses. In 1699, the capital of the Virginia Colony was officially relocated to Middle Plantation.

Renamed as Williamsburg

About the same time the Capital was moved, Middle Plantation was renamed Williamsburg by the Governor, Colonel Francis Nicholson, in honor of King William III of Great Britain. The new site was described by Governor Nicholson as a place where "clear and crystal springs burst from the champagne soil."^{[citation needed]}

Williamsburg remained the capital of Virginia until 1780.

See article Williamsburg, Virginia for history after 1699

References

^ "John Page Site". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-05-31.
^ [1], College of William and Mary
^ Hesperides (March 2007). Bruton Parish Church, Hesperides, 2007. ISBN 9781406756241. Archived from the original on 2016-05-09. Retrieved 2015-11-26.
^ "History" Archived 2007-10-08 at the Wayback Machine, Bruton Parish Official Website, accessed 2 Apr 2010

v t e Colonial Williamsburg
History	Battle of Williamsburg Colonial Williamsburg History Historic Triangle Middle Plantation Rich Neck Plantation
Structures	Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum Alexander Craig House Bassett Hall Bodleian Plate Brush-Everard House Bruton Parish Church Capitol Charlton House Courthouse DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum Geddy House Governor's Palace James Semple House John Crump House Matthew Whaley School Nicolson Store Palmer House Peyton Randolph House President's House Raleigh Tavern St. George Tucker House Tayloe House Wetherburn's Tavern Williamsburg Bray School Williamsburg Inn Wren Building Wythe House
People	W. A. R. Goodwin Patrick Henry Peyton Randolph Abby Aldrich Rockefeller John D. Rockefeller Jr. Richard Taliaferro DeWitt Wallace George Wythe
Geography	Williamsburg Hampton Roads Jamestown Yorktown Virginia
Other	Carter's Grove Country Road Carter's Grove Plantation College of William & Mary Colonial Parkway Grand Illumination Merchants Square National Trust for Historic Preservation Peacock Hill Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot

v t e James River Plantations
North bank	Belle Air Berkeley Carter's Grove Curles Neck Edgewood Evelynton Green Spring Martin's Hundred Middle Plantation North Bend Southall Richneck Sherwood Forest Shirley Varina Farms Westover
South bank	Appomattox Manor Bacon's Castle Chippokes Flowerdew Hundred Lower Brandon Smith's Fort Upper Brandon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia