SIGNIFICANT MOMENTS IN WILLIAMSBURG’S HISTORY
1607 – First permanent English settlement in North America established at Jamestown.
1693 – College of William and Mary chartered.
1699 – Virginia’s capital moved from Jamestown to Middle Plantation and was renamed Williamsburg.
1765 – May 30: Patrick Henry delivers his ringing “Caesar-Brutus” speech in opposition to the
Stamp Act.
1769 – Virginia protests new British taxes and boycotts British goods.
1774 – June 1: Williamsburg citizens observe a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer to protest
Parliament’s closing of the port of Boston.
August: Virginia’s leaders elect delegates to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
1775 – April 21: Governor Dunmore has the colony’s powder removed from the Magazine.
Only the efforts of Williamsburg’s moderate leaders prevent an angry mob from marching on
the Governor’s Palace.
June 8: The royal governor and his family flee the Palace.
1776 – May 15: Virginia’s legislators instruct their delegates in Philadelphia to propose independence,
leading directly to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4.
June 12: Virginia adopts America’s first Declaration of Rights, later the basis of the Bill of
Rights of the U.S. Constitution.
July 6: Patrick Henry inaugurated first governor of the state of Virginia.
1780 – Capitol moved from Williamsburg to Richmond.
1781 – June 25-July 4: British occupy Williamsburg.
September 14: Washington and Rochambeau arrive in Williamsburg to plan campaign against
British at Yorktown.
October 19: British surrender at Yorktown, effectively ending the Revolution.
1824 – The Marquis de Lafayette revisits Williamsburg.
1841 – While living in Williamsburg, Vice President John Tyler learns he has become president upon
the death of William Henry Harrison.
1862 – May 5: Battle of Williamsburg. Union forces occupy Williamsburg for the rest of the Civil War.
1903 – Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin became the new minister at Bruton Parish Church and recognized the
need for the restoration of Williamsburg.
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SIGNIFICANT MOMENTS IN WILLIAMSBURG’S HISTORY – Page 2
1926 – John D. Rockefeller Jr. decides to restore Williamsburg to its 18th-century appearance.
1934 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt commemorates the restoration, referring to Duke of
Gloucester Street as “the most historic avenue in America.”
1939 – In December, the Folk Art Collection is donated to Colonial Williamsburg by Mrs. Abby
Aldrich Rockefeller.
1957 – In March, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection opens in its new building,
a two-story brick building near the Williamsburg Inn.
May: 350th anniversary of Jamestown.
1960 – Colonial Williamsburg’s Fife and Drum Corps begins.
1963 – In September, Golden Horseshoe Golf Course opens.
On September 29, Williamsburg Conference Center at the Lodge opens.
1964 – “Merchants’ Square” becomes official name for the Business Shops area constructed in the
1930s. The apostrophe was dropped in 1966.
1969 – On December 30, Colonial Williamsburg acquires Carter’s Grove.
1983 – From May 27-31, the Ninth Annual Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations held in
Williamsburg. Heads of state in attendance included: President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan, British
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, French President and Mrs. Francois Mitterand, Canadian
Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Japanese Prime
Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and Italian Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani. Also attending was
Gaston Thorn, President of the Commission of the European Communities.
1984 – On March 14, “Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot” is shown for the first time in local hotel
guest rooms on the Hotelevision closed circuit television channel. The movie also is shown
several times daily at the Williamsburg Theater during the renovation of the Visitor Center.
1999 – The city of Williamsburg celebrates its 300th anniversary.
2001 – From January 19-28, Colonial Williamsburg celebrates 75 years of collecting at the 47th Annual
Winter Antiques Show in New York.
September 28, Colonial Williamsburg launches $500 million “Campaign for Colonial
Williamsburg” in conjunction with its 75th Anniversary.
2006 – On January 14, Timothy Kaine sworn in at colonial Capitol and becomes Virginia’s 70th
governor. Kaine was the 3rd governor to be inaugurated in Williamsburg, joining Patrick Henry
and Thomas Jefferson.
August: Successful completion of the “Campaign for Colonial Williamsburg” with more than
$510 million raised in support of preservation in the Historic Area, new and expanded
educational programs, and endowments for key positions.
—CWF —
Media Contact:
Jim Bradley
(757) 220-7286
01/07