Williamsburg is a city in the U. S. state of Virginia. As of the 2010 U. S. Census, the population was 14,068. In 2018, the population was estimated to be 14,896. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is bordered by James City York County. Williamsburg was founded in 1632 as Middle Plantation, a fortified settlement on high ground between the James and York rivers; the city served as the capital of the Colony and Commonwealth of Virginia from 1699 to 1780 and was the center of political events in Virginia leading to the American Revolution. The College of William & Mary, established in 1693, is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and the only one of the nine colonial colleges located in the South. S. Presidents as well as many other important figures in the nation's early history; the city's tourism-based economy is driven by Colonial Williamsburg, the restored Historic Area of the city.

Along with nearby Jamestown and Yorktown, Williamsburg forms part of the Historic Triangle, which attracts more than four million tourists each year. Modern Williamsburg is a college town, inhabited in large part by William & Mary students and staff. Prior to the arrival of the English colonists at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia in 1607, the area which became Williamsburg was within the territory of the Powhatan Confederacy. By the 1630s, English settlements had grown to dominate the lower portion of the Virginia Peninsula, the Powhatan tribes had abandoned their nearby villages. Between 1630 and 1633, after the war that followed the Indian Massacre of 1622, the English colonists constructed a defensive palisade across the peninsula and a settlement named Middle Plantation as a primary guard station along the palisade. Jamestown was the original capital of Virginia Colony, but was burned down during the events of Bacon's Rebellion in 1676; as soon as Governor William Berkeley regained control, temporary headquarters for the government to function were established about 12 miles away on the high ground at Middle Plantation, while the Statehouse at Jamestown was rebuilt.

The members of the House of Burgesses discovered that the'temporary' location was both safer and more pleasant environmentally than Jamestown, humid and plagued with mosquitoes. A school of higher education had long been an aspiration of the colonists. An early attempt at Henricus failed after the Indian Massacre of 1622; the location at the outskirts of the developed part of the colony had left it more vulnerable to the attack. In the 1690s, the colonists tried again to establish a school, they commissioned Reverend James Blair, who spent several years in England lobbying, obtained a royal charter for the desired new school. It was to be named the College of Mary in honor of the monarchs of the time; when Reverend Blair returned to Virginia, the new school was founded in a safe place, Middle Plantation in 1693. Classes began in temporary quarters in 1694, the College Building, a precursor to the Wren Building, was soon under construction. Four years in 1698, the rebuilt Statehouse in Jamestown burned down again, this time accidentally.

The government again relocated'temporarily' to Middle Plantation, in addition to the better climate now enjoyed use of the College's facilities. The College students made a presentation to the House of Burgesses, it was agreed in 1699 that the colonial capital should be permanently moved to Middle Plantation. A village was laid out and Middle Plantation was renamed Williamsburg in honor of King William III of England, befitting the town's newly elevated status. Following its designation as the Capital of the Colony, immediate provision was made for construction of a capitol building and for plotting out the new city according to the survey of Theodorick Bland, his design utilized the extant sites of the College and the almost-new brick Bruton Parish Church as focal points, placed the new Capitol building opposite the College, with Duke of Gloucester Street connecting them. Alexander Spotswood, who arrived in Virginia as lieutenant governor in 1710, had several ravines filled and streets leveled, assisted in erecting additional College buildings, a church, a magazine for the storage of arms.

In 1722, the town of Williamsburg was granted a royal charter as a "city incorporate". However, it was a borough. Middle Plantation was included in James City Shire when it was established in 1634, as the Colony reached a total population of 5,000.. However, the middle ground ridge line was the dividing line with Charles River Shire, renamed York County after King Charles I fell out of favor with the citizens of England; as Middle Plantation and Williamsburg developed, the boundaries were adjusted slightly. For most of the colonial period, the border between the two counties ran down the center of Duke of Gloucester Street. During this time, for 100 years after the formation of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States, despite practical complications, the town remained divided between the two counties. Williamsburg was the site of the first attempted canal in the United States. In 1771, Lord Dunmore, who would turn out to be Virginia's last Royal Governor, announced plans to connect Archer's Creek, which leads to the James River with Queen's Creek, leading to the York River.

It was not completed. Remains of this canal are visible at the rear o

Pteraster militaris, the wrinkled star, is a species of starfish in the family Pterasteridae. It is found in the northern Pacific Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, the Barents Sea and the northern Atlantic Ocean. Pteraster militaris is a robust starfish with a wide disc, a large central pore and five short, triangular arms; the aboral surface is dotted with papulae, each topped with four short spines and above this is a papery covering giving the starfish an inflated, bulky appearance. It grows to a diameter of 85 millimetres and is orange, pale yellow or white, sometimes with red tips to its arms. Pteraster militaris is found in rocky habitats in water down to a depth of 1,100 metres in the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Sea, the north west Pacific Ocean as far south as Oregon, the Barents Sea and the north east and north west Atlantic Ocean. Pteraster militaris feeds on various species of sponge including the cloud sponge and the white reticulated sponge and on hydrozoans such as the pink branching hydrocoral and the purple encrusting hydrocoral.

Pteraster militaris is unusual among starfishes. About forty fertilised eggs are retained in the water-filled chamber below its papery outer skin and these develop into juveniles that may reach 1 cm across before they make their way out through the central pore. Eggs that are too numerous to be brooded are released direct into the sea where they become planktonic larvae; the brooded juveniles seem to behave as ectoparasites of the female, feeding on maternal tissues in the brood chamber. They may eat dead embryos, faecal material and mucus

Chelah Horsdal is a Canadian actress. She is well known for her regular roles in the television series Hell on Wheels, When Calls the Heart, The Man in the High Castle, recurring roles on Stargate SG-1, Level Up, for her roles in the films Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Horsdal was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, she says she "was born to hippie parents while surrounded by friends and family on the'farm' Headacres". She is the daughter of folksinger father Valdy, she grew up with her mother in Kitsilano and attended Bayview Elementary followed by Lord Byng Secondary. She began modeling in locally shot TV shows and commercials at 18, lived in the Caribbean for a year. Horsdal began her acting career in 2002, she has since appeared in more than 75 commercials as well as on television. She has played lead and supporting roles on Hell On Wheels, The Man In The High Castle, When Calls The Heart, Patterson's Wager, Three Weeks, Three Kids, On Strike For Christmas, Marley & Me.

She had lead roles in Lying To Be Mrs. Miracle. Additional credits include leads on the feature Burning Mussolini, Nickelodeon's Gym Teacher: The Movie, co-starring Christopher Meloni and Amy Sedaris, Flirting With Forty with Heather Locklear and the FOX TV pilot The Virgin of Akron, Ohio. Supporting leads include Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem for 20th Century Fox and Possession alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar, as well as Elegy with Ben Kingsley and Penélope Cruz and Rise of the Planet of the Apes with John Lithgow and James Franco, her performances in the short films Dark Room and "The Hostage" both earned Leo nominations for Best Performance. Recurring roles include Battlestar Galactica, Exes & Ohs, The L Word, Stargate: SG1, Saved, DaVinci's Inquest, Blackstone and Cartoon Network's Level Up; the Hostage, for which Horsdal was nominated for Best Actress at the 2011 Leos, co-starred and was produced by Tahmoh Penikett and Aleks Paunovic. Horsdal was nominated for four more Leo Awards for her guest starring turn on "Arctic Air", for "Hell On Wheels" and "When Calls The Heart", for "Patterson's Wager".

Horsdal studied acting at Lyric School of Acting in Vancouver. Chelah Horsdal on IMDb Official site Chelah Horsdal on Twitter