1.
Colonial Williamsburg
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Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting part of a historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Colonial Williamsburgs 301-acre Historic Area includes buildings from the century, as well as 17th-century, 19th-century, Colonial Revival structures. The Historic Area is an interpretation of a colonial American city, with exhibits of dozens of restored or re-created buildings related to its colonial, Colonial Williamsburgs motto has been That the future may learn from the past. One of the largest history projects in the nation and a tourist attraction, it is part of the Historic Triangle of Virginia, the site was once used for conferences by world leaders and heads of state, including U. S. presidents. It was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1960, costumed employees work and dress as people did in the era, sometimes using colonial grammar and diction. Colonial Williamsburgs portion of the Historic Area begins east of the College of William & Marys College Yard, Colonial Williamsburg is a historical landmark and a living history museum. Its core runs along Duke of Gloucester Street and the Palace Green that extends north and south perpendicular to it and this area is largely flat, with ravines and streams branching off on the periphery. Surviving colonial structures have been restored as close as possible to their 18th-century appearance, with traces of later buildings, many of the missing colonial structures were reconstructed on their original sites beginning in the 1930s. Animals, gardens, and dependencies add to the environment, four taverns have been reconstructed for use as restaurants and two for inns. There are craftsmens workshops for period trades, including a shop, a shoemakers, blacksmiths, a cooperage, a cabinetmaker, a gunsmiths, a wigmakers. There are merchants selling tourist souvenirs, books, reproduction toys, pewterware, pottery, the Public Gaol served as a jail for the colonists. Former notorious inmates include the pirate Blackbeards crew who were kept in the jail while they awaited trial in 1704, 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, locals, students, and employees frequently call Colonial Williamsburg CW. The Jamestown statehouse, housing Virginias government at the time, burned down on October 20,1698, the legislators consequently moved their meetings to the College of William and Mary in Virginia at Middle Plantation, putting an end to Jamestowns 92-year run as Virginias colonial capital. Interested Middle Plantation landowners donated some of their holdings to advance the plan, Middle Plantation was renamed Williamsburg by Governor Francis Nicholson, who was first among the proponents of the change, in honor of King William III of England. Nicholson said that at Williamsburg clear and crystal springs burst from the champagne soil, by champagne, he meant excellent or fertile. Nicholson had the city surveyed and a laid out by Theodorick Bland taking into consideration the brick College Building. The grid seems to have obliterated all but the remnants of a plan that laid out the streets in the monogram of King William and Queen Mary
2.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
U.S. state
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A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders. States range in population from just under 600,000 to over 39 million, four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in principles, and each provides for a government. States possess a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution, Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a debate over states rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government. States and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a legislature consisting of the Senate. Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators, and is guaranteed at least one Representative in the House, members of the House are elected from single-member districts. Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census, the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50, alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, as a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance
5.
Eastern Time Zone
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Places that use Eastern Standard Time when observing standard time are 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. Eastern Daylight Time, when observing daylight saving time DST is 4 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, in the northern parts of the time zone, on the second Sunday in March, at 2,00 a. m. EST, clocks are advanced to 3,00 a. m. EDT leaving a one-hour gap, on the first Sunday in November, at 2,00 a. m. EDT, clocks are moved back to 1,00 a. m, southern parts of the zone do not observe daylight saving time. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 ruled that daylight saving time would run from the last Sunday of April until the last Sunday in October in the United States, the act was amended to make the first Sunday in April the beginning of daylight saving time as of 1987. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended daylight saving time in the United States beginning in 2007. So local times change at 2,00 a. m. EST to 3,00 a. m. EDT on the second Sunday in March, in Canada, the time changes as it does in the United States. However, a handful of communities unofficially observe Eastern Time because they are part of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area – Phenix City, Smiths Station, Lanett, and Valley. Florida, All of Florida is in the Eastern Time zone except for the portion of the Florida Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River, as the Eastern–Central zone boundary approaches the Gulf of Mexico, it follows the Bay/Gulf county line. Indiana, All of Indiana observes Eastern Time except for six counties in the Chicago metropolitan area. Kentucky, Roughly, the half of the state, including all of metropolitan Louisville, is in the Eastern Time Zone. Historically the entire state observed Central Time, when daylight saving time was first introduced, the Lower Peninsula remained on DST after it formally ended, effectively re-aligning itself into the Eastern Time Zone. The Upper Peninsula continued to observe Central Time until 1972, when all, Tennessee, Most of the eastern third of Tennessee is legally on Eastern Time. Eastern Time is also used somewhat as a de facto official time for all of the United States, since it includes the capital and the largest city. Major professional sports leagues also post all game times in Eastern time, for example, a game time between two teams from Pacific Time Zone will still be posted in Eastern time. Most cable television and national broadcast networks advertise airing times in Eastern time, national broadcast networks generally have two primary feeds, an eastern feed for Eastern and Central time zones, and a tape-delayed western feed for the Pacific Time Zone. The prime time is set on Eastern and Pacific at 8,00 p. m. with the Central time zone stations receiving the eastern feed at 7,00 p. m. local time. Mountain Time Zone stations receive a separate feed at 7,00 p. m. local time, as Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, during the summer months, it has its own feed at 7,00 p. m. local time
6.
UTC-5
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UTC−05,00 is a time offset that subtracts five hours from Coordinated Universal Time. In North America, it is observed in the Eastern Time Zone during standard time, the western Caribbean uses it year round. The southwestern and northwestern portions of Indiana Mexico – Central Zone Central, in most of Mexico, daylight time starts a few weeks after the United States. Communities on the U. S. border that observe Central Time follow the U. S. daylight time schedule
7.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
8.
ZIP Code
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ZIP Codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, was chosen to suggest that the travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly. The basic format consists of five numerical digits, an extended ZIP+4 code, introduced in 1983, includes the five digits of the ZIP Code, a hyphen, and four additional digits that determine a more specific location within a given ZIP Code. The term ZIP Code was originally registered as a servicemark by the U. S. Postal Service, USPS style for ZIP is all caps and the c in code is also capitalized, although style sheets for some publications use sentence case or lowercase. The early history and context of postal codes began with postal district/zone numbers, the United States Post Office Department implemented postal zones for numerous large cities in 1943. For example, Mr. John Smith 3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue Minneapolis 16, by the early 1960s a more organized system was needed, and on July 1,1963, non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide. Three months later, on October 1,1963, the U. S, an earlier list in June had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with one exception, according to the historian of the U. S. Robert Moon, an employee of the post office, is considered the father of the ZIP Code, he submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as a postal inspector. The post office gives credit to Moon only for the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility or sec center, an SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes, the mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning. Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public, Mail picked up at post offices is sent to their own SCF in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight. The United States Post Office used a character, which it called Mr. ZIP. He was often depicted with a such as USE ZIP CODE in the selvage of panes of stamps or on labels contained in, or the covers of. In 1983, the U. S. Postal Service introduced an expanded ZIP Code system that it called ZIP+4, often called plus-four codes, add-on codes, or add ons. But initial attempts to promote use of the new format met with public resistance. For Post Office Boxes, the rule is that each box has its own ZIP+4 code. However, there is no rule, so the ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each box. It is common to use add-on code 9998 for mail addressed to the postmaster,9999 for general delivery, for a unique ZIP Code, the add-on code is typically 0001
9.
Area code 757
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The North American telephone area code 757 is a NANPA telephone area code covering the southeast corner of Virginia. It was established July 1,1996, as a split from area code 804, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the Virginia portion of the Delmarva Peninsula. Before the implementation of number pooling,757 was projected to run out of numbers as early as 2002, List of Virginia area codes List of NANP area codes North American Numbering Plan NANPA Area Code Map of Virginia
10.
Geographic Names Information System
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It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names to promote the standardization of feature names, the database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited, variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are also recorded. Each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier, the database never removes an entry, except in cases of obvious duplication. The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U. S. geographical features, the general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals. The Bureau of the Census defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28 gives standards for addressing mail. In this publication, the postal service defines two-letter state abbreviations, street identifiers such as boulevard and street, department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, Digital Gazeteer, Users Manual. Least Heat Moon, William, Blue Highways, A Journey Into America, standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice, Vol.73, No. 170, page 51276 Report, Principles, Policies, and Procedures, Domestic Geographic Names, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28, November 2000. Board on Geographic Names website Geographic Names Information System Proposals from the general public Meeting minutes
11.
Commonwealth (U.S. state)
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Each was, prior to 1776, a British colony, or parts thereof, and share a strong influence of English common law in some of their laws and institutions. The term Commonwealth does not describe or provide for any specific political status or legal relationship when used by a state and those that do use it are equal to those that do not. It refers to the common weal, or welfare, of the public and is derived from a translation of the Latin term res publica. Besides the four aforementioned states, other states may also, on occasion, vermont, for instance, uses the term commonwealth three times in its constitution, interchangeably with the term state. Also, while Delaware was primarily referred to as a State in its 1776 constitution, two U. S. territories are also designated as commonwealths, Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands. When used in connection with areas under U. S, on June 1,1792, Kentucky County officially became a state. Kentucky is the state outside of the first 13 that uses commonwealth in its name. Massachusetts is officially named The Commonwealth of Massachusetts by its constitution, the name State of Massachusetts Bay was used in all acts and resolves up to 1780 and the first draft of the constitution. The current name can be traced to the draft of the state constitution. In Massachusetts, the term State is occasionally used in an official manner and this is evident in the name of the agency Massachusetts State Police, the Massachusetts State House and in Bridgewater State Hospital. The Seal of Pennsylvania does not use the term, but legal processes are in the name of the Commonwealth and it is a traditional official designation used in referring to the state. In 1776, Pennsylvanias first state constitution referred to it as both Commonwealth and State, a pattern of usage that was perpetuated in the constitutions of 1790,1838,1874 and 1958, one of Pennsylvanias two intermediate appellate courts is called the Commonwealth Court. A detailed history describing the origins of Pennsylvanias government, including its designation as a commonwealth from colonial times, is available from the Secretary of the Commonwealths office, the name Commonwealth of Virginia dates back to its independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Virginias first constitution directed that Commissions and Grants shall run, In the Name of the commonwealth of Virginia, the Secretary of the Commonwealth still issues commissions in this manner. Among other references, the constitution furthermore dictated that criminal indictments were to conclude against the peace, in Virginia, the term State is occasionally used in an official manner, but usually in a compound structure rather than as a stand-alone noun. This is evident in the name of the agency Virginia State Corporation Commission and in Virginia State Police, the state university in Richmond is known as Virginia Commonwealth University. In Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, state-level criminal prosecutions are brought in the name of the Commonwealth, in California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, and New York, they are brought in the name of the People
12.
2010 United States Census
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The 2010 United States Census, is the twenty-third and currently most recent United States national census. National Census Day, the day used for the census, was April 1,2010. As part of a drive to increase the accuracy,635,000 temporary enumerators were hired. The population of the United States was counted as 308,745,538, as required by the United States Constitution, the U. S. census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790. The 2000 U. S. Census was the previous census completed, participation in the U. S. Census is required by law in Title 13 of the United States Code. On January 25,2010, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves personally inaugurated the 2010 Census enumeration by counting World War II veteran Clifton Jackson, more than 120 million census forms were delivered by the U. S. Post Office beginning March 15,2010, the number of forms mailed out or hand-delivered by the Census Bureau was approximately 134 million on April 1,2010. The 2010 Census national mail participation rate was 74%, from April through July 2010, census takers visited households that did not return a form, an operation called non-response follow-up. In December 2010, the Census Bureau delivered population information to the president for apportionment, personally identifiable information will be available in 2082. The Census Bureau did not use a form for the 2010 Census. In several previous censuses, one in six households received this long form, the 2010 Census used only a short form asking ten basic questions, How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1,2010. Were there any additional people staying here on April 1,2010 that you did not include in Question 1, mark all that apply, Is this house, apartment, or mobile home – What is your telephone number. What is Person 1s age and Person 1s date of birth, is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin. Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else, the form included space to repeat some or all of these questions for up to twelve residents total. In contrast to the 2000 census, an Internet response option was not offered, detailed socioeconomic information collected during past censuses will continue to be collected through the American Community Survey. The survey provides data about communities in the United States on a 1-year or 3-year cycle, depending on the size of the community, rather than once every 10 years. A small percentage of the population on a basis will receive the survey each year. In June 2009, the U. S. Census Bureau announced that it would count same-sex married couples, however, the final form did not contain a separate same-sex married couple option
13.
Virginia Peninsula
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The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the Lower Peninsula to distinguish it from two other peninsulas to the north, the Middle Peninsula and the Northern Neck and it is the site of historic Jamestown, founded in 1607 as the first English settlement in North America. Geographically located at the northwestern reaches, Charles City and New Kent counties are part of the Virginia Peninsula, in the 21st century, they are also considered part of the Richmond-Petersburg region. The rest of the Virginia Peninsula is all part of the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, the Hampton Roads MSA is the common name for the metropolitan area that surrounds the body of water of the same name. It is the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the Southeast and the 32nd largest in the United States, the land portion of Hampton Roads has been historically divided into two regions, the Virginia Peninsula or Peninsula on the north side, and South Hampton Roads on the south side. More recently, the boundaries of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area have expanded to include the two southernmost counties of the Middle Peninsula, across the York River from the Virginia Peninsula. Early in the 16th century, Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to see the Chesapeake Bay and they were searching for the Northwest Passage to India and the Orient. They named the now known as Virginia, as Ajacán. The Spanish succeeded in founding a settlement in the New World in 1565 at St. Augustine. It was the first founded by Europeans in what is now the United States and they established small Spanish outposts along the eastern coast into present-day Georgia and the Carolinas. The northern-most post was Santa Elena, from there Juan Pardo was commissioned to lead expeditions into the interior, founding Fort San Juan in 1567-1568 at the regional Mississippian culture chiefdom of Joara. Located in present-day western North Carolina, this was the first European settlement in the interior of North America, the first permanent English settlement in North America was established in 1607 at Jamestown. The first continuously occupied settlement was at Kecoughtan in Elizabeth City County what is now the City of Hampton, nearby, Fort Monroe, the countrys oldest military base still in use is located at Old Point Comfort. Old Point Comfort is also the site of the first landing of Africans in America, after declaring independence from Great Britain, Virginias first state capital was Williamsburg. Also, the battle of the American Revolution, the siege of Yorktown in 1781. At the outset of the Peninsula Campaign, the Battle of Hampton Roads between the first ironclad warships took place near the mouth of the James River off the tip of Warwick County. The 1862 Siege of Yorktown took place along the York River, finally, after a lengthy standoff, the largest Union Army of the war under General George B. As the region and Virginia rebuilt during Reconstruction, the Chesapeake, however, the tidal portion of the James River, while navigable from Hampton Roads to the fall line at Richmond, couldnt accommodate the deep drafts of collier ships
14.
Hampton Roads
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Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in Virginia and the surrounding metropolitan region in Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina, United States. The body of known as Hampton Roads is one of the worlds largest natural harbors. It incorporates the mouths of the Elizabeth River, Nansemond River, the land area includes a collection of cities, counties and towns on the Virginia Peninsula and in South Hampton Roads. Some of the areas further from the harbor may or may not be included as part of Hampton Roads. The Combined Statistical Area includes four counties in North Carolina, pushing the regional population to over 1.8 million residents. The area is steeped in 400 years of American history, with hundreds of historical sites, the harbor was the key to Hampton Roads growth, both on land and in water-related activities and events. While the harbor and its tributaries were important transportation conduits, at the time they presented obstacles to land-based commerce. Creating and maintaining adequate infrastructure has long been a major challenge, the term Hampton Roads is a centuries-old designation that originated when the region was a struggling English outpost nearly four hundred years ago. The origin of the two words is noteworthy, the word Hampton honors one of the founders of the Virginia Company of London and a great supporter of the colonization of Virginia, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. The early administrative center of the new colony was known as Elizabeth Cittie, named for Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of King James I, the town at the center of Elizabeth Cittie became known as Hampton, and a nearby waterway was designated Hampton Creek. Other references to the Earl include the area to the north across the bay became known as Northampton. As with Hampton, both of these remain in use today. The term Roads indicates the safety of a port, as applied to a body of water, examples of other roadsteads are Castle Roads, in another of the Virginia Companys settlements, Bermuda, and Lahaina Roads, in Hawaii. In 1755, the Virginia General Assembly recorded the name Hampton Roads as the channel linking the James, Elizabeth, and Nansemond rivers with the Chesapeake Bay. Hampton Roads has become known as the worlds largest natural harbor, the U. S. Postal Service changed the areas postmark from Tidewater Virginia to Hampton Roads, Virginia beginning in 1983. While the borders of what locals call Hampton Roads may not perfectly align with the definition of the MSA, Virginia Beach–Norfolk–Newport News, VA–NC MSA is a U. S. According to the 2010 Census, its population is 1,676,822, since a state constitutional change in 1871, all cities in Virginia are independent cities and they are not legally located in a county. The OMB considers these independent cities to be county-equivalents for the purpose of defining MSAs in Virginia, each MSA is listed by its counties, then cities, in alphabetical order and not by size
15.
James City County, Virginia
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James City County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 67,009, located on the Virginia Peninsula, James City County is included in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is often associated with Williamsburg, an independent city, as of 2007, the median household income was $70,487. First settled by the English colonists in 1607 at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, James City County is considered one of only five original shires of Virginia to still be extant today in essentially the same political form. The Jamestown 2007 celebration marked the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, today, James City County remains an important site of growth and economic development. The County is home to the Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park, the massive Kingsmill Resort, and this section incorporates text from the 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain. The Virginia Company of London was granted a proprietorship by King James I of England to attempt to establish a colony in the area we now know as Virginia, England had been at war with Spain and was seeking both capital funds and income in the form of royalties. In December,1606, three set sail from England, led by Captain Christopher Newport. Upon reaching the New World at Cape Henry, they selected a site to settle about 40 miles inland from the coast along a river to be protected from attacks by sea from other Europeans. The first five years were difficult, and the majority of the colonists perished. In 1612, imported strains of tobacco cultivated in Virginia by colonist John Rolfe were successfully exported, in 1619, the Virginia Company of London under a new leader, Sir Edwin Sandys, instituted a number of changes, to help stimulate more investment and attract settlers from England. Also in 1619, the plantations and developed portions of the Colony were divided into four incorporations or citties and these were Elizabeth Cittie, James Cittie, Charles Cittie, and Henrico Cittie. Each cittie covered a large area. Elizabeth Cittie not only included land on both side of the James River, but most of what we now know as South Hampton Roads and also included Virginias Eastern Shore. The Virginia Companys James Cittie stretched across the Peninsula to the York River, each of the four citties extended across the James River, the major thoroughfare of commerce for the settlers, and included land on both the north and south shores. With the incentives of 1619, many new developments, known as hundreds were established, while it was rebuilt, Wolstenholme Towne was eventually abandoned about 1643, and soon even the location was forgotten as it became one of the lost towns of Virginia. The privately owned Virginia Company lost its charter in 1624, in 1634, the English Crown created eight shires in the colony of Virginia, with a total population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants. James City Shire, as well as the James River and Jamestown which had named earlier, took its name from King James I
16.
York County, Virginia
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York County is a county in the eastern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in the Tidewater. As of the 2010 census, the population was 65,464, the county seat is the unincorporated town of Yorktown. York County contains many tributaries of the York River and it shares land borders with the independent cities of Williamsburg, Newport News, Hampton, and Poquoson, as well as James City County, and shares a border along the York River with Gloucester County. Formed in 1634 as one of the eight original shires of the Virginia Colony, Yorktown is one of the three points of the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia. It is the site of the last battle and surrender of British forces in 1781 at the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War, in modern times, several important U. S. military installations have been developed in the county. It also has miles of waterfront residential and recreational areas, Yorktown is linked by the National Park Services bucolic Colonial Parkway with Colonial Williamsburg and historic attractions at Jamestown, Virginia. Heritage tourism to the Historic Triangle draws international visitors and is an economic activity for the county. The area which is now York County was long inhabited by succeeding cultures of Native Americans and these were hunter-gatherer groups during the late Woodland Period and earlier. By the late 16th century, much of the coastal plain draining to the Chesapeake Bay of the current Commonwealth of Virginia was called Tenakomakah in Algonquian, the historic tribes of the Tidewater area spoke related Algonquian languages. Other Algonquian-speaking peoples occupied coastal areas north and into present-day Canada, known as the Powhatan, meaning the paramount chief, he was from a village also known as Powhatan, near the fall line of the James River. Chief Powhatan later established a capital village, known as Werowocomoco. Rediscovered in the early 21st century by archeological work, it was located along the bank of the York River in present-day Gloucester County. The Chiskiack tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy lived in York County along the York River until the 1630s, escalating conflicts with the expanding English colony based at Jamestown caused them to move to the west. The English developed a settlement near the village of Chiskiack. This became part of the developments included within the present-day Naval Weapons Station Yorktown near Yorktown and are included in the military base, Cheesecake Road and Cheesecake Cemetery are also within the base, their names are thought to derive from the early Chiskiack people. After the Powhatan moved his capital from this area in 1609 and it was rediscovered in the early 21st century, and has been under continuing archaeological study projects. In 1570, Spanish Jesuit priests founded the Ajacán Mission in this area and they were guided by interpreter Don Luis, a Native American from this area who had been taken captive by an earlier expedition. He was taken to Spain and later to Mexico, where he was baptized as Don Luis, ten years later after returning to Virginia, he soon abandoned the Spanish group
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James River
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The James River is a river in the U. S. state of Virginia. It is 348 miles long, extending to 444 miles if one includes the Jackson River, the James River drains a catchment comprising 10,432 square miles. The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million people and it is the 12th longest river in the United States that remains entirely within a single state. Tidal waters extend west to Richmond, the capital of Virginia, larger tributaries draining to the tidal portion include the Appomattox River, Chickahominy River, Warwick River, Pagan River, and the Nansemond River. At its mouth near Newport News Point, the Elizabeth River, many boats pass through this river to import and export Virginia products. The navigable portion of the river was the highway of the Colony of Virginia during its first 15 years, facilitating supply ships delivering supplies. However, for the first five years, despite many hopes of gold and riches, in 1612, businessman John Rolfe successfully cultivated a non-native strain of tobacco which proved popular in England. Soon, the became the primary means of exporting the large hogsheads of this cash crop from an ever-growing number of plantations with wharfs along its banks. This development made the efforts of the Virginia Company of London successful financially, spurring even more development, investments. The upper reaches of the river above the head of navigation at the line were explored by fur trading parties sent by Abraham Wood during the late 17th century. Although ocean-going ships were unable to navigate beyond present-day Richmond, portage of products, produce from the Piedmont and Great Valley regions traveled down the river to seaports at Richmond and Manchester through such port towns as Lynchburg, Scottsville, Columbia and Buchanan. The James River was considered as a route for transport of produce from the Ohio Valley, the James River and Kanawha Canal was built for this purpose, to provide a navigable portion of the Kanawha River, a tributary of the Ohio River. For the most mountainous section between the two points, the James River and Kanawha Turnpike was built to provide a link via wagons. However, before the canal could be completed, in the mid-19th century, railroads emerged as a more practical technology. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was completed between Richmond and the Ohio River at the new city of Huntington, West Virginia by 1873, dooming the canals economic prospects. In the 1880s, the Richmond and Alleghany Railroad was laid along the portion of the canals towpath. In modern times, this line is used primarily in transporting West Virginia coal to export coal piers at Newport News. The James River contains numerous parks and other recreational attractions, canoeing, fishing, kayaking, hiking, and swimming are some of the activities that people enjoy along the river during the summer
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York River (Virginia)
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The York River is a navigable estuary, approximately 34 miles long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. It ranges in width from 1 mile at its head to 2.5 miles near its mouth on the west side of Chesapeake Bay and its watershed drains an area including portions of 17 counties of the coastal plain of Virginia north and east of Richmond. Its banks were inhabited by indigenous peoples for thousands of years, in 2003 evidence was found of the likely site of Werowocomoco, one of two capitals used by the paramount chief Powhatan before 1609. The site was inhabited since 1200 CE as a major village, enormously important in later U. S. history, the river was also the scene of early settlements of the Virginia Colony. It was the site of significant events and battles in both the American Revolutionary War and the American Civil War, the York River is formed at West Point, approximately 35 miles east of Richmond, by the confluence of the Mattaponi and Pamunkey rivers. It drains into the Chesapeake Bay towards the southeast, entering the bay approximately 5 miles east of Yorktown, U. S. Highway 17 crosses the estuary from Yorktown to Gloucester Point on the George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge. The York River was formerly known as the Pamunkey River by the Native Americans, colonists of the Virginia Company in the 17th century first called it the Charles River. In 2002-2003, archeological evidence was found of an ancient settlement on the York River at Purtan Bay. With excavations since then, researchers have concluded this is likely the site of Werowocomoco and they have found evidence of a large residential village inhabited since 1200 CE, with major earthworks constructed in 1400 CE, more than 200 years prior to the English colonists. In 2006 the Werowocomoco Archeological Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, excavations continue by a team from the College of William and Mary, the Virginia Department of Natural History and representatives of Virginia descendant tribes of the Powhatan. The peninsula formed by the York and the James rivers just to the south became the scene of the end campaign of the American Revolutionary War in October 1781. The British Army under Cornwallis at Yorktown found itself cornered by the Americans under George Washington on land, the ensuing American victory at the Battle of Yorktown forced the surrender of Cornwallis and the end of the war in the east. During the American Civil War, the area became the theater of the Peninsular Campaign of 1862. In modern times, York River State Park is located along the southern shore northwest of Yorktown in James City County, also on the south shore are several large military reservations, including Camp Peary and the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown of the U. S. Navy. Large areas of preserved wetlands and forest are considered important to migratory waterfowl. The National Park Services Colonial Parkway provides a passage through a portion of this natural area between Williamsburg and Yorktown. The only vehicular crossing of the York River is the George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge, the toll bridge, which was rebuilt and expanded in the mid-1990s, collects a $2 toll for automobile traffic, the fee is collected only from northbound drivers. The bridge has one of the sites of a special program to establish
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Colony of Virginia
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The Colony of Virginia was the first permanently settled English colony in North America. Newfoundland, with settlements, had been established as a colony by Royal Charter in 1583. American archaeologist William Kelso says Virginia is where the British Empire began and this was the first colony in the British Empire. The colony existed briefly during the 16th century, and then continuously from 1607 until the American Revolution, the name Virginia was first applied by Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I in 1584. In 1607, members of a joint venture called the Virginia Company founded Jamestown, tobacco became Virginias first profitable export, the production of which had a significant impact on the society and settlement patterns. In 1624, the Virginia Companys charter was revoked by King James I, from 1619 to 1776, the legislature of the Virginia was the House of Burgesses, which governed in conjunction with a colonial governor. Jamestown remained the capital of the Virginia colony until 1699, from 1699 until its dissolution the capital was in Williamsburg and it experienced its first major political turmoil with Bacons Rebellion of 1676. The name Virginia is the oldest designation for English claims in North America, the latter word may have inspired the Queen to name the colony Virginia, noting her status as the Virgin Queen. in Carolina Algonquian, and was not the name of the country as previously misunderstood. Virginia was originally a term used to refer to North Americas entire eastern coast from the 34th parallel north to 48th parallel and this area included a large section of Canada and the shores of Acadia. In gratitude for Virginians loyalty to the crown during the English Civil War, Charles II gave it the title of Old Dominion, Virginia maintains Old Dominion as its state nickname. Accordingly, the University of Virginias athletic teams use Cavaliers as one of their nicknames, earlier attempts had been made by the Spanish in what is now Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, and by the French in South Carolina. Farther south, the Spanish colony of Spanish Florida, centered on St. Augustine, was established in 1565, while to the north, in 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh sent his first colonization mission to the island of Roanoke. This was the first English settlement, although it did not survive and it was a military research expedition with a very narrow focus. In 1587, Raleigh sent another group to attempt to establish a permanent settlement. The first English child born in the New World was named Virginia Dare, the expedition leader, John White returned to England for supplies that same year, but was unable to return to the colony due to war between England and Spain. When he finally did return in 1590, he found the colony abandoned, the houses were intact, but the colonists had completely disappeared. Although there are a number of theories about the fate of the colony, Dare County was named in honor of the baby Virginia Dare, who was among those whose fate is unknown. The word Croatoan was found carved into a tree, the name of a tribe on a nearby island, following the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, King James I ascended to the throne
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American Revolution
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The British responded by imposing punitive laws on Massachusetts in 1774 known as the Coercive Acts, following which Patriots in the other colonies rallied behind Massachusetts. Tensions escalated to the outbreak of fighting between Patriot militia and British regulars at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the conflict then developed into a global war, during which the Patriots fought the British and Loyalists in what became known as the American Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress determined King George IIIs rule to be tyrannical and infringing the rights as Englishmen. The Patriot leadership professed the political philosophies of liberalism and republicanism to reject monarchy and aristocracy, Congress rejected British proposals requiring allegiance to the monarchy and abandonment of independence. The British were forced out of Boston in 1776, but then captured and they blockaded the ports and captured other cities for brief periods, but failed to defeat Washingtons forces. After a failed Patriot invasion of Canada, a British army was captured at the Battle of Saratoga in late 1777, a combined American–French force captured a second British army at Yorktown in 1781, effectively ending the war in the United States. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 formally ended the conflict, confirming the new nations complete separation from the British Empire. The United States took possession of all the territory east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes, with the British retaining control of Canada. Among the significant results of the revolution was the creation of a new Constitution of the United States. Historians typically begin their histories of the American Revolution with the British victory in the French and Indian War in 1763, the lands west of Quebec and west of a line running along the crest of the Allegheny mountains became Indian territory, temporarily barred to settlement. For the prior history, see Thirteen Colonies, in 1764, Parliament passed the Currency Act to restrain the use of paper money which British merchants saw as a means to evade debt payments. Parliament also passed the Sugar Act, imposing customs duties on a number of articles, none did and Parliament passed the Stamp Act in March 1765 which imposed direct taxes on the colonies for the first time. All official documents, newspapers, almanacs, and pamphlets—even decks of playing cards—were required to have the stamps, the colonists did not object that the taxes were high, but because they had no representation in the Parliament. Benjamin Franklin testified in Parliament in 1766 that Americans already contributed heavily to the defense of the Empire, stationing a standing army in Great Britain during peacetime was politically unacceptable. London had to deal with 1,500 politically well-connected British officers who became redundant, in 1765, the Sons of Liberty formed. They used public demonstrations, boycott, violence, and threats of violence to ensure that the British tax laws were unenforceable, in Boston, the Sons of Liberty burned the records of the vice admiralty court and looted the home of chief justice Thomas Hutchinson. Several legislatures called for united action, and nine colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress in New York City in October 1765, moderates led by John Dickinson drew up a Declaration of Rights and Grievances stating that taxes passed without representation violated their rights as Englishmen. Colonists emphasized their determination by boycotting imports of British merchandise, the Parliament at Westminster saw itself as the supreme lawmaking authority throughout all British possessions and thus entitled to levy any tax without colonial approval
21.
College of William & Mary
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The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. William & Mary educated U. S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, a young George Washington also received his surveyors license through the College. W&M students founded the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society in 1776, the establishment of graduate programs in law and medicine in 1779 makes it one of the first universities in the United States. In addition to its program, W&M is home to several graduate programs. Named in honor of the reigning monarchs King William III and Queen Mary II, the original plans for the College date back to 1618 but were thwarted by the Indian Massacre of 1622, a change in government, events related to the English Civil War, and Bacons Rebellion. In 1695 before the town of Williamsburg existed, construction began on the College Building, now known as the Sir Christopher Wren Building and it is the oldest college building in America. The College is one of the countrys nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution, the Charter named James Blair as the Colleges first president. William & Mary was founded as an Anglican institution, students were required to be members of the Church of England, and professors were required to declare adherence to the Thirty-Nine Articles. In 1693, the College was given a seat in the House of Burgesses and it was determined the College would be supported by taxes and export duties on furs. The College acquired a 330 acres parcel for the new school,8 miles from Jamestown, in 1694, the new school opened in temporary buildings. Williamsburg was granted a charter as a city in 1722 by the Crown. During this time, the College served as a law center and it educated future U. S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Tyler. The College has been called the Alma Mater of a Nation because of its ties to Americas founding fathers. A 17-year-old George Washington received his surveyors license through the College, William & Mary is famous for its firsts, the first U. S. institution with a Royal Charter, the first Greek-letter society, the first student honor code and the first law school in America. The College became a school in 1906 and became coeducational in 1918. In 1928, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. chose the College Building as the first building to be returned to its 18th-century appearance as part of the iconic Colonial Williamsburg restoration. During the period of the American Revolution, freedom of religion was established in Virginia notably with the 1786 passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, in 1779 the college became the first American university with the establishment of the graduate schools in law and medicine. The College of William and Mary is home to the nations first collegiate secret society, Society, popularly known as the Flat Hat Club, founded November 11,1750
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Colonial colleges
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The colonial colleges are nine institutions of higher education chartered in the American Colonies before the United States of America became a sovereign nation after the American Revolution. These nine have long been considered together, notably in the survey of their origins in the 1907 The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Seven of the nine colonial colleges are part of the Ivy League athletic conference, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Brown, and Dartmouth. The two colonial colleges not in the Ivy League are now both public universities—the College of William & Mary in Virginia and Rutgers University in New Jersey, William & Mary was a royal institution from 1693 until the American Revolution. Between the Revolution and the American Civil War, William & Mary was a private institution and it suffered significant damage during the Civil War and began to receive public support in the 1880s. William & Mary officially became a college in 1906. Seven of the nine colonial colleges began their histories as institutions of higher learning de novo, Dartmouth College began operating in 1768 as the collegiate department of Moors Charity School, a secondary school started in 1754 by Dartmouth founder Eleazar Wheelock. Dartmouth considers its founding date to be 1769, when it was granted a collegiate charter, listed below are the founding dates of the schools which served as predecessor entities and the years in which they were chartered to operate an institution of higher learning. First university in the United States
23.
Southern United States
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The Southern United States, commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South, is a region of the United States of America. The South does not fully match the geographic south of the United States, arizona and New Mexico, which are geographically in the southern part of the country, are rarely considered part, while West Virginia, which separated from Virginia in 1863, commonly is. Some scholars have proposed definitions of the South that do not coincide neatly with state boundaries, while the states of Delaware and Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia permitted slavery prior to the start of the Civil War, they remained with the Union. However, the United States Census Bureau puts them in the South, usually, the South is defined as including the southeastern and south-central United States. The region is known for its culture and history, having developed its own customs, musical styles, and cuisines, the Southern ethnic heritage is diverse and includes strong European, African, and some Native American components. Since the late 1960s, black people have many offices in Southern states, especially in the coastal states of Virginia. Historically, the South relied heavily on agriculture, and was rural until after 1945. It has since become more industrialized and urban and has attracted national and international migrants, the American South is now among the fastest-growing areas in the United States. Houston is the largest city in the Southern United States, sociological research indicates that Southern collective identity stems from political, demographic, and cultural distinctiveness from the rest of the United States. The region contains almost all of the Bible Belt, an area of high Protestant church attendance and predominantly conservative, indeed, studies have shown that Southerners are more conservative than non-Southerners in several areas, including religion, morality, international relations and race relations. Apart from its climate, the experience in the South increasingly resembles the rest of the nation. The arrival of millions of Northerners and millions of Hispanics meant the introduction of cultural values, the process has worked both ways, however, with aspects of Southern culture spreading throughout a greater portion of the rest of the United States in a process termed Southernization. The question of how to define the subregions in the South has been the focus of research for nearly a century, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, the Southern region of the United States includes sixteen states. As of 2010, an estimated 114,555,744 people, or thirty-seven percent of all U. S. residents, lived in the South, the nations most populous region. Other terms related to the South include, The Old South, the New South, usually including the South Atlantic States. The Solid South, region largely controlled by the Democratic Party from 1877 to 1964, before that, blacks were elected to national office and many to local office through the 1880s, Populist-Republican coalitions gained victories for Fusionist candidates for governors in the 1890s. Includes at least all the 11 former Confederate States, Southeastern United States, usually including the Carolinas, the Virginias, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. The Deep South, various definitions, usually including Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, occasionally, parts of adjoining states are included
24.
Jamestown Settlement
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Jamestown Settlement is a living history museum operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, created in 1957 as Jamestown Festival Park for the 350th anniversary celebration. It is located adjacent to the Colonial National Historical Park site, which includes Jamestown, the Colonial Parkway connects all of these sites. Late in the 19th century, Jamestown became the focus of renewed historical interest, in 1893, a portion of the island was donated to Preservation Virginia for that purpose, including the ruined church tower. A return to Jamestown itself was considered feasible by 1957, in time for the 350th anniversary of the founding of the London Company settlement at Jamestown. Attractions were developed by the US National Park Service and the Commonwealth of Virginia which included the reconstructed Glasshouse, the Memorial Cross, and the visitors center. The 1957 celebrations continued from April 1 to November 30 with more than one million participants, including dignitaries and politicians such as the British Ambassador, full-sized replicas were constructed of the three ships that brought the colonists, the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery. They were built at a shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia and relocated to nearby Glass House Point for the festival. There nearly 25,000 visitors at the Festival Park on October 16,1957, Queen Elizabeth lent a copy of Magna Carta for the exhibition. Other events in 1957 included army and navy reviews, air force fly-overs, ship and aircraft christenings, Jamestown Settlement was greatly expanded early in the 21st century as part of the Jamestown 2007 quadricentennial celebration. The Jamestown Settlement galleries provide the setting for a collection of objects relating to the nation’s beginnings in 17th-century Virginia. More than 500 artifacts are exhibited at any one time in the galleries, in Living History, visitors can journey to the past in re-creations of a Powhatan Indian village and the 1610-14 colonial fort. The park also allows visitors to board replicas of the three ships sailed from England to Virginia in 1607. In the outdoor areas, costumed historical interpreters describe and demonstrate life in early 17th century Jamestown. Regular events are held to link with the themes of the area - such as military re-enactments, historic trades fairs, lectures. The next major event is the 410th Anniversary of the founding of the settlement, scheduled for mid-May 2017, similarly, Pocahontas Imagined will commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the death of Pocahontas in July 2017. Further, the American Indian Intertribal Powwow will be there in October 2017. It is also next to the Jamestown Glasshouse, Jamestown, Virginia Historic Jamestowne History of the Jamestown Settlement Media related to Jamestown Settlement at Wikimedia Commons Jamestown Settlement Official Webpage
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Yorktown, Virginia
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Yorktown is a census-designated place in York County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1682, Yorktowns population was 195 as of the 2010 census, while York Countys population was 66,134 in the 2011 census estimate. Although the war would last for another year, this British defeat at Yorktown effectively ended the war, Yorktown also figured prominently in the American Civil War, serving as a major port to supply both northern and southern towns, depending upon who held Yorktown at the time. Today, Yorktown is one of three sites of the Historic Triangle, which also includes Jamestown and Williamsburg as important colonial-era settlements and it is the eastern terminus of the Colonial Parkway connecting these locations. Yorktown is also the terminus of the TransAmerica Trail, a bicycle touring route created by the Adventure Cycling Association. One of Yorktowns historic sister cities is Zweibrücken in Germany, based on participation of a unit from there during the American Revolutionary War. Yorktown, named for the ancient city of York in Yorkshire, the lawyer Thomas Ballard was the principal founder of the city along with Joseph Ring. It was called York until after the American Revolutionary War, when the name Yorktown came into common use, the town reached the height of its development around 1750, when it had 250 to 300 buildings and a population of almost 2,000 people. It was the base of British General Charles Cornwallis during the 1781 siege, in his Notes on the State of Virginia published in 1781–82, Thomas Jefferson noted that the York River at Yorktown affords the best harbour in the state for vessels of the largest size. The river there narrows to the width of a mile, and is contained within very high banks, in addition, tobacco exhausted the soil, and planters shifted to mixed crops, which required less slave labor. Many generations of younger sons migrated out of the Tidewater area to new lands further west, into the Piedmont and beyond to Kentucky, Tennessee and what became the Northwest Territory. During the 1862 Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War, the town was captured by the Union following the Siege and it was used as a base by the Union Army of the Potomac under General George B. McClellan to launch an attack on Richmond. One of Yorktowns sister cities is Zweibrücken, Germany and this was one of the four regiments that arrived at Newport, Rhode Island with Rochambeau in 1780. It participated on the side of Americans in the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, during World War I, to support Atlantic defenses, the federal government in 1918 acquired about 13,000 acres for development by the US Navy as Mine Depot, Yorktown. This large installation straddled York, Warwick and James City counties and it has since expanded and been developed as Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. Cheatham Annex, a facility which was developed over the town of Penniman, is also included as part of the base. United States Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown serves as a school for the United States Coast Guard. Also relatively close to Yorktown are Camp Peary, the Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuilding yards and facilities, other major installations in the area are Naval Station Norfolk, located at Norfolk, and Langley Air Force Base in Hampton
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Historic Triangle
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The points that form the triangle are Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, and Yorktown. They feature many restored attractions and are linked by the Colonial Parkway in James City and York counties, describing the significance to the United States of the three main points of the Historic Triangle, the Reverend Dr. W. A. R. Goodwin, rector of Bruton Parish Church and co-founder of Colonial Williamsburg, said, Williamsburg is Jamestown continued, intended to help visitors mentally return to the past, it has views of waterway and natural areas, and wildlife and waterfowl along the roadway. The peninsula has major military installations, near the James River and York River ends of the parkway, there are several pull-offs. Families can admire the view and also allow their children to feed bread to the seagulls, the Colonial Parkway is free of tolls or user fees. The Parkway starts in Yorktown, passes through Colonial Williamsburg and ends in Jamestown, no commercial vehicles are allowed to use the parkway for transportation, although commuter traffic has increased dramatically in the early 21st century. Some visitors from the South travel to the area across the James River by ferry from Surry County, State Route 10 and State Route 31 lead to Scotland Wharf. Visitors can take one of the four Jamestown Ferries, which include the Pocahontas, as passengers cross, they can leave their vehicles and can walk about or go up to an enclosed viewing level with restrooms. During favorable weather and daylight hours, northbound passengers usually see the Jamestown Island much as the first colonists may have approached it, replicas of Christopher Newports three tiny ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery are docked near the northern ferry landing at Glass House Point. The state-operated Jamestown Ferry service is toll-free, the first permanent English settlement in the New World was established at Jamestown in 1607. Middle Plantation was soon renamed Williamsburg, in honor of King William III, in 1780 during the revolution, the capital and government were moved to a more secure location at Richmond. Williamsburg became a sleepy little town for almost 150 years, as many young people left the Tidewater area in search of new lands to the west. In the early 20th century, the town was revived due to the efforts of Reverend Dr. W. A. R. They worked for decades to develop that vision to honor the colonial capital. Today, the result of efforts, Colonial Williamsburg, is a large living museum of early American life. It has 88 original buildings and dozens of restored and recreated buildings and it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The Visitors Center features a short movie and it has a parking area, as automobiles are restricted from the restored area. A wheelchair-accessible shuttle bus service is provided, the third point of the triangle is Yorktown, where General Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington in 1781 in the last land battle of the American Revolution
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History of Williamsburg, Virginia
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Williamsburg, Virginia, has had a long history dating to the 17th century. The city was first named End Plantation and changed its name to Williamsburg in 1699, prior to the arrival of the English colonists at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia in 1607, the area which became Williamsburg was largely wooded. It was well within the territory of the Native American group known as the Powhatan Confederacy, in the early colonial period, the navigable rivers were the equivalent of modern highways. For ease of travel, and security from conflicts with the Native Americans, to offer protection for the farming and fishing communities lower on the Peninsula, the colonists built a stockade across the lake to provide some security from attacks by the natives. Lying along the center-line of the Virginia Peninsula, the location which became Williamsburg was some distance from both the James River and the York River, the elevation of the ground gradually decreased as it approached the shore of each. Near Williamsburg, College Creek and Queens Creek each fed into one of the two rivers, by anchoring each end on one of these two creeks, the land area was only about 6 miles wide at that point, much less than at other locations. The area which became Williamsburg was settled in 1638 and called Middle Plantation, the cross-peninsula defensive palisade completed in 1634 was an integral part of the creation of Middle Plantation, though its exact route is long gone. Jamestown, which had been the capital of Virginia Colony. The members of the House of Burgesses found the surroundings both safer and more pleasant environmentally than Jamestown, which was muggy 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. When Reverend Blair returned to Virginia, the new school was founded in a safe place, classes began in temporary quarters in 1694, and the College Building, a precursor to the Wren Building, was soon under construction. Four years later, the statehouse in Jamestown burned again. The government once again relocated temporarily to Middle Plantation, but now enjoyed use of the Colleges facilities in addition to the better climate. After that fire, upon suggestion of the students of the College, who made a presentation to the House of Burgesses, a village was laid out and Middle Plantation was renamed Williamsburg in honor of King William III of England, befitting the towns newly elevated status. Following its designation as the Capital of the Colony, immediate provision was made for construction of a capitol building, on April 27,1704, Francis Nicholson asked the House of Burgesses to allow purchase of four old homes on the site so they could be demolished. On May 5, Henry Cary and his workers tore the homes down, the transaction may be the first documented condemnation proceeding in American history. In 1722, the town of Williamsburg was granted a charter as a city. Middle Plantation was included in James City Shire when it was established in 1634, however, the middle ground ridge line was essentially the dividing line with Charles River Shire, which eventually became York County
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Jamestown, Virginia
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The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. William Kelso writes that Jamestown is where the British Empire began, Jamestown was established by the Virginia Company of London as James Fort on May 4,1607, and was considered permanent after brief abandonment in 1610. It followed several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke, Jamestown served as the capital of the colony of Virginia for 83 years, from 1616 until 1699. The settlement was located within the country of Tsenacommacah, which was ruled by the Powhatan Confederacy, the natives initially welcomed and provided crucial provisions and support for the colonists, who were not agriculturally inclined. Relations with the newcomers soured fairly early on, leading to the annihilation of the Paspahegh in warfare within 3 years. Mortality at Jamestown itself was very high due to disease and starvation, the Second Supply also brought the first two European women to the settlement. They most likely worked in the fields as indentured servants. The modern conception of slavery in the future United States was formalized in 1640 and was entrenched in Virginia by 1660. In 1676, the town was burned during Bacons Rebellion. In 1699, the capital was relocated from Jamestown to what is today Williamsburg, after which Jamestown ceased to exist as a settlement, existing today only as an archaeological site. Today, Jamestown is one of three locations comprising the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia, along with Williamsburg and Yorktown, with two primary heritage sites, Historic Jamestowne, the archaeological site on Jamestown Island, is a cooperative effort by Jamestown National Historic Site and Preservation Virginia. Jamestown Settlement, a living history site, is operated by the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation. Spain, Portugal, and France moved quickly to establish a presence in the New World, the English did not attempt to found colonies until many decades after the explorations of John Cabot, and early efforts were failures—most notably the Roanoke Colony which vanished about 1590. Late in 1606, English entrepreneurs set sail with a charter from the London Company to establish a colony in the New World, the fleet consisted of the ships Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed, all under the leadership of Captain Christopher Newport. They made a long voyage of four months, including a stop in Puerto Rico. The expedition made landfall on April 26,1607 at a place which they named Cape Henry, Captain Edward Maria Wingfield was elected president of the governing council on April 25,1607. On May 14, he selected a piece of land on a peninsula some 40 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean as a prime location for a fortified settlement. Perhaps the most favorable fact about the location was that it was not inhabited by nearby Virginia Indian tribes, the island was swampy and isolated, and it offered limited space, was plagued by mosquitoes, and afforded only brackish tidal river water unsuitable for drinking
29.
Powhatan
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The Powhatan are a Native American people in Virginia. It may also refer to a leader of those tribes. It is estimated there were about 14, 000–21,000 Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607. They were also known as Virginia Algonquians, as they spoke a language known as Powhatan or Virginia Algonquian. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a mamanatowick named Wahunsunacawh, created an organization by affiliating 30 tributary peoples. Wahunsunacawh came to be known by the English as Powhatan, each of the tribes within this organization had its own weroance, but all paid tribute to Powhatan. After Powhatans death in 1618, hostilities with colonists escalated under the chiefdom of his brother, Opechancanough and his large-scale attacks in 1622 and 1644 met strong reprisals by the English, resulting in the near elimination of the tribe. By 1646, what is called the Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom by modern historians had been decimated, the Native Americans did not have any immunity to these, which had been endemic in Europe and Asia for centuries. The wholesale deaths greatly weakened and hollowed out the Native American societies, by the mid-17th century, the leaders of the colony were desperate for labor to develop the land. Almost half of the English and European immigrants arrived as indentured servants, as settlement continued, the colonists imported growing numbers of enslaved Africans for labor. By 1700, the colonies had about 6,000 black slaves and it was common for black slaves to escape and join the surrounding Powhatan, some white servants were also noted to have joined the Indians. Africans and whites worked and lived together, some also intermarried with them. After Bacons Rebellion in 1676, the colony enslaved Indians for control, in 1691, the House of Burgesses abolished Indian slavery, however, many Powhatan were held in servitude well into the 18th century. In the 21st century, eight Indian tribes are recognized by Virginia as having ancestral ties to the Powhatan confederation. The Pamunkey and Mattaponi are the two peoples who have retained reservation lands from the 17th century. The Powhatan Renape Nation has been recognized by the state of New Jersey, the competing cultures of the Powhatan and English settlers were united through unions and marriages of members, of which the most well known was that of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. Their son Thomas Rolfe was the ancestor of many Virginians, many of the First Families of Virginia have both English and Virginia Indian ancestry, the name Powhatan is the name of the native village or town of Wahunsunacawh. The title Chief or King Powhatan, used by the English is believed to have derived from the name of this site
30.
Indian massacre of 1622
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The Indian Massacre of 1622 took place in the English Colony of Virginia, in what now belongs to the United States, on Friday,22 March 1622. The Powhatan grabbed any tools or weapons available and killed all English settlers they found, Chief Opechancanough led a coordinated series of surprise attacks by the Powhatan Confederacy that killed 347 people, a quarter of the English population of Jamestown. Jamestown, founded in 1607, was the site of the first successful English settlement in North America and its tobacco economy led to constant expansion and seizure of Powhatan lands, which ultimately provoked a violent reaction. Although Jamestown was spared due to a timely warning, the Powhatan also attacked and destroyed many smaller settlements along the James River. In addition to killing settlers, the Powhatan burned houses and crops, the English abandoned many of the smaller settlements after the attacks. At first, the natives were glad to trade provisions to the colonists for metal tools and this earned the colonists a bad reputation among the Native Americans and precipitated conflict. They isolated the Native Americans, burned houses, and stole their food supplies. The English violence alienated the natives further and they laid siege to the Jamestown fort for several months, unable to secure more food supplies, many colonists died during the starving time in 1609–10. The London Companys primary concern was the survival of the colony, in Englands best interest, the colonists would have to maintain civil relations with the Powhatan. The Powhatan and the English realized that they could benefit from each other through trade once peace was restored. In exchange for food, the chief asked the colonists to provide him with metal hatchets, the English wanted more, they wanted control over the land. When Gates arrived at Jamestown in 1610, he decided to evacuate the settlement because he thought the plan was not feasible. As the colonists were about to leave the Bay and head out into the open sea, taking command as governor, de la Warre ordered the fort reoccupied. He plotted conquest of the surrounding tribes, in July 1610 he sent Gates against the Kecoughtan. “Gates lured the Indians into the open by means of music-and-dance act by his drummer and this was the First Anglo-Powhatan War. The English, led by Samuel Argall captured Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan, “English demanded that all Powhatan captives be released, return all English weapons taken by his warriors, and agree upon a lasting peace”. It was while Pocahontas was held by the English that she met John Rolfe, while in captivity, Pocahontas was taught the English language, manners and religion. She was baptized as a Christian and took the name Rebecca
31.
Bacon's Rebellion
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Bacons Rebellion was an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. A thousand Virginians of all classes and races rose up in arms against Berkeley, attacking Indians, chasing Berkeley from Jamestown, Virginia, the rebellion was first suppressed by a few armed merchant ships from London whose captains sided with Berkeley and the loyalists. Government forces from England arrived soon after and spent several years defeating pockets of resistance and it was the first rebellion in the American colonies in which discontented frontiersmen took part. A similar uprising in Maryland took place later that year, while the farmers did not succeed in their initial goal of driving the Indians from Virginia, the rebellion did result in Berkeley being recalled to England. The immediate cause of the rebellion was Governor William Berkeleys refusal to retaliate for a series of Indian attacks on frontier settlements, in addition, many colonists wished to push westward to claim Indian frontier land, but they were denied permission by Gov. Berkeley. Modern historians have suggested it may have been a play by Bacon against Berkeley. Bacons financial backers included men of wealth from outside Berkeleys circle of influence, historian Peter Thompson argues that Bacons motivation was a personal vendetta between him and Berkeley. When Sir William Berkeley refused to retaliate against the Indians, farmers gathered around at the report of a new raiding party, Nathaniel Bacon arrived with a quantity of brandy, after it was distributed, he was elected leader. Against Berkeleys orders, the group struck south until they came to the Occaneechi tribe, after getting the Occaneechi to attack the Susquehannock, Bacon and his men followed by killing most of the men, women, and children at the village. Upon their return, they discovered that Berkeley had called for new elections to the Burgesses in order to facilitate the Indian problem. The recomposed House of Burgesses enacted a number of sweeping reforms and it limited the powers of the governor and restored suffrage rights to landless freemen. After passage of laws, Bacon arrived with 500 followers in Jamestown to demand a commission to lead militia against the Indians. The governor, however, refused to yield to the pressure, when Bacon had his men take aim at Berkeley, he responded by baring his breast to Bacon and told Bacon to shoot him. Seeing that the Governor would not be moved, Bacon then had his men take aim at the assembled burgesses, Bacon had earlier been promised a commission before he retired to his estate if he could only be on good behavior for two weeks. While Bacon was at Jamestown with his army, eight colonists were killed on the frontier in Henrico County due to a lack of manpower on the frontier. On July 30,1676, Bacon and his army issued the Declaration of the People of Virginia, the declaration criticized Berkeleys administration in detail. It accused him of levying taxes, appointing friends to high positions. After months of conflict, Bacons forces, numbering 300-500 men and they burned the colonial capital to the ground on September 19,1676
32.
William Berkeley (governor)
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As proprietor of Green Spring Plantation in James City County, he experimented with activities such as growing silkworms as part of his efforts to expand the tobacco-based economy. Berkeley enacted friendly policies toward the Native Americans that led to the revolt by some of the planters in 1676 which became known as Bacons Rebellion, in the aftermath, King Charles II was angered by the retribution exacted against the rebels by Berkeley, and recalled him to England. Berkeley was born in 1605 in Bruton, Somersetshire to Sir Maurice and Elizabeth Berkeley, of the Bruton branch of the Berkeley family, referred to as “Will” by his family and friends, he was born in the winter of 1605 into landed gentry. His father died when he was twelve and, though indebted and his elder brother was John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton. Young Berkeley showed signs of a wit and broad learning. His informal education consisted of observing his elders, from them he learned “the moves that governed the larger English society and his place in it. ”Also, as part of the English country gentry, he was aware of agricultural practices. Though his father died in debt, Berkeley secured a proper education and he entered grammar school at about six or seven years old where he became literate in Latin and English. At eighteen, like the other Berkeley men, he entered Oxford and he began his studies at Queen’s College in the footsteps of his forebears, but quickly transferred to St. Edmund Hall, a “throwback to medieval times”. He received, though not necessarily completed, a B. A. in fifteen months of his arrival at the Hall, all undergraduates at St. Edmund Hall received a personal tutor. While the identity of Berkeley’s tutor is unsure, his effect upon the boy showed through William’s “disciplined intellect, in 1632, he gained a place in the household of Charles I. That position gave him entré into a literary circle known as The Wits. Berkeley wrote several plays, one of which—The Lost Lady, A Tragy Comedy—was performed for Charles I and it is also included in the first and fourth editions of Dodsleys Old Plays, and A Description of Virginia. Soldiering in the First and Second Bishops Wars gained Berkeley a knighthood, Berkeley replaced Sir Francis Wyatt as governor of Virginia in 1641. He was governor of the colony of Virginia from 1641–1652 and 1660–1677, Berkeley’s main initiative when he first became governor was to encourage diversification of Virginia’s agricultural products. He accomplished this through passing laws and by setting himself up as an example for planters, arriving at Jamestown in 1642, Berkeley erected Green Spring House on a tract of land west of the capital, where he experimented with alternatives to tobacco. It was at Green Spring that he planted such diverse crops as “corn, wheat, barley, rye, rape, tobacco, oranges, lemons, grapes, sugar and silk. Berkeley devoted much of his time as a planter to experimenting with alternatives to tobacco, although he produced the crop. As a planter, with Virginia in mind, Berkeley constantly attempted to determine the best crops for the state through trial, at the Restoration, Berkeley was reappointed governor
33.
House of Burgesses
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The Virginia House of Burgesses /ˈbɜːrdʒəsɪz/ was the first legislative assembly of elected representatives in North America. From 1619 to 1776, the branch of the legislature of Virginia was the House of Burgesses. Jamestown remained the capital of the Virginia colony until 1699, when the government was moved to Williamsburg, in 1776 the colony became the independent Commonwealth of Virginia and the House of Burgesses became the House of Delegates. Originally a synonym of burgher or bourgeois, the word came to mean a borough representative in local or parliamentary government. The Colony of Virginia was founded by an English stock company, early governors provided the stern leadership and harsh judgments required for the colony to survive its early difficulties. To encourage settlers to come to Virginia, in 1618–1619, the Virginia Companys leaders drew up a great charter, emigrants who paid their own way to Virginia would receive fifty acres of land. They would not be mere tenants, civil authority would control the military. A council of burgesses, representatives chosen by the inhabitants of the colony for their government, the House of Assembly was created at the same time in Bermuda and held its first session in 1620. A handful of Polish craftsmen, brought to the colony to supply skill in the manufacture of pitch, tar, potash and they downed tools in protest, but returned to work after being declared free and enfranchised, apparently by agreement with the Virginia Company. On July 30,1619, the first European-style legislative assembly in the Americas convened for a meeting at the church on Jamestown Island. Together, the House of Burgesses and the Council would be the Virginia General Assembly, the Houses first session of July 30,1619, accomplished little, being cut short by an outbreak of malaria. By 1624, the government in London had heard enough about the problems of the colony. Virginia became a colony and the governor and council would be chosen by the king. Nonetheless, the form of government of the colony was retained. In 1634, the General Assembly divided the colony into eight shires for purposes of government, administration, by 1643, the expanding colony had 15 counties. All of the county offices, including a board of commissioners, judges, sheriff, constable, only the members of the House of Burgesses were elected by a vote of the people. Women had no right to vote, while all free men originally were given the right to vote, by 1670 only property owners were allowed to vote. In 1652, the forces of Oliver Cromwell forced the colony to submit to their takeover of the English government
34.
Henricus
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It was named for Prince Henry, the eldest son of King James I. The site of Henricus later became part of the Shire of Henrico, in 1749, the portion of Henrico County that lay south of the James River was detached to form the present-day Chesterfield County. Today, the settlement is interpreted via Henricus Historical Park, a history museum. Henricus was one of the earliest English settlements in the New World and it was located on the James River, a few miles southeast of the modern city of Richmond, Virginia. Prior to the development of Richmond, Henricus was one of the westernmost outlying developments from the Colony of Virginias fortified capital downriver at Jamestown. In 1612–1613, a facility known as Mt. Malady was built nearby and this settlement was near where Pocahontas grew up among the Appomattoc tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy. Reverend Alexander Whitaker converted her to Christianity during her captivity under Sir Thomas Dale and she met settler John Rolfe during this time and they married on April 5,1614. Rolfes longtime friend, Richard Buck, presided at their wedding and they lived together across the river at the Varina Farms Plantation. Their mixed-race son, Thomas Rolfe, was born on the plantation and his descendants were among many of the so-called First Families of Virginia. The Virginia Company tried to found the first institution of education in British America. In 1618, they obtained a charter for a proposed University of Henrico. By 1622, the settlers had established a school for Native Americans on the site, much of the English settlement was destroyed in the Indian Massacre of 1622. By 1623, more settlers occupied the land than before the massacre. The next year King James I of England dissolved the Virginia Company and its college, seizing its assets, the Crown controlled it from then on. In 1693, the College of William and Mary was established in Williamsburg, a plaque on the Wren Building, the colleges first structure, ascribes the institutions origin to the college proposed at Henrico. The area later saw action during the American Revolutionary War, the channel was later widened, and the old river channel silted up, forming what is now the 810-acre Dutch Gap Conservation Area. Eventually the exact location of the town of Henricus was forgotten. The 12-acre archeological site in Chesterfield County was listed as Henrico on the U. S. National Register of Historic Places in 1972
35.
James Blair (Virginia)
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James Blair was a Scottish born clergyman in the Church of England. He was also a missionary and an educator, best known as the founder of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, James Blair was born in Banffshire, Scotland as one of five children. His father, Robert Blair, was a clergyman, James Blair was educated at Marischal College, University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh. After completing his education, in 1679 he was ordained in the national Church of Scotland, during the entire seventeenth century the Kirk had been experiencing passionate internal conflicts between Presbyterians and Episcopalians. The Episcopalians were in the ascendancy during this period and the Church of Scotland was briefly aligned with the Church of England during the reign of Charles II of Scotland, Charles was a strong opponent of Presbyterianism and throughout his lifetime worked to reassert the strength of the Anglican Church. Discouraged, Blair relocated to London later that year and his initial assignment was to serve as rector of the Parish of Henrico at Varina. He developed good relationships with prominent political families, such as the Harrison family, Sarah Harrison, daughter of Benjamin Harrison Jr. became his wife on 2 June 1687. The leaders of the Virginia Colony had long wanted school to give their sons higher education, an earlier attempt to establish a permanent university at Henricus for these purposes around 1618 failed after the Indian Massacre of 1622 wiped out the entire settlement, which was not rebuilt. Moreover, the school would serve to train clergy born in the colonies for service among their neighbors, the trip to London proved successful. Blair was supported in his efforts by John Tillotson, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1693, a charter was granted for The College of William and Mary in Virginia, named to honour both monarchs. Blair was made president of the new school for life and he served for fifty years, from 1693–1743, and remains the longest serving president of the college and the second longest serving college president in US history. After Blair returned to Virginia, the trustees of the new college bought a parcel of 330 acres from Thomas Ballard for the new school. The location chosen was at Middle Plantation, a point on the Virginia Peninsula so named because it was equidistant from the James. Middle Plantation had served as a fortress during periodic conflicts with the Native Americans since its establishment in 1632, Blair established his home at nearby Rich Neck Plantation. The College was given a seat in the House of Burgesses, the new school opened in temporary buildings in 1694. Properly called the College Building, the first version of the Wren Building was built at Middle Plantation beginning on 8 August 1695, today, the Wren Building is the oldest academic structure in continuous use in America. The State House at Jamestown burned again in 1698, and as it had in the past, Williamsburg served as the capital of Virginia for 81 years, until 1780, when the capital was moved to Richmond for security reasons at the outset of the American Revolution. Incidentally, primarily due to hazards in the Colonial era
36.
Wren Building
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The Wren Building is the signature building of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. Along with the Brafferton and Presidents House, these form the Colleges Ancient Campus. With a construction dating to 1697, it is the oldest academic building in continuous use in the United States. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960, construction of the first building on this site began August 8,1695 and was completed by 1700. After several fires and rebuildings, the Wren Building was the first major building restored or reconstructed by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. after he, goodwin began Colonial Williamsburgs restoration in the late 1920s. The buildings current state dates to the 20th-century restoration by Boston architects Perry Shaw & Hepburn, Perry Shaw and Hepburns restoration reflects the buildings historic appearance from its reconstruction in 1716 after a 1705 fire to 1859, when it burned again. On the top of the building is a weather vane with the number 1693, in the early 1770s, plans were drawn up to complete the building as a quadrangle. Alumnus Thomas Jefferson drew up a floorplan submitted to Governor Dunmore, the looming War of Independence halted further construction, however, and the fourth wing was never completed. The Wren Building is the oldest academic building in use in the United States. The campus only began its expansion in the first part of the twentieth century. Students studied, attended services, and lived in the Wren Building. When the Capitol burned in 1747, the legislature moved back into the building until the Capitol was reconstructed in 1754, the building also housed a grammar school and an Indian school, which was moved to the Brafferton building, in 1723. The building was used as a hospital by the French during the American Revolutionary War. The Wren Building today has historical and ceremonial importance in addition to its academic use, each year during the opening convocation ceremony, incoming William and Mary freshmen enter the building from the courtyard, pass through the central hall, and exit on the opposite side. As seniors, students pass through the building in the direction on their way to the graduation ceremony. The Yule Log Ceremony, the Colleges holiday celebration, is every year at the Wren Building. Each fall incoming freshmen take the schools Honor Code Pledge in the buildings Great Hall, the Bishop James Madison Society, the Colleges second-oldest secret society, is rumored to meet in the Wren Building. For nearly one hundred and fifty years, the campus consisted of the three buildings- the Wren Building, the Brafferton, and the Presidents House- proportionally arranged in the College yard
37.
William III of England
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It is a coincidence that his regnal number was the same for both Orange and England. As King of Scotland, he is known as William II and he is informally known by sections of the population in Northern Ireland and Scotland as King Billy. William inherited the principality of Orange from his father, William II and his mother Mary, Princess Royal, was the daughter of King Charles I of England. In 1677, he married his fifteen-year-old first cousin, Mary, a Protestant, William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic king of France, Louis XIV, in coalition with Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith, in 1685, his Catholic father-in-law, James, Duke of York, became king of England, Ireland and Scotland. Jamess reign was unpopular with the Protestant majority in Britain, William, supported by a group of influential British political and religious leaders, invaded England in what became known as the Glorious Revolution. On 5 November 1688, he landed at the southern English port of Brixham, James was deposed and William and Mary became joint sovereigns in his place. They reigned together until her death on 28 December 1694, after which William ruled as sole monarch, Williams reputation as a staunch Protestant enabled him to take the British crowns when many were fearful of a revival of Catholicism under James. Williams victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is still commemorated by the Orange Order and his reign in Britain marked the beginning of the transition from the personal rule of the Stuarts to the more Parliament-centred rule of the House of Hanover. William III was born in The Hague in the Dutch Republic on 4 November 1650, baptised William Henry, he was the only child of stadtholder William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal. Mary was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland, eight days before William was born, his father died of smallpox, thus William was the Sovereign Prince of Orange from the moment of his birth. Immediately, a conflict ensued between his mother the Princess Royal and William IIs mother, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, over the name to be given to the infant. Mary wanted to name him Charles after her brother, but her mother-in-law insisted on giving him the name William or Willem to bolster his prospects of becoming stadtholder. William II had appointed his wife as his sons guardian in his will, however, Williams mother showed little personal interest in her son, sometimes being absent for years, and had always deliberately kept herself apart from Dutch society. Williams education was first laid in the hands of several Dutch governesses, some of English descent, including Walburg Howard, from April 1656, the prince received daily instruction in the Reformed religion from the Calvinist preacher Cornelis Trigland, a follower of the Contra-Remonstrant theologian Gisbertus Voetius. The ideal education for William was described in Discours sur la nourriture de S. H. Monseigneur le Prince dOrange, in these lessons, the prince was taught that he was predestined to become an instrument of Divine Providence, fulfilling the historical destiny of the House of Orange. From early 1659, William spent seven years at the University of Leiden for a formal education, under the guidance of ethics professor Hendrik Bornius. While residing in the Prinsenhof at Delft, William had a personal retinue including Hans Willem Bentinck, and a new governor, Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein
38.
Bruton Parish Church
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Bruton Parish Church is located in the restored area of Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. It was established in 1674 by the consolidation of two parishes in the Virginia Colony, and remains an active Episcopal parish. The building, constructed 1711-15, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 as an early example of colonial religious architecture. The roots of Bruton Parish Church trace back to both the Church of England and the new settlement of the Colony of Virginia at Jamestown in the early 17th century. The role of the church and its relationship to the government had established by King Henry VIII some years earlier. The same relationship was established in the new colony, when the English colony was established at Jamestown on May 14,1607, the conduct of worship and the building of a primitive chapel were given priority even as the first fort was built. The Reverend Robert Hunt served as the first chaplain and he also was the one to plant the cross at Cape Henry. Captain John Smith described the Reverend Mr Hunt as our honest, in his role as religious leader, he was a peacemaker, often bringing harmony to a quarreling group of men. Hunt was among those who did not survive that first year, after five very difficult years, during which the majority of the constant flow of colonists did not survive, the colony began to grow. As in England, the became a unit of local importance equal in power and practical aspects to other entities such as the courts. The earlier settlements were along the waterways, such as the James River. The expansion and subdivision of the parishes and shires of Virginia after 1634 both followed this growth. Parishes needed to be enough for travel to church for worship. Dr John Potts figured prominently in the early development, in 1625, he was commissioned a member of the Governors Council, on which he served for a number of years. In 1628 he was chosen Governor, and held the position from 1629 until the part of 1630. Dr Potts had a plantation which he called Harrop, possibly named in honor of his home, Harrop, in Cheshire, England. On July 12,1632, Dr Potts obtained a patent for 1,200 acres at the head of Archers Hope Creek, part of this land was to become the fortified palisade across the peninsula. Palisades, six miles in length, were run from creek to creek, the doctor would have certainly recognized the sanitary advantages of the country around Middle Plantation
39.
Alexander Spotswood
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Alexander Spotswood was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army and a noted Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. Alexander Spotswood was born in the Colony of Tangier, Morocco, about 1676 to Catharine and her husband, Dr. Robert Spottiswoode. Alexanders older half-brother was Roger Elliott, who one of the first Governors of Gibraltar. Following the death of Robert Spotswood, his mother married thirdly, Reverend Dr. George Mercer, on 20 May 1693, Alexander became an Ensign in the Earl of Baths Regiment of Foot. He was commissioned in 1698, and promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1703 and he was appointed Quartermaster-General of the Duke of Marlboroughs army the same year, and was wounded at the Battle of Blenheim the following year. In 1710, Alexander was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, under the governorship of George Hamilton. He was the first to occupy the new Governors Mansion, which many citizens thought overly extravagant, in 1711, he intervened in Carys Rebellion in North Carolina, sending a contingent of Royal Marines from the Chesapeake to put down the rebellion. A Tobacco Act requiring the inspection of all intended for export or for use as legal tender was passed in 1713. The next year, he founded the First Germanna Colony, and regulated trade with Native Americans at another of his pet projects, in 1715, he bought 3229 acres at Germanna. In 1716 he led the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition up the Rappahannock River valley, the following year saw the foundation of the Second Germanna Colony and the Repeal of regulation of trade with Native Americans. A Third Germanna Colony followed in 1719, and Germanna was made the seat of Spotsylvania County the following year, between 1716 and 1720, Spotswood built the Tubal Works. It had a cold blast-charcoal blast furnace which produced pig iron and it operated for about 40 years. Pig iron from Tubal is in the collections of the Fredericksburg Area Museum, Tubal Works iron was exported to England by 1723. Around 1732 at Massaponax, Spotswood built what may have been the first purpose-built foundry in the British North American Colonies and this was a double-air furnace and was used to recast pig iron produced at Tubal into final shapes. Neither of Spotswoods iron operations were at Germanna, Spotswood was not, as is commonly believed, involved in the Fredericksville Furnace. In the fall of 1718, Spotswood engaged in an expedition by privately hiring two sloops, Jane and Ranger, and a number of Royal Navy men to seek out the pirate Blackbeard. On 18 November 1718, Lt. Robert Maynard sailed from Hampton, Virginia to Ocracoke Inlet, on 22 November 1718, Maynard and his men defeated Blackbeard and the pirates. On 24 November 1718, two days after Blackbeards death, Spotswood issued a proclamation at the Assembly in Williamsburg offering reward for any who brought Teach, Spotswood worked to make a Treaty with the Iroquois through their meeting in Albany, New York during 1721
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Williamsburg, Virginia
