Williamsburg, Virginia

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

The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and the ninth-oldest in the English-speaking world. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High Research Activity". In his 1985 book Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities, Richard Moll included William & Mary as one of the original eight "Public Ivies". The college educated American Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Tyler. It also educated other key figures pivotal to the development of the United States, including the first President of the Continental Congress Peyton Randolph, the first U.S. Attorney General Edmund Randolph, the fourth U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, Speaker of the House of Representatives Henry Clay, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Winfield Scott, sixteen members of the Continental Congress, and four signers of the Declaration of Independence. Its connections with many Founding Fathers of the United States earned it the nickname "the Alma Mater of the Nation". George Washington received his surveyor's license from the college in 1749, and later became the college's first American chancellor in 1788. That position was long held by the bishops of London and archbishops of Canterbury, though in modern times has been held by U.S. Supreme Court justices, Cabinet secretaries, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Benjamin Franklin received William & Mary's first honorary degree in 1756.William & Mary is notable for its many firsts in American higher education. The F.H.C. Society, founded in 1750, was the first collegiate fraternity in the United States, and W&M students founded the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society in 1776, the first Greek-letter fraternity. In 1736, W&M became the first school of higher education in the future United States to install a student honor code of conduct. It is the only American university issued a coat of arms by the College of Arms in London. The establishment of graduate programs in law and medicine in 1779 makes it one of the first universities in the United States. The William & Mary Law School is the oldest law school in the United States, and the Wren Building, attributed to and named for the famed English architect Sir Christopher Wren, is the oldest academic building still standing in the United States.

The Brafferton, built in 1723 and among the oldest buildings in Virginia, is a former school for Virginian Indians located southeast of the Sir Christopher Wren Building, facing the President's House on the campus of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The President's House is the residence of the President of the College of William and Mary in Virginia in Williamsburg, Virginia. Constructed in 1732, the building still serves its original purpose and is among the oldest buildings in Virginia. Since its construction only one of the college's presidents, Robert Saunders Jr., has not moved into the building, which is let for free to the president. The President's House is the College's third-oldest building and the oldest official college presidential residence in the United States.

The College of William & Mary has possessed a campus in modern-day Williamsburg, Virginia, since 1693. The cornerstone of the College Building, now known as the Wren Building and the oldest surviving academic building in the United States, was laid in 1695. The college's 18th-century campus includes the College Building, the President's House, and Brafferton–all of which were constructed using slave labor. These buildings were altered and damaged during the succeeding centuries before receiving significant restorations by the Colonial Williamsburg program during the 1920s and 1930s. Additional construction and acquisitions developed and expanded the college's Williamsburg campus through the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Through the 1920s and 1930s, Charles M. Robinson and his associates designed a number of Colonial Revival buildings on what is now the college's Old Campus. Additional construction later in the century created New Campus. Recent additions to the Williamsburg campus include buildings for the college's Law School, School of Education, and Mason School of Business. William & Mary has maintained campuses outside of Williamsburg since 1925. The Colleges of William & Mary integrated William & Mary and four other campuses into a university system in the early 1960s; only Richard Bland College remains affiliated. A campus for the college's Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) graduate school is located in Gloucester Point site. VIMS also maintains a laboratory in Wachapreague and a research facility along the Rappahannock River.

The Wren Building is the oldest building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Along with the Brafferton and President's House, these buildings form the College's "Ancient Campus." With a construction history dating to 1695, it is the oldest academic building still standing in the United States and among the oldest buildings in Virginia. 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. The building, along with the rest of the historic courtyard, was built using enslaved labor. After several fires and rebuildings, the Wren Building was the first major building restored or reconstructed by John D. Rockefeller Jr., after he and the Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin began Colonial Williamsburg's restoration in the late 1920s. The building's was restored in the 20th century by Boston architects Perry Shaw & Hepburn. The college named the building in honor of the English architect Sir Christopher Wren, after the Reverend Hugh Jones, a William and Mary mathematics professor, wrote in 1724 that the college building was "modeled by Sir Christopher Wren". However, it is unknown how Jones came to this conclusion, since there are no actual documents tying Wren to the building's design, and he never even visited North America. Perry Shaw and Hepburn's restoration reflects the building's historic appearance from its reconstruction in 1716 after a 1705 fire to 1859, when it burned again. The building is constructed out of red brick in the style of Flemish and English Bond, as was typical for official buildings in 17th- and 18th-century Williamsburg, including several walls remaining from previous structures, and it contains classrooms, offices, a refectory, known as the Great Hall, kitchen, and a chapel, which was added as a south wing in 1732. The crypt beneath the chapel is the resting place of several notable Virginians, including royal governor Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt, Speaker of the House of Burgesses Sir John Randolph, and his son Peyton Randolph, the first President of the Continental Congress.On the top of the building is a weather vane with the number 1693, the year the College was founded. In the early 1770s, plans were drawn up to complete the building as a quadrangle. Alumnus Thomas Jefferson (class of 1762) drew up a floorplan submitted to Governor Dunmore and foundations were laid in 1774. The looming American Revolutionary War halted further construction, however, and the fourth wing was never completed. The foundations, however, still exist and were uncovered during excavations in 2014.The first and second floors of the building are still open for public viewing. Guided tours of the Wren Building are offered whenever classes are in-session by the Spotswood Society, named after Alexander Spotswood, an influential Virginia governor. The Spotswood Society also maintains a virtual tour.

The Williamsburg Bray School was a school for free and enslaved Black children founded in 1760 in Williamsburg, Virginia. Opened at Benjamin Franklin's suggestion in 1760, the school educated potentially hundreds of students until its closure in 1774. The house it first occupied is believed to be the "oldest extant building in the United States dedicated to the education of Black children".Constructed in 1760 by Dudley Digges, the structure has also been known as the Dudley Digges House and Bray-Digges House. Bought by Methodist missionaries in the mid-1920s, the building was renovated and renamed Brown Hall. Its colonial origins not visible though known, the structure was not purchased by John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s Colonial Williamsburg project, but was instead acquired by the College of William & Mary in 1930. The building was moved to the campus where additions were appended, eventually housing the college's military science and ROTC programs from 1980 until 2021. After studies and an inventory were performed,: 3–5  the building was again moved in February 2023 to Colonial Williamsburg's historic area.

The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum (DWDAM), is a museum dedicated to British and American fine and decorative arts from 1670-1840, located in Williamsburg, Virginia. Situated just outside the historic boundary of Colonial Williamsburg, DWDAM was founded with an initial 1982 donation by DeWitt Wallace (1889–1981) and his wife Lila Bell Acheson Wallace (1889–1984) — co-founders of Reader's Digest. The Wallaces donated $12 million to finance reconstruction of the nation's first public mental hospital, the Public Hospital of 1773 and construction of the decorative arts museum — to be connected to the hospital by an underground concourse. Having initially opened in 1985, the museum has since expanded to include the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum and will undergo another expansion to open in 2019 with a new, street-level entrance. The museum features diverse collections related to the founding of the United States — including furniture, paintings, silver, numismatics, ceramics, tools, textiles, glass, maps, weapons, media and other objects from the permanent Colonial Williamsburg collection.

Ewell Hall is an academic building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The building was constructed in 1925–1926 on what is now Old Campus, across from Tucker Hall on the Sunken Garden. It was originally named Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall for Phi Beta Kappa, an honor society founded at the College of William & Mary and the oldest such society in the United States. John D. Rockefeller Jr. attended the hall's 1926 dedication; during this visit, W. A. R. Goodwin convinced Rockefeller to participate in a restoration program that became Colonial Williamsburg. After a severe fire destroyed the auditorium portion of the building in 1953, a new Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall was opened in 1956. The building was renamed Ewell Hall for Benjamin Stoddert Ewell, a 19th-century president of the college, in 1957 and now hosts both the college's Music Department and Arts & Sciences administrative offices.

St. George Tucker Hall is an academic building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Built in 1908–1909 from a design by Cady & See, it was William & Mary's first freestanding library and sits on what is now known as Old Campus. It is an early example of Colonial Revival architecture in Williamsburg that predated the Colonial Williamsburg restoration and reconstruction efforts. A 1928 expansion of Tucker Hall was designed by Charles M. Robinson, with a further renovation performed in 2009. The building is now named for St. George Tucker, who taught at the college. A statue of James Monroe, a U.S. president and alumnus of the college, was installed in front the hall in 2015.

The Wythe House is a historic house on the Palace Green in Colonial Williamsburg, in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. Built in the 1750s, it was the home of George Wythe, signer of the Declaration of Independence and father of American jurisprudence. The property was declared a National Historic Landmark on April 15, 1970.

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 previous 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 a well-preserved early example of colonial religious architecture.