By Claire Weaver
In 1718, the first keeper of Williamsburg’s magazine, John Brush, decided to build a simple home for himself on the palace green.
Brush lived in his hand-split weatherboard house for nine years, before his death in 1727. A few years later, his daughter Susanna sold the house to a widow named Elizabeth Russell. Sometime in the 1730’s, Mrs. Russell married Henry Cary, a builder. While he was constructing the President’s House at the College of William and Mary, Cary also found time to add elaborately carved staircases and balusters to his home.
In the 1750’s, Thomas Everard purchased the house. Although he was by then an important member of Williamsburg society, Everard came from very humble beginnings. Born in England and orphaned at age 10, he received his education at Christ’s Hospital, a London charitable school established for poor children. His later apprenticeship under clerk Matthew Kemp allowed Everard to move to America and eventually become York County Clerk of Court. While he lived in John Brush’s old home, he served two terms as Williamsburg’s mayor.
Although the Everard House has undergone many renovations over the centuries, it now appears as it did in 1773. Its yard is paved with the original bricks found in its excavation.
Claire Weaver, a student at the College of William and Mary, is an intern with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
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