W.A.R. Goodwin and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. stand in back of the George Wythe House prior to the restoration.
Many who wander through Colonial Williamsburg’s Goodwin Building have heard a story about John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and the room he used for stock trades. President Mitchell Reiss recently spoke with Forbes about the room and his vision for the future.
The little booth sits next to the board room of the Goodwin Building and still contains most of the soundproof tiles used to build it about 75 years ago. Our archives department found building plans and memos about how the room should be used.
The booth used by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
The booth can only hold one person at a time and it’s very hard to capture pictures that do it justice, as you can see in the above picture. But to stand in the same room that Mr. Rockefeller once did is an amazing experience. It’s as exciting as walking along DoG Street and visiting the same places our founding fathers did.
“Williamsburg was where the American Revolution was born,” Dr. Reiss told Forbes. “Spies were everywhere during the revolutionary period, and caution was not just a virtue then, it was a necessity. Mr. Rockefeller, our benefactor, was a thoroughly modern man. He had the ability to move markets and he understood the need to act with extreme care. This little room is a testament to that discretion.”
Click here to read more on Dr. Reiss’ interview with Forbes.
“Pyle wrote that it was when Goodwin ‘was alone, in the starlight,
strolling in the night, talking with the ghosts, that he learned
about Williamsburg.'”
From “A Tale of Midnight and Wythe House Mysteries” by Ivor Noel Hume
We won’t have to worry about those ghost much longer if President Reiss
has his way and increases the outdoor lighting in Colonial Williamsburg.