An object slight in stature but mighty in meaning has Colonial Williamsburg historians excited. Jokingly referred to as “boy bling” by Metals Curator Janine Skerry, this small watch seal is as exquisite as it is rare.
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Where the Future Meets the Past
Kirsten Moffitt in the Materials Analysis Lab
Museum materials analysis takes a futuristic turn with the new Conservation Analytical Lab. There, conservator Kirsten Moffit can focus the rays of an x-ray fluorescence spectrometer, an infrared micro-spectrometer and a fluorescence microscope and learn secrets spaced between an object’s molecular bonds….
New Podcast: An Old-School Home Brew
Today’s college students might have to smuggle beer into their dorm rooms, but a frosty mug was far from forbidden for the early students at the College of William and Mary. Recent archaeology has unearthed a mysterious feature, and evidence suggests that it’s the school’s early brewhouse.
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Throwback Thursday: The Great Oak
The Great Oak in 1994
In 1926, the Rev. Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin of Bruton Parish Church showed Bassett Hall to visiting philanthropist and Standard Oil heir John D. Rockefeller Jr. Goodwin wanted to persuade Rockefeller of the value of restoring Colonial Williamsburg….
Throwback Thursday: World War II at the Williamsburg Inn
West Point Cadets visit from Ft. Eustis; ca. 1942
The Williamsburg Inn, the landmark property conceived and built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. and opened in April 1937, has been the crown jewel of Colonial Williamsburg’s hotels for 75 years.
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Death Wears a Shroud
This week on the podcast, we reach into the grave for some buried history. In the spirit of All Hallows, we unearth the unexpected truth about colonial burial garments. Research Librarian Juliegh Clark tells us nearly all colonists would have been buried in a shroud — never their best clothes.
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Throwback Thursday: The Courthouse
The Courthouse was built in 1770 and 1771 on Market Square. It was here that Williamsburg’s citizens assembled at 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, 1783, to celebrate the end of the war with England – just as they had gathered seven years earlier to hear lawyer Benjamin Waller proclaim from its steps the Declaration of Independence. The Courthouse served the Williamsburg community for more than 160 years. Confederates used it as a hospital after the Civil War Battle of Williamsburg, and by the time they carried off their wounded, the doors and windows were gone as well – used perhaps for firewood….
Throwback Thursday: The Tayloe House
The Tayloe House was constructed between 1752 and 1759. Col. John Tayloe, one of the wealthiest men in 18th-century Virginia, purchased the property in 1759 for 600 pounds, a very high price for a frame house at that time. Tayloe probably used it as a town house during the years he served on the Governor’s Council….
Throwback Thursday: Bassett Hall
Bassett Hall, once was the Williamsburg home of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, is a key part of the story of the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg….
Throwback Thursday: Ladies in Costume
Costumes were first worn by Colonial Williamsburg hostesses at the Raleigh Tavern during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s visit for the dedication of Duke of Gloucester Street on Oct. 20, 1934. The first costumes were so successful that by Nov. 5, 1934, costumes were ordered for all hostesses in Colonial Williamsburg exhibition buildings.
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