Middle Plantation

Before it was renamed "Williamsburg" in 1699, this place was known as "Middle Plantation," a settlement that actually originated in response to Indian revolts and that "captured" the capital in part because several important families had located here and because the College of William & Mary was begun here in 1693. Indeed, James Blair, first president of the College of William & Mary was probably the fellow most responsible for bringing the capital to Middle Plantation. This week we'll tour the Wren Building, then walk over to the site of the John Page House, a building that might have served as a model for Bacon's Castle.  John Page--a man much in the mold of Arthur Allen--built this large cruciform structure about mid-century.
 

John Page

Page House

CW has excavated it's cellar, so we can stand inside the outline of the "footprint."


CW has also uncovered a few other pieces of archaeological evidence of Middle Plantation, including the Nassau Street Ordinary and Rich Neck Plantation. We can see the place where the ordinary once stood, but it is covered by the street now (does that help us figure out that it pre-dates Williamsburg?). Richneck (in a nearby subdivision) has been back filled, but we'll pass it on some fieldtrips.
 


Nassau Street Ordinary Site
Rich Neck Plantation

Well look for evidence of  Middle Plantation at these places--and in the graveyard at Bruton Parish Church.

The Class Works Out the Puzzle

Can you make out the carving on the end?

Of course, the Wren Building pre-dates Williamsburg, but what you see now is the way the Wren looked after it was rebuilt following the fire of 1705 (left). In 1699, it looked like more the drawing by Swiss visitor Franz Ludwig Michel (right):
 

Wren Building, Circa. 1705

Wren Building as Franz Ludwig Michel Drew it in prior to the 1705 Fireren

I'll arrange a tour of the Wren, hopefully with Kristin Zech, who was a member of the first (1997) edition of this seminar and is now a student in the School of Law.
 

Fall 0f 2000's Seminar at the Wren--Hardhats Required because of Renovation 

Kristin did a terrific honors thesis on the college history in 2000 (on her way to making Phi Beta Kappa). She can tell you about her thesis and about the Spotswood Society, a student organization that (among other things) is charged with guiding visitors through the colonial campus.
 

Kristin Zech

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