Williamsburg, Virginia

Williamsburg, Virginia is part of the Historic Triangle, which also includes Jamestown and Yorktown. What began as a tiny New World outpost in the 17th century had become a college town where important things happened by the 18th. But by the early 20th century, what was left of colonial Williamsburg was falling into disrepair. Unreachable by river and bypassed by the railroads, Williamsburg grew sleepy and slow.

That all changed when a certain Episcopal priest took the whole of colonial Williamsburg into his expanding vision of what the sleepy small town could be. But it wasn’t development he had in mind. It was restoration. The priest managed to kindle the interest of a Rockefeller, heir to a fortune he would put to work in various philanthropical endeavors – including the restoration and preservation of Colonial Williamsburg.

Today, the Historic Triangle, of which the living museum of Colonial Williamsburg forms a part, draws millions of visitors every year. They come to see Williamsburg as it existed centuries ago, as well as what remains of the famous – and comparatively ill-fated – Jamestown settlement and the Yorktown Battlefield, scene of the British surrender that ended the American Revolutionary War.

Worth Checking Out

• Colonial Williamsburg
• Yorktown Battlefield
• Jamestown Settlement
• American Revolution Museum at Yorktown