Williamsburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is bordered by James City County on the west and south and York County on the east.
The College of William & Mary is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and the ninth-oldest in the English-speaking world. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High Research Activity". In his 1985 book Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities, Richard Moll included William & Mary as one of the original eight "Public Ivies". The university is among the original nine colonial colleges.
The Wren Building is the oldest building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, which is the "nation’s second oldest seat of higher learning" in the United States. Situated in Old College Yard—of William & Mary's "Ancient Campus", near the more contemporary Merchants Square east of campus—the frequently visited Wren Building anchors that Campus, with its forecourt defined by two further old structures, Brafferton and the President's House. It's architecture is considered Georgian, and as a building in use by The College, and with a cornerstone laid in 1695, it is the oldest of academic buildings still standing and in use in the United States, and among the oldest buildings in Virginia. The Wren Building was designated a National Historic Landmark on October 9, 1960, and has appeared in the Virginia Landmarks Register since September 9, 1969.
The Capitol at Williamsburg, Virginia housed both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the Governor's Council and the House of Burgesses of the colony of Virginia from 1705, six years after the colonial capital was relocated there from Jamestown, until 1780, when the capital was relocated to Richmond. Two capitol buildings served the colony on the same site: the first from 1705 until its destruction by fire in 1747; the second from 1753 to 1780.
The Brafferton is a building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Built in 1723 and among the oldest buildings in Virginia, it was built as a school for Virginian Indians. The Brafferton is southeast of the Wren Building and faces the President's House. The three buildings were restored by the Colonial Williamsburg project during the early 20th century.
The Sunken Garden is the central element of the Old Campus at the College of William & Mary. The garden consists of a long stretch of grass, about 2.7 acres (1.1 ha), lying lower than the surrounding area, that runs west from the rear of the Wren Building to Crim Dell pond. The area is very popular for students wanting to study outside or play games like Ultimate. Functionally, it is similar to a university quadrangle.
The Earl Gregg Swem Library is located on Landrum Drive at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The library is named for Earl Gregg Swem, College Librarian from 1920-1944. In 2008, the Princeton Review rated William & Mary's library system as the eighth best in the United States. The ranking was based on a survey of 120,000 students from 368 campuses nationwide.
The Raymond A. Mason School of Business is the business school of William & Mary, a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. The school offers Full-time MBA, Part-time MBA, Executive MBA, Masters in Accounting, Master of Science in Business Analytics and Undergraduate Business Degrees. The school is named after alumnus and founder of Legg Mason, Raymond A. "Chip" Mason.
The Crim Dell bridge is a wooden bridge on the College of William & Mary’s campus in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States, and is considered one of the College's most visually appealing elements. Crim Dell is the pond that the bridge crosses, but the bridge is commonly referred to as Crim Dell.
Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall is a multi-use building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. It contains the largest auditorium on the campus, containing two floors of seating. The building is home to art shows, musical acts, theatre, assemblies and guest speakers.
The Jimmye Laycock Football Center (JLFC) is a football facility for The College of William & Mary Tribe in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The $11 million, 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) building was constructed right next to Zable Stadium where the Tribe play all home games. The facility is named after William & Mary's most successful football coach Jimmye Laycock, and the cost of the project was funded entirely through private donations.
The history of the College of William & Mary can be traced back to a 1693 royal charter establishing "a perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and the good arts and sciences" in the British Colony of Virginia. It fulfilled an early colonial vision dating back to 1618 to construct a university level program modeled after Cambridge and Oxford at Henricus. A plaque on the Wren Building, the college's first structure, ascribes the institution's origin to "the college proposed at Henrico." It was named for the reigning joint monarchs of Great Britain, King William III and Queen Mary II. The selection of the new college's location on high ground at the center ridge of the Virginia Peninsula at the tiny community of Middle Plantation is credited to its first President, Reverend Dr. James Blair, who was also the Commissary of the Bishop of London in Virginia. A few years later, the favorable location and resources of the new school helped Dr. Blair and a committee of 5 students influence the House of Burgesses and Governor Francis Nicholson to move the capital there from Jamestown. The following year, 1699, the town was renamed Williamsburg.
The Muscarelle Museum of Art is a university museum affiliated with the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. While the Museum only dates to 1983, the university art collection has been in existence since its first gift – a portrait of the physicist Robert Boyle – in 1732. Most early gifts to William & Mary relate to its history or the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Gifts of portraiture were the foundation of the early collection and include many First Families of Virginia (FFV) including sitters from the Page, Bolling and Randolph families.
Rich Neck Plantation was located in James City County, Virginia in the Colony of Virginia.
Saint Bede Catholic Church in James City County and Williamsburg, Virginia, is a Catholic parish in the Diocese of Richmond. The National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, located adjacent to the campus of the College of William & Mary, is a part of the parish. It was the first Catholic church in Williamsburg.
The Williamsburg Bray School was a school for free and enslaved Black children founded in 1760 in Williamsburg, Virginia. Opened at Benjamin Franklin's suggestion in 1760, the school educated potentially hundreds of students until its closure in 1774. The house it first occupied is believed to be the "oldest extant building in the United States dedicated to the education of Black children".
The President's House is the residence of the President of the College of William and Mary in Virginia in Williamsburg, Virginia. Constructed in 1732, the building still serves its original purpose and is among the oldest buildings in Virginia. Since its construction only one of the college's presidents, Robert Saunders Jr., has not moved into the building, which is let for free to the president. The President's House is William & Mary's third-oldest building and the oldest official college presidential residence in the United States.
Lake Matoaka is a mill pond on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, located in the College Woods. Originally known both as Rich Neck Pond for the surrounding Rich Neck Plantation and Ludwell's Mill Pond for Philip Ludwell who owned it, Lake Matoaka was constructed around 1700 to power a gristmill. The pond was renamed after acquisition by the college to bear the Powhatan name for Pocahontas. The lake was acquired by William & Mary in the 1920s. Construction projects by the Civilian Conservation Corps, college, and others have contributed to the lake becoming a site for outdoor entertainment and recreation.
The College of William & Mary has maintained a campus in what is now Williamsburg, Virginia, since 1693. The cornerstone of the Wren Building, then known as the College Building and the oldest surviving academic building in the United States, was laid in 1695. The college's 18th-century campus includes the College Building, the President's House, and Brafferton–all of which were constructed using slave labor. These buildings were altered and damaged during the succeeding centuries before receiving significant restorations by the Colonial Williamsburg program during the 1920s and 1930s.
St. George Tucker Hall is an academic building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Built in 1908–1909 from a design by Cady & See, it was William & Mary's first freestanding library and sits on what is now known as Old Campus. It is an early example of Colonial Revival architecture in Williamsburg that predated the Colonial Williamsburg restoration and reconstruction efforts. A 1928 expansion of Tucker Hall was designed by Charles M. Robinson, with a further renovation performed in 2009. The building is now named for St. George Tucker, who taught at the college. A statue of James Monroe, a U.S. president and alumnus of the college, was installed in front the hall in 2015.
