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.
James City County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census,the population was 78,254. Although politically separate from the county,the county seat is the adjacent independent city of Williamsburg.
The Colony of Virginia was a British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776.
The House of Burgesses was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States when Virginia was a British colony. From 1642 to 1776,the House of Burgesses was an important feature of Virginian politics,alongside the Crown-appointed colonial governor and the Virginia Governor's Council,the upper house of the General Assembly.
Middle Plantation in the Virginia Colony was the unincorporated town established in 1632 that became Williamsburg in 1699. It was located on high ground about halfway across the Virginia Peninsula between the James River and York River. Middle Plantation represented the first major inland settlement for the colony. It was established by an Act of Assembly to provide a link between Jamestown and Chiskiack,a settlement located across the Peninsula on the York River.
Bruton Parish Church is located in the restored area of Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg,Virginia,United States. It was established in 1674 by the consolidation of two previous parishes in the Virginia Colony,and remains an active Episcopal parish. The building,constructed 1711–15,was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 as a well-preserved early example of colonial religious architecture.
The City of Henrico is one of the oldest counties in the Colony of Virginia. It was one of four incorporations established in the colony by its proprietor,the Virginia Company. The City of Henrico,which included the settlement of Henricus,was the furthest incorporation upstream on the James River. In 1634,Henrico was reorganized under royal authority as the shire of Henrico,one of eight shires in the Crown Colony of Virginia,Later,it became known as Henrico County,Virginia.
Kiskiack was a Native American tribal group of the Powhatan Confederacy in what is present-day York County,Virginia. The name means "Wide Land" or "Broad Place" in the native language,one of the Virginia Algonquian languages. It was also the name of their village on the Virginia Peninsula.
Richard Lee I was an English-born merchant,planter and politician who was the first member of the Lee family to live in America. Poor when he arrived in the colony of Virginia in 1639,Lee may have been both the colony's wealthiest inhabitant and as its largest landholder by the time of his death,owning 15,000 acres (23 sq mi) in Virginia and Maryland. In addition to holding several important government and military posts,he became a merchant,planter and politician and served a term in the House of Burgesses. He managed to negotiate several major political upheavals for his economic gain.
College Creek is located in James City County in the Virginia Peninsula area of the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States. From a point of origin near the independent city of Williamsburg,it is a tributary of the James River.
Queen's Creek is located in York County in the Virginia Peninsula area of the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States. From a point of origin near the Waller Mill Reservoir in western York County,it flows northeasterly across the northern half of the Peninsula as a tributary of the York River.
The history of Williamsburg,Virginia dates to the 17th Century. First named Middle Plantation,it changed its name to Williamsburg in 1699.
Lt. Col. Samuel Mathews (1630–1660),Commonwealth Governor of Virginia,of Warwick County in the English Colony of Virginia,was a member of the House of Burgesses,the Governor's Council,and served as Commonwealth Governor of Virginia from 1656 until he died in office in January 1660. There was no Royal Governorship at the time of the "Protectorate",and the Governor technically answered to the Cromwellian Parliament,although Royalist sentiment was prevalent in the colony of Virginia at this time. The former Royalist governor Berkeley arrived to replace him on March 13,1660.
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.
Captain Thomas Harwood emigrated from Britain and became a soldier,landowner and politician in the Colony of Virginia. He founded a family which like him for generations often represented the area now known as Newport News,but which in his day was known as Mulberry Island,and later Warwick River and still later Warwick County. Despite coming into conflict with royal governor Sir John Harvey in 1635,and a gap in legislative service,Harwood became the 5th speaker of the House of Burgesses.
Jamestown,also Jamestowne,was the first settlement of the Virginia Colony,founded in 1607,and served as the capital of Virginia until 1699,when the seat of government was moved to Williamsburg. This article covers the history of the fort and town at Jamestown proper,as well as colony-wide trends resulting from and affecting the town during the time period in which it was the colonial capital of Virginia.
Rich Neck Plantation was located in James City County,Virginia in the Colony of Virginia.
William Farrar was a planter,lawyer,real estate investor and politician in colonial Virginia who served on the Virginia Governor's Council. A subscriber to the third charter of the Virginia Company,Farrar immigrated to the colony from England in 1618. After surviving the Jamestown massacre of 1622,Farrar moved to Jordan's Journey. In the following year,Farrar became involved in North America's first breach of promise case when he proposed to Samuel Jordan's widow,Cecily,who was allegedly engaged to another man. In 1624,the case was dropped,and Farrar and Cecily married.
Captain William Tucker was an English-born colonist. He settled in Jamestown of the Colony of Virginia in the early 17th century. He was a military commander. In 1623,in retaliation for the Indian massacre of 1622,Tucker offered a toast during a supposed negotiation with members of the Powhatan tribe. The wine was mixed with a poison prepared by physician John Pott. The wine killed hundreds of Native Americans and another 50 were slain during the event. Tucker owned land with his brothers-in-law and was a member of the House of Burgesses,a commission of the peace,and was appointed to the Council.
Sir Richard Kemp was a planter and politician in the Colony of Virginia. Kemp served as the Colony's Secretary and on the Governor's Council from 1634 to 1649. As the council's senior member,he also served as the acting Colonial Governor of Virginia from 1644 to 1645 during travels by Governor Sir William Berkeley. Kemp had also worked closely relation with Berkeley's predecessor,Sir John Harvey.
