The Governor's Palace, home of the Colony of Virginia's Royal Governors, is located on Duke of Gloucester Street in Williamsburg, Virginia. It is one of the two largest buildings at Colonial Williamsburg, the other being the Capitol.
18th century
During a large portion of the period Williamsburg was the Capital of the Virginia Colony (1699 to 1780), the Governor's Palace was the official residence of the royal governor. The original building took 16 years to construct, and was completed in 1721.
Governors who lived in the original palace included:
- Alexander Spotswood
- Francis Fauquier
- Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt
- Hugh Drysdale
- William Gooch
- Robert Dinwiddie
- John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore
- Patrick Henry
- Thomas Jefferson
It was the last resident, Thomas Jefferson, who urged that the Capital of Virginia be relocated to Richmond in 1780 for security reasons during the American Revolution. The new lodging for the governor adjacent to the current Virginia State Capitol building in Richmond is more modest in size and style, and is called the Governor's Mansion.
On December 22, 1781,the main building was destroyed by a fire. Some outbuildings survived, but were demolished during the American Civil War.
Colonial Williamsburg
Through the efforts of Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin, rector of Bruton Parish Church and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr., whose family provided major funding, the elaborate and ornate palace was carefully recreated in the early 20th century. Artifacts, Jefferson's drawings, Virginia General Assembly records, and a copperplate engraving, nicknamed the Bodleian Plate discovered in England's Bodleian Library in 1929, were employed in faithful reconstruction of the original buildings. They opened as an exhibition on April 23, 1934.
The Governor's Palace is a centerpiece and major attraction of the restored city of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia's Historic Triangle, one of the world's more popular tourist destinations.
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