GUIDE BOOK TO _Williamsburg_ OLD _and_ NEW [Illustration: DUKE OF GLOUCESTER STREET] Copyrighted, 1943, by William C. Ewing Illustrations on cover and page 17 are used by courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. The Dietz Printing Company _Richmond, Virginia_ _Greetings to the Visitor_ We hope you will enjoy your stay in Williamsburg. This is the only historically important town in America which has changed so little in two hundred years. We who live in Williamsburg love it. We hope you will stay long enough to get sentimental over it, too. To help you get the most out of your visit we offer the following suggestions: 1. Williamsburg is not a museum. It is a living community. 2. The chief value of Williamsburg is its atmosphere. But for our having a few automobiles and new-fangled clothes, there has been mighty little change in this atmosphere since Thomas Jefferson and George Washington helped to make it what it is. 3. If you come from New York or Chicago don’t think of going inside any ancient building until you have spent at least one day in getting calmed down to our tempo and learning to wander about instead of hustling. Get into the spirit of the place. 4. Then, when you begin to feel at home and wish to see some interiors, take it easy. Go to the Church one day, the Palace another day, and so on. Imagine _rushing_ through the Governor’s Garden! [Illustration: _WILLIAMSBURG AND VICINITY_] _Old Williamsburg_ MIDDLE PLANTATION. After the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 the population of the Virginia Colony gradually spread out from that center until, in 1633, it became desirable to develop farms in the territory between the James and York Rivers, which has ever since been called the Virginia Peninsula. From its position in relation to the rivers, this settlement was named Middle Plantation. The privilege of dwelling in this district was granted by the colonial legislature on condition that a Palisade be erected to keep out the Indians. This palisade extended from Queen’s Creek, which empties into the York River, to Archer’s Hope Creek (now called College Creek), which is a tributary of the James. This palisade was kept in repair until 1710. At present, only two buildings remain which were here in the 17th century: the Galt House on Francis Street and the main building of the College. THE COLLEGE.