[Page 1]

THE CITY HOTEL,
WILLIAMSBURG, VA.

For the benefit of curiosity-hunters and those seeking information
in a "nut-shell," the Proprietor of the City Hotel (B.W. BOWRY,
who founded the same in 1875), has culled from the literary field such
facts, traditions, and reminiscences, as he thought would be useful to be
known.

The intelligent mind sweeps back in imagination to the times when
the great intellects of Virginia began to establish landmarks and beacon-
lights, that the "Scyllas and Charybdas" of misfortune might be
avoided : and in contemplating the present, it beholds Virginia leaning
upon her spear, sword dropped by her side. solemnly soliloquizing! In
turning from the teachings of Jefferson, Madison, and Mason for only
a moment, the true hopeful Virginian catches a resultant gleam of the
glorious vista, brightened on either side with radiant promises.
"F. F. V." no longer has the significance of luxurious ease, but is
synonymous with "Fight For Victuals." These are our Knights who
are at the desk, plow, and anvil. who may never "gain their spurs of
gold from Royal hands ;" but with hearty good cheer have they gone
forth in the industrial pursuits of life, "conquering and to conquer."

Williamsburg has withstood the culmination of powerful conflicts.
About her history cluster rich reminiscences of the days of "Auld Lang
Syne." Amidst the decaying grandeurs of the glorious past, surrounded
by the ivy-clad monuments of a long line of noble and virtuous ancestry,
and the associations of several revolutions, her people, though seeming
to "mark time," still tread upon the soil of their forefathers, concious
of their own rectitude and patriotism.

This is the oldest incorporated town in the State, being settled in
1632. It towers grandly amid the traditions and developments connected
with the early rise, establishment, and progress of political government
on this Continent. The first revolution in Virginia took place here in
1635, which resulted in the forcible deposition of Governor Harvey, and
the election of John West in his stead. This was the earliest resistance
to British tyranny, and during the reign of King Charles the First.
The interregnum between the deposition of Sir John Harvey and that of
Lord Dunmore was 140 years.

Bruton Parish Church, organized in 1632, now the oldest English
Church in use in America. The old bell which hangs in the tower was
made under the supervision of Queen Anne, who poured molten silver
and gold from her own jewelry into the cast, hence its clear and musical

(2)

tone. The building is of English brick, and has the form of a Roman
cross. Beneath its floor lie buried illustrious dead, and outside its walls
are the grave-mounds and tombstones of many generations. It was the
Court church for the Royal Governors. Here was held fasting and
prayer, by order of the House of Burgesses as early as 1774, pending the
struggle for Liberty.

William and Mary College, second in history on the Continent,
founded in 1692. The building of that day was modeled by Sir Chris-
topher Wren. Under its chapel sleep Madison (the first Bishop of
Virginia), Peyton Randolph, Lord Botetourt, Chancellor Nelson, and
others. The President's house, in the yard, was at one time the head-
quarters of Cornwallis. It was built in 1732, and was accidentally
burned by the French troops, under Lafayette, on their way to the battle
of Yorktown, 1781. It was rebuilt by Louis XVI, out of his private
funds, and has survived the fires which have since then so often destroyed
the College. It is the only house in Virginia built by a reigning
Sovereign. The Brafferton building, opposite the President's house on
the College Green, was originallly built for the education of Indians.

This city was the capital of Virginia in 1698, when it was removed
from Jamestown by Governor Nicholson, who laid out the town in the
form of a cipher, made of W and M, in honor of William and Mary.
The Capitol building stood opposite to the College, at the eastern end of
Main or Duke of Gloucester Street, which was burned in 1746 and again
in 1832, on the site of which now stands the Female Academy. It was
here in the House of Burgesses that Patrick Henry thundered forth his
celebrated declaration : "Casear had his Brutus, Charles the First his
Cromwell, and George the Third" - ("Teason! treason! cried the
Speaker ; "Treason! treason! echoed from every part of the House) -
may profit by their example."

The "Virginia Gazette," the first paper in the Commonwealth, was
published here in 1736. A bound volume of the same, published here
in 1776, is in the possession of our fellow-townsman, H. D. Cole, Esq.

The first theatre organized here was in 1742. Washington received
his first commission here, 1753. The Lord Dunmore octagon tower or
magazine was bult 1716, by Governor Spotswood, the hero of the
Knights of the Horse-Shoe. The Eastern Lunatic Asylum, the oldest in
America, was founded 1769 ; Dr. John de Sigueyra was the first
attending physician ; Dr. James D. Moncure, present supt. ; Drs. Clopton
and Monteiro, assistant physicians ; Mr. Cary Armistead, steward : Mr.
A. Brooks, jun., storekepper ; Mr. John Mercer, clerk. The statue of
Lord Botetourt, in the Court dress of that day (now in the College
campus), was erected 1774. The Virginia Constitutional Convention
convened in this city 1776, to which George Mason reported the device
for the ensign of Virginia, with the motto, "Sic Semper Tyrannis."
The Convention of Delegates held at the Capitol here passed the first
resolutions for Indpendence as early as May 1776, the Mecklenburg

(3)

resolutions to confer, to the contrary, and which also antedate the
National one at Philadelphia. Mary Catharine Goddard printed the
original of the Declaration of Independence. Phi Beta Kappa, the
parent society in this country, established here 1776. Virginia and
Massachusetts sounded the first tocsin of war. The ball of the revolu-
tion received its first impetus here. With Patrick Henry of Virginia,
Gadsden of South Carolina, and the sanest madman that ever the oracles
of God spoke through - Otis, of Boston - at the north, there was no
lack of courage or energy on the part of the patriots. Upon Lord
Dunmore seizing the gunpowder deposited in the Octagon-Tower, 1775,
Mr. Henry summoned volunteers to meet him. This was the second
epoch in the history of Virginia. Patrick Henry, first Governor of the
State, 1776. Mr. Henry was the impersonator of the "Old Field
Nags ;" Edmond Pendleton, his antagonist, represented the "High
Blooded Colts." The seat of Government was removed to Richmond
in 1779.

Mr. E. H. LIVELY, in this city, published the first Republican
newspaper - "The Weekly Review" - in the State after the surrender at
Appomattox, 1865. He carried the first printing press wwest of the
Alleghany Mountains, over the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, after its
completion, to the Ohio river in 1873 ; he established the first printing
press in the town of Hinton, at the confluence of the Greenbrier and
New Rivers, the same year ; he is the lineal descendant of Edward
Lively, who aided in giving to civilization the first and most authentic
and correct version of the Bible, published during the reign of King
James, and who was subsequently Professor of Divinity in Cambridge
University.

The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway was completed through here to deep
water at Newport News on Sunday, 18th Oct., 1881, at 2 o'clock p.m., in
the Magazine Field, one and a quarter miles above this city. The locality
bears the marks of the ravaging pary under Lieut.-Coloniel Tarleton,
while Washington was holding his chief, Cornwallis, in a state of siege at
Yorktown. The men worked untiringly to consummate this reult, that
there might be no drawback on the Centennial at Yorktown. The
completion of this work being one of the grand auxiliaries in the
successful celebration of the 100th anniversary of American Independ-
ence, when on the 19th October, 1781, the English Lion trailed his defeat
on the sward above the tidal waves of the noble York.

The Matty Schoolhouse now stands on the site of the Palace of
Lord Dunmore (the last of the Colonial Governors), at the head of the
grassy court known as the Palace Green. The Palace was burned acci-
dentally by the French troops soon after the surrender of Cornwallis at
Yorktown. "A magnificent structure," it is said to have been, "fur-
nished and beautified with gates, gardens, offices, wailks, a canal, orchards,
&c., with a lighted cupola over the building, illuminating most of the town."

The old Raleigh Tavern where, in the Apollo Hall, Prtrick Henry

(4)

aired his patriotic eloquence, is no more. The site is now occupied by
the store of Messrs. Lane & Son. The fortifications of Fort Magruder,
1½ miles below the city, may still be seen. At Jamestown, 7 miles
distant, a part of the walls of the old church in which Pocahontas was
christened Lady Rebecca, together with the vine-covered graveyard, yet
possess their weird and enchanting appearance.

On the Palace Green the house occupied by Col. Harrison was the
residence of Chanceller George Wythe, and the head-quarters of George
Washington in 1781. The house now in the occupancy of Mr. H. T.
Jones was the pleasant home of Edmund Randolph, Washington's
Secretary of State. The property now owned by Mr. M. R. Harrell, of
this city, and occupied by the Misses Hansfords, is the place where
General Lafayette was entertained on the occasion of his last visit to
America. The premises now owned by Dr. Chas. W. Coleman, in rear
of the City Hotel, was the home of William Wirt. South of Francis
Street, and east of the Asylum Amusement Hall, is the "Six Chimney
Lot," once the home of Martha Washington. The old Chancery office,
connected with the house of Burgesses, is now the home of Sir William
Berkeley ; and Porto Bello Farm, on York River, was the property of
Governor Spottswood.

William Jett, who furnished the information that led to the dis-
covery of Booth, the assassin of President Lincoln, was brought to the
insane Asylum here, April 5th, 18[illegible]4.

Williamsburg, first known was "The Middle Plantation," has a
romantic history, that runs back in the primitive past for 250 years.
This locality must awaken an almost immeasurable degree of interest in
the hearts of those who appreciate Virginian and American antiquity.
A tourist stopping at "The City Hotel" recently, very graphically said
to me, referring to our hallowed precincts, it being his first visit : "My
solicitude for your people and country has awakened a new appreciation
in my bosom, the height of which is only equalled by the altitude of the
Alps : its fervor more intense than the torrid heat : more beautiful than
the charming scenery of the Yosemite in California, and grander than
the gushing geysers of Montana, by twilight." In reply to this eloquent
outburst of compliment, on behalf of our people, I replied : "I will
erect a series of monuments in my heart, eternally dedicated to yor
memory."

Respectfully,
B. W. BOWRY.

City Hotel, Williamsburg, Va.. May, 1885.

[Williamsburg Gazette Typ.]