The Story
We're not in Richmond, so why is there a Governor's Palace and a Capitol here? This is Colonial Williamsburg and it's Virginia's old Capitol. After the first Capitol burned down in Jamestown, the government moved here in 1699. The palace was the official residence of the royal governors of the Colony of Virginia. It was also a home for two of Virginia's post-colonial governors, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. In 1781 it burned down.
The Capitol building was constructed by Henry Cary in 1705. The Colonial Capitol was a two-story H-shaped structure, functionally two buildings connected by an arcade. Each wing served one of the two houses of the Virginia legislature, the Council and the House of Burgesses. As a result of the fires that had destroyed several prior Virginia capitals, Cary built this without fireplaces. On January 30, 1747, the building burned down.
The Governor's Palace and Capitol building were reconstructed in the 1930s.
