Williamsburg, VA Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

A year after mosquito-plagued Jamestown burned down, the colonial capital was moved inland to a small village known as the Middle Plantation, soon rechristened WILLIAMSBURG in honor of King William III. To reflect the increasing wealth of the colony, a grand city was laid out, centering upon a mile-long, hundred-foot-wide avenue. Suitable buildings were constructed, beginning with the capitol in 1704 and culminating in the opulent Governor's Palace in 1720. By the mid-1700s, tobacco-rich Virginia was the most prosperous of the American colonies, and Williamsburg was its largest city – though … more »