Photo by H. P. Cook
HANOVER COURT HOUSE, VIRGINIA
LVII
TWO HISTORIC COURTHOUSES OF VIRGINIA
OLD DOMINION COUNTY BUILDINGS AT HANOVER AND
WILLIAMSBURG
A momentous announcement appeared in the Williamsburg, Virginia, Gazette on March 16, 1769:
"The Common Hall having this day determined to build a commodious brick court-house in this city and having appointed us to agree with and undertake to build the same, we do hereby give notice that we shall meet at Mr. Hay's (the Raleigh Tavern) on Tuesday, the 4th of April, to let the building thereof; we are also appointed to dispose of the present court-house, and the ground on which the same stands. James Cock, John Carter, James Carter, John Tazewell."
The building displaced by the new structure was erected in 1716 by William Levington, and was given to the city in 1745 by "the Gentlemen subscribers for the Play House."
The stone steps on the new building, which are still in use, were brought from England in 1772. A copy of the letter in which William Wilson acknowledged their receipt is in a letter book preserved in the library of the Episcopal Seminary, near Alexandria.
During the Revolution, the patriots were called together, from time to time, by the bell in the picturesque tower. It was fitting, then, that when American independence was celebrated at Williamsburg, on May 1, 1783, the Courthouse was made the rallying place for the people. On receipt of official notice from Governor Benjamin Harrison that the treaty of peace had been signed, the mayor of Williamsburg prepared an "Order of the Procession on the Great Day," which closed with the following direction:
"The Citizens to be Conveyed on Thursday, at 1 o'clock at the Court-House by a Bellman.