A PAPER MULBERRY TREE
THE WILLIAMSBURG INN
The Virginia Gazette office [(L)] has not yet been reconstructed. The Gazette, which is now published on Prince George Street, is the oldest newspaper in the South, having been established in 1736. It probably also operated the Post Office in the early days of that institution.
The Ludwell-Paradise House [(M)] now houses Mrs. John D. Rockefeller’s collection of American Folk Art, ranging from cigar store Indians to oil paintings. This house was owned and occupied in the early years of the 19th century by Mrs. Lucy Ludwell Paradise, daughter and granddaughter of two Ludwells who owned this and many other Virginia estates, including Green Spring. She and her husband held the unique distinction of maintaining their home in London as the social center of American sympathizers during the Revolutionary War.
George Wythe’s House [(N)] was erected in 1755 and has suffered remarkably little change in the intervening years. The outbuildings were destroyed and have been reconstructed and the restored house has been furnished throughout with genuine 18th century furniture. Aside from the Palace, this is the only restored residence which is open to public inspection, all others being occupied as private homes, many of them by descendants of the original owners. George Wythe was a very substantial citizen of the late colonial and early republican period. He was a Signer of the Declaration of Independence and, as first law professor in America, instructed such leaders of democracy as Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Marshall and St. George Tucker.
The Carter-Saunders House, The Home of Robert Carter Nicholas [(P)], Treasurer of the Colony, being a fine house next to the Governor’s Palace, was close to the social center of the capital city and was always occupied by socially prominent citizens including more than one of the mighty Carters and by the Governor himself when his own residence was undergoing repairs. There is a fine garden which can be seen from the walk that connects Palace Green with West Scotland Street.
The First Theater in America [(Q)] has not yet been reconstructed but its location is marked on the ground. Some of the great English actors of that day came to play in this house and the social setting was gala indeed. As cited in a little book, The Sports of Colonial Williamsburg, Shakespeare, Addison, Steele, Ciber and Garrick were favorite authors in Colonial Williamsburg. This theater is the scene of Mary Johnston’s book, Audrey. The heroine was portrayed as an actress in this theater and as living in the delightful old house between the Theater and the Palace, which is therefore often called “the Audrey House” or The Brush-Audrey House, it having been built in 1718 by John Brush, armorer and gunsmith to the Governor and keeper of the Powder Magazine. In the rear of the Audrey House and the theater site is the oldest growth of box in Williamsburg; this should be approached from Scotland Street as the southerly portion of this box garden is so overgrown that it has been necessary to close it.
The St. George Tucker House [(R)], one of the most beautiful in Williamsburg, was ancient in its beginning and was enlarged to its present dimensions just after the Revolutionary War by St. George Tucker who came from Bermuda to study law under George Wythe and later succeeded him as law teacher and author. The house is now occupied by one of his descendants.
The Randolph House [(S)] was owned in 1742 by Sir John Randolph, the only native of Virginia to be knighted. This house was the residence of Gen. Rochambeau prior to the Battle of Yorktown and probably during the two years of waiting for the Treaty of Paris. Here, also, Lafayette was entertained on his return visit to America in 1824.