On Halloween Day 1698, the fifth colonial capital building, established in Jamestown for the colony of Virginia, burnt down. Instead of building a replacement building in Jamestown, the British decided to build a new statehouse in Williamsburg. Between 1701 and 1705, the first colonial capital at Williamsburg was built and the building was utilized until it was destroyed by fire in 1747. In 1751, a second colonial capital building was constructed.
In 1934, three hundred years after the Virginia House of Burgesses split the Colony of Virginia into eight shires, a replica of the first colonial capital of Williamsburg was built on the of the original building.
Presently, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, which was started by the Rockefeller family, manages the replica of the first colonial capital at Williamsburg, the Governor’s Palace, and various other historical buildings within downtown Williamsburg.
Hamilton Historical Records 