Colonial Williamsburg was the brainchild of the Reverend W. A. R. Goodwin. Once rector of the historic Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Goodwin had been responsible for raising the funds for its restoration in 1907. In 1924, he approached the philanthropist and oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller Jr. with the idea of restoring other parts of the town. Rockefeller agreed, and with cloak-and-dagger secrecy began purchasing run-down properties using Goodwin as his agent. The two communicated in coded telegrams lest locals discover the plan and hike their prices. “Authorize purchase of another antique referred to in your long letter,” Rockefeller wrote to Goodwin at one point, signing off as “David’s father.” The historian Henry Wiencek has noted the “astonishment of Williamsburg’s citizens . . . when they found that the illustrious Rockefeller was the eminence behind these purchases.” Official planning for Colonial Williamsburg began in 1926, and the town was finally informed of the project in June 1928. Their objections were minimal, although one townsperson memorably chafed at the idea of being “in the position of a butterfly pinned to a card in a glass cabinet.”
Further Reading:
Handler, Richard and Eric Gable, The New History in an Old Museum (1997)
Wiencek, Henry, An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America, (2003)
This Vignette Provided By
Anders Greenspan, Wake Forest University
