Williamsburg Before and After: The Rebirth of Virginia's Colonial Capital

by George Humphrey Yetter

George Yetter's informative text describes why Williamsburg was founded and flourished during the colonial period. He traces the deterioration that followed when the capital moved to Richmond in 1780 and concludes with the exciting story of how Williamsburg's past was saved. Old photographs, daguerreotypes, watercolors, sketches and maps capture "pre-restoration" Williamsburg. Lovely color "after" photographs show that the vision and dream has been fulfilled. 116 color photographs, 133 duotones, 14 black and white illustrations.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Reference, Historical, American History, American

198 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1988

Reviews

[Karyl · Rating 5 out of 5]

After spending four years at the College of William and Mary, my love for Williamsburg and all things colonial were forever ingrained in me. One of my favorite memories has to be gathering for the Homecoming parade down Duke of Gloucester (aka DoG) Street on a cold, crisp, fall morning. You could smell the woodsmoke from the colonial section, the leaves were out in all their fall glory, and it was just absolutely the perfect morning -- and this from a college student who'd probably stayed up most of the night. My other favorite memory involves strolling down DoG Street in the middle of the night with my then-boyfriend, and laying on a platform just outside the Governor's Palace, watching the Milky Way spin around us. Quite a humbling sight, to know how very miniscule we humans are.

I knew from wandering around Colonial Williamsburg on the weekends and between classes that very little of it is all that original. Much has been reconstructed or rebuilt. This book does an excellent job of satisfying my curiosity as to what Williamsburg looked like before Rockefeller took over. After giving a pretty thorough history of the city from its inception (and this is where I learned that W&M actually predates Williamsburg -- who knew?!), the author then turns to describing most of the buildings in Williamsburg, showing what they looked like before the Restoration and after they were completed, and describing key elements of Federal architecture. It's interesting to note that the city as it looks today did not exist at the same time in history; some buildings are pre-Revolutionary, while others were built afterward. But the area gives visitors an excellent glimpse into what it may have looked like, could we travel back in time.

And now I want to go back to Williamsburg with this book in hand to investigate all the architectural details and to see how things may have changed in the almost quarter-century since the book was published.

[KJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who is looking for a comprehensive overview of Colonial Williamsburg, a history of the restoration project, as well as before and after pictures of the individual sites, this is the book to read. Separated into two parts, the former offers a book-ended history of Williamsburg with right before restoration and the early years of restoration as those book-ends, while the middle sections offer a history of Williamsburg from it's days as the colonial capital through it's history to the restoration. Once Yetter has thoroughly whet your appetite for this 'sleepy old town', part two opens to the details of the restoration for each building site. Not only does Yetter's book offer a more intimate knowledge of each building, including the site names and a blurb history of the site, but Yetter also offers before and after images. The only difficulty in this book may come for those of us who are not architects, as the book relies, sometimes heavily, on architectural terms that are not as easy to ascertain even from the images. But that, in comparison to the overall wonder of the book, remains too minute to even factor into it's five-star rating in my opinion. A must read for any Colonial Williamsburg lover!

[Felicity · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that Williamsburg field trip in 5th grade cemented my love of old things as well as set me on my path towards archival work. This book was a fascinating read about resurrecting the 18th century city from the sleepy little dot on the map it had become by the 1920s.

[David R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A respectable look at the rebirth of colonial Williamsburg focused on a number of key structures. There is a little background history on each, comparative photography, and overall a background on the community from its roots to the arrival of Rockefeller in the 1920s.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book to have to compare the original city to the reconstructed city of today. The background information was useful and interesting.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend this book to anyone who is fascinated with the story of the creation of Colonial Williamsburg. It's divided into two parts: the first chronicles how Colonial Williamsburg came to be and the second details the restoration and reconstruction of many of the buildings in the historic area.

The first part is definitely the more interesting. It's a history of the town from it's founding to the eve of restoration, as well as the story of how one person--the Reverend W.A.R. Goodwin--imagined and executed his vision to restore an entire colonial village.

The second part gets a bit bogged down in architectural details, and would benefit from a map of the location of each house being discussed. Still, the before and after photos are striking.

Other reviews mentioned that the book was repetitive, which I did not find at all, with the exception of one photograph that was used twice. It's a photo of power lines running down the center of Duke of Gloucester Street, and really illustrates the extent of the undertaking to restore a large section of an early 20th century town to the way it looked just before the American Revolution.

This book is worth the historical photos alone. I very much enjoyed them along with the carefully researched account of this remarkable living history site.

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough, readable history of the restoration and rebuilding of Colonial Williamsburg, including specific structures, and the history of the town itself complemented by numerous photos and illustrations. Barely mentioned are any controversies about the restoration, which I know existed.

Since Williamsburg occupies a unique place in early historic preservation efforts in the USA, the efforts described here whet my desire to know more about the process and the role in the development of the field. Colonial Williamsburg's archives must be extensive given the amount of research the architectural firm behind the restoration did both on site and around Virginia for each structure, as well as the decades of on-going research, so there is a book in the making.

[Roberta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Restoring the town of Williamsburg to it's colonial appearance was not only a massive undertaking, it was the first work of this kind and the architects who oversaw the transformation established guidelines for restoration that are still used. Beautiful photographs of buildings as they stand today along with vintage photos showing footprints of original buildings or alterations that had taken place over the years that were removed to bring the houses back to their colonial appearance.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting look into the restoration of the homes and establishments of Colonial Williamsburg. I wish there would have been a little more history about the people who lived in each home, but I throughly enjoyed the side-by-side comparisons, pictures, and detailed notes on the changes of each building.

[Sally Kilpatrick]

This is a great souvenir book since it has lovely pictures and a brief history of how Colonial Williamsburg came to be. I would’ve loved more detail on people rather than architecture and possibly what those who opposed the project thought, but it’s not that kind of book.

[Jeffrey Philips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the history of the buildings and the photographs.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating!

[Glenn Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a fan of Colonial Williamsburg, this might be a good book for your collection. The first half is about the history of the town from the founding to the glory days and then the decline to the point that it was a 'dull roadside town to get gasoline and not much more." The second half is about the restoration with a breakdown of many of the buildings, including the history of each home or tavern, who lived there, how the building changed, how each was restored. What we see today is far from what Williamsburg was in 1900 or 1850. Many buildings have been removed (banks, gas stations, churches, homes, porches, and more and many buildings had to be rebuilt from records (The Palace, the Capital building and more).

Granted, it is a coffee table book, but still interesting.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. I love seeing the pictures of Williamsburg then and now. The only thing that would make this book better would be to have more of the personal stories of the people who lived in the old buildings. This book is a must have for anyone who has spent time in this wonderful, old city.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. I lived the before/after pictures and background information. I would like to see more about how Goodwin and Rockefeller actually pulled off buying it all up but, but overall I loved it.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for folks who love Williamsburg.