05/29/2026
HCC&M History Mystery #259 - May 29, 2026
On November 22, 1848, the American historian and illustrator Benson J. Lossing departed New York to tour the “Southern portions of the old Thirteen States, made memorable by the events of the War for Independence.” Eschewing travel by “steam or stage-drivers,” Lossing purchased a horse and a light wagon to undertake on his own what would be a journey of almost fourteen hundred miles.
Making his way south as he toured sites associated with the revolution like Trenton and Philadelphia, Lossing reached Williamsburg five days before Christmas. After stops at the College of William and Mary, Bruton Parish Church, the powder magazine, and the remains of the Governor’s Palace and second capitol building, Lossing made his way to this room.
As serendipity would have it, Lossing’s visit could not have come sooner. Up to the day of his arrival, Lossing wrote, the room had “remained unaltered.” On the day of his visit, however, carpenters were fast at work remodeling the space to convert it into a ballroom. Had Lossing been a day later, he feared, “the style of the room could never have been portrayed.”
By the time he published his account of his travels, Lossing understood the space likely had “scarcely an original feature left.” But his sketch and description, along with later archaeological excavations, paved the way for Colonial Williamsburg to recreate this iconic room and the famous building in which it was housed, a space Lossing said was “hallowed by so many associations connected with our war for independence.” In a place where Washington and other patriots held “many secret caucuses, and planned many schemes for the overthrow of royal rule in the colonies,” Lossing watched despondently as the carpenters’ work progressed. “The sound of the hammer and saw engaged in the work of change,” Lossing lamented, “seemed to me like actual desecration.”
What was this famous room, indeed the site of several critical meetings that shaped the revolution in Virginia and led to calls for increased unity and congress among the thirteen colonies? And to what similar setting in a colony to the north that with Virginia led the independence movement did Lossing compare this room?
Check out last week's answer and the winner: Thanks to everyone who participated in the May 8th History Mystery. Congratulations to Don Reeves, who submitted the first correct answer: the occasion for the crowd in the fall of 1934 was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's visit to Williamsburg to dedicate Duke of Gloucester Street, what FDR called “the most historic avenue in America.” The large building at the top right of the photo was the Armistead House, which occupied the site of the Charlton Coffeehouse. Colonial Williamsburg eventually would acquire the Victorian-era structure and move it to North Henry Street as it prepared to reconstruct the coffeehouse.
Learn more here:
https://www.facebook.com/ColonialWilliamsburg/posts/on-this-day-in-history-1934-president-franklin-d-roosevelt-dedicates-duke-of-glo/10158856552694576/
https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/137-0142/
https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/projects/coffeehouse/
