Before Colonial Williamsburg’s famed restoration began in 1926, to the 18th century, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities was co-founded by Cynthia Beverley Tucker Washington Coleman in her Williamsburg home, today known as the St. George Tucker House.
CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION
Born in Missouri in 1832, Cynthia moved with her family to her father’s boyhood home in Williamsburg, Virginia where he was to teach law at the College of William and Mary, following in his father’s footsteps…the esteemed St. George Tucker.
Although Cynthia was mostly educated at home, she did attend a boarding school for a short time in Loudoun County, Virginia.
It’s quite possible that the place she attended was the Springdale Boarding School…which is a popular and lovely inn today, where my daughter and I once stayed.
If so, her curriculum would have included the following, as mentioned in Springdale’s advertisement:
The branches taught are – Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Geography, History, Grammar, Composition, Book-keeping, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, Chemistry, Botany, Algebra, Rhetoric, the French Language, Drawing, Painting, and Needlework. Lectures are delivered on Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, and Chemistry, illustrated by pleasing experiments. A library, a cabinet of minerals, and philosophical apparatus, are provided for the use of the school. The discipline is strictly parental; and every effort is made to induce in the minds of the pupils a love of knowledge and desire of excellence as the proper stimulants to exertion.-Advertisement, sketches, and more details are here.
MARRIAGE TO HENRY AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON
In 1852, Cynthia married Henry Augustine Washington, who like her father and grandfather, also taught law at the College of William and Mary.
Shortly before his early death, Henry AugustineWashington, who was a distant cousin of George Washington, collected and published a nine-volume set of the Writings of Thomas Jefferson.
Cynthia’s own grandfather, St. George Tucker, had often corresponded with Thomas Jefferson.
CATHARINE MEMORIAL SOCIETY
A few years after her husband’s passing, Cynthia married another Williamsburg man, with whom she had six children.
In 1883, Cynthia yearned so much for her daughter, Catherine, who had died in childhood, that she gathered her daughter’s friends to refurbish Bruton Parish Church in Catherine’s memory.
Together they raised funds by creating handmade items, selling flowers, and wrote eloquent letters for various publications.
Joining the children, Cynthia and other ladies of Williamsburg weeded the Bruton Parish graveyard and cleaned the ancient tombstones that dated two-hundred years back to 1678.
When the rector began to fuss about their work, Cynthia turned to other preservation efforts.
ASSOCIATION FOR PRESERVATION OF VIRGINIA ANTIQUITIES FORMED
Inviting several ladies to her Williamsburg home, the St. George Tucker House, in 1889, Cynthia co-founded the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA), which thrives to this day.
While Cynthia led the Colonial Capitol Branch (Williamsburg), Mary Jeffery Galt led the Jamestown Island preservation efforts.
Granddaughter of George Mason, Mrs. Fitzhugh Lee, the governor’s wife, became the president of the APVA.
Serving as the 40th governor of Virginia, Fizthugh Lee was the grandson of Lighthorse Harry Lee of the American Revolution.
WILLIAMSBURG POWDER MAGAZINE ACQUISTION
In 1889, the APVA acquired ownership of the powder magazine, historically important to America’s founding in that on April 20, 1774, Royal Governor Dunmore secretly removed gunpowder from the magazine in the dark of night, only a day after Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts.
After restoring the historic site, the APVA opened the building for tours.
WILLIAMSBURG CAPITOL SITE ACQUISITION
Additionally, the APVA obtained the land upon which the former capitol building of Virginia had once stood.
History recalls firebrand Patrick Henry’s forceful 1765 Stamp Act speech: Caesar had his Brutus—Charles the First, His Cromwell—And George the Third… may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it!
Ever the predictor of history, Henry’s prediction doubly came true when the Royal Governor, on two different occasions, dissolved the House of Burgess…reminiscent of Charles I actions on Parliament.
From this capitol, too, Virginia was the first colony to vote for Independence from Britian.
Further, presented at this capitol on June 12, 1776 was George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights, which the later Declaration of Independence echoed a few weeks later.
At this site on June 29, 1776, Virginia’s first Constitution was written.
JAMESTOWN ISLAND ACQUISITION
In 1893, the APVA obtained over 22 acres on Jamestown Island, site of America’s first successful colony begun in 1607, which included the church bell tower, graveyard, and earthworks from the American Revolution and Civil War.
LAID TO REST
In 1908, Cynthia Beverley Tucker Washington Coleman was laid to rest at her first preservation project: Bruton Parish Church cemetery.
COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG ACQUISITIONS
When Colonial Williamsburg was formed in 1926 by Reverend W.A.R. Goodwin and Rockefeller, they purchased property to restore to its 18th century appearance.
Upon approval of the building design for the capitol, the APVA generously deeded the land upon which the colonial capitol once stood to Colonial Williamsburg in 1928.
Later in 1986, the APVA again generously transferred the title of the gunpowder magazine to Colonial Williamsburg.
FIVE NEW APVA ACQUISITIONS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Since then, the APVA secured five more historic Virginia sites that they have restored and opened to the public added to their Jamestown site:
SCOTCHTOWN
Acquired by the APVA in 1958, Scotchtown was Patrick Henry’s home in 1771-1778, the years he served as burgess at the Virginia capitol in Williamsburg, and later as governor of Virginia.
JAMES MARSHALL HOUSE
Rescuing the John Marshall house from demolition in 1911, the APVA restored the 1790-1835 Richmond home of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall.
SMITH’S FORT
In 1933, the APVA obtained Smith’s Fort, across the James River from Jamestown, dating to 1609.
Proposed by John Smith as a new fort location, it was never completed although earthworks remain.
On the property is a 1765 manor house with original pinework.
BACON’S CASTLE
After APVA’s 1970s purchase and restoration of Bacon’s Castle, its High Jacobean Architecture and formal gardens of 1665 are on full display.
Receiving its nickname of Bacon’s Castle in 1676, this historic home only housed Nathaniel Bacon and his men for four months in 1676 during Bacon’s Rebellion.
Interestingly, Bacon’s 1676 Rebellion has been called a foreshadow to 1776.
CAPE HENRY LIGHTHOUSE
In 1896, the APVA placed a memorial marker at the Cape Henry Lighthouse due to its historic significance of being the first landing site when the Jamestown settlers arrived in 1607.
Many years later President George Washington authorized the building of the lighthouse, while Alexander Hamilton oversaw it.
In 1930, the US Congress deeded the area to the care of the APVA.
ST. GEORGE TUCKER HOUSE TODAY
Today the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has most appropriately designated the St. George Tucker House as a destination site for Colonial Williamsburg donors to refresh and dig deeper into history with special programming.
