Magazine, View Looking Southwest

Magazine, View Looking Southwest

Powder Magazine (Williamsburg, Va.)

Block 12. Building 09.

Powder Magazines - Virginia - Williamsburg

Historic Buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg

Public Buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg

Architecture, Colonial - Virginia - Williamsburg

Exterior of the Powder Magazine, looking southwest toward the building's entrance, 1933. Among Williamsburg's original eighteenth-century buildings, the octagonal Powder Magazine has taken on many different functions over time. Constructed in 1715 under the orders of Governor Spotswood, the Magazine was used as a secure storage site for arms, ammunition, and military equipment sent by Queen Anne for protection of the colony. The surrounding wall was added during the French and Indian War for added security.

The Magazine reprised its role during the Civil War, when Confederate soldiers again stored gunpowder inside. In the late nineteenth century, town residents repurposed the building for use as a market house, Baptist church, dancing school, and livery stable. Efforts by the A.P.V.A. to protect the historic structure led to its preservation as an early tourist attraction in Williamsburg prior to the birth of Colonial Williamsburg.

Shaw, Thomas Mott

1933

1933

This material is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). For reproduction queries: Rights and reproductions

jpeg

Image

D2008-COPY-1014-1044

Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Graphite on paper

43.5 x 29 cm