The octagonal Powder Magazine is an original eighteenth-century structure and has taken on many different functions over time. Constructed in 1715 under the orders of Governor Spotswood, the Magazine first served as a secure storage site for arms, ammunition, and military equipment. It reprised this role during the Civil War, when Confederate soldiers again stored gunpowder inside. In the late nineteenth century, town residents re-purposed the building for use as a Baptist meetinghouse, dancing school, market, and 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.]]>