Colonial Williamsburg Self-Guided Audio Walking Tour

Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center

10 dk

The tour of this beautifully preserved slice of Colonial America begins at the Visitor Center, where you can get your first taste of the nation's largest living museum.
Note: This 2.5+ mile-long tour covers the essentials of Colonial Williamsburg in 2-3 hrs.

Peyton Randolph House

5 dk

Your first stop is at the doorstep of the Peyton Randolph House, the former home of a fiery revolutionary and one of the oldest buildings in Williamsburg! You might not have heard of William Randolph, but he was a trusted ally of folks like Thomas Jefferson

Bassett Hall

5 dk

A simple two-story 18th-century white frame farmhouse nestled on 585 acres of lawn, garden, and woodlands, Bassett Hall once was the Williamsburg home of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller .Philip Johnson, a member of the House of Burgesses from King and Queen County, Virginia, is believed to have built the 18th-century frame house sometime between 1753 and 1766.
Purchased by Burwell Bassett around 1800
Union cavalryman George Armstrong Custer guest in home during the Civil War

Colonial Williamsburg Capitol Building

5 dk

Built between 1701 and 1705, the first Williamsburg statehouse served the colony of Virginia until fire destroyed the building in 1747.The first floor of the west building was for the General Court and the colony's secretary, the first floor of the east for the House of Burgesses and its clerk. Arched windows marched across the facades. Stairs on one side led to the Council Chamber, a lobby, and the Council clerk's office
stairs on the other side led to three committee rooms. A second-floor conference room connected the classically corniced structures, and a six-sided cupola on the ridge of the hipped and dormered roof crowned it all. Though the west wing was completed by July 1703, it took Cary until November 1705 to finish all the work.

Secretary's Office

5 dk

Next is the unassuming little Secretary's Office, where all the documents needed to reconstruct Williamsburg's colonial days were stored

Raleigh Tavern

5 dk

After that, you'll arrive at the Raleigh Tavern, where rebellious Virginians met to plot a possible revolution against their British rulers. These meetings even welcomed famous names like Thomas Jefferson!

Colonial Williamsburg Magazine

5 dk

Then you'll come to the Colonial Williamsburg Magazine, the site of a tense standoff between American patriots and British soldiers trying to steal all the gunpowder from the town before it could fall into rebel hands

Colonial Williamsburg Courthouse

5 dk

Directly opposite the Magazine, you'll find the old courthouse, where residents of Williamsburg heard the Declaration of Independence read aloud for the very first time

Playhouse Theater

5 dk

Up next is the Play House Stage, a recreation of one of America's first theatres. The original may have failed terribly, but this one still puts on shows on a regular basis!

Governor's Palace

5 dk

Then you'll see the extravagant Governor's Palace, and maybe start to get a sense of why the residents of Williamsburg didn't particularly care for their British royal governors!

George Wythe House

5 dk

Up next is the house of George Wythe, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who stands out from most of his compatriots because of one simple fact: he was an abolitionist. In Virginia, a state which used a huge amount of slave labor, this didn't exactly make him a lot of friends!

Bruton Parish Episcopal Church

5 dk

Continuing on, you'll arrive at the oldest building in Colonial Williamsburg: the Bruton Parish Episcopal Church. Here, you'll learn not just about the church's surprising history, but also about how it's the whole reason Colonial Williamsburg exists in the first place

Armistead House

5 dk

After that is the Bowden-Armistead House, the history of which showcases some of the deep divisions which cut through Williamsburg around the time of the Civil War. See, the owner was a northerner, and you can probably imagine how his Virginian neighbors felt about that...

William & Mary

5 dk

Your route takes you next onto the campus of William & Mary College, the oldest college in the United States

The Wren Building

5 dk

The final stop on your tour is the Wren Building, an impressive structure which isn't just the oldest building on the William & Mary Campus, but the oldest college building in the entire United States!