If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 614

 

 

 

 

 

 

The George Wythe House, Williamsburg, Virginia

 

This is an unused postcard with a color photo by Walter H. Miller.  Miller was both a photographer and the publisher of postcards.  The number 2730 is found at the bottom of the center line on the reverse.  The blurb at the top left corner:  “The George Wythe House, Williamsburg, Virginia.  This house was erected in 1755 by Richard Taliaferro [Taliafero], father-in-law of George Wythe.  Wythe was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the first law professor in America.  He was the teacher of Thomas Jefferson and Chief Justice John Marshall.”

 

The historic house is located on the Palace Green in Colonial Williamsburg, in Williamsburg, Virginia.  It was originally owned by Wythe’s father-in-law who later gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Elizabeth, and George Wythe in 1755.  Taliafero continued to live with them in the house until his death in 1779.  Wythe and Elizabeth also received life tenancy upon Taliafero’s death in 1779.  After Elizabeth died in 1787, George moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1791 to serve as a judge.  Ownership of the house changed hands several times before Colonial Williamsburg officially obtained the property in 1938.  In 1939 the interior was restored to the way it looked when the Wythe family lived there.

 

Prior to the Siege of Yorktown, General George Washington used the house as headquarters.  The property includes gardens and outbuildings, such as a smokehouse, external kitchen, laundry, poultry house, lumber house, well, dovecote, and a stable.  The house is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark, a U.S. National Historic Landmark District Contributing Property, and on the Virginia Landmarks Register.

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wythe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wythe_House