'Travels Through North America 



regularly laid out in parallel streets, intersected by 

 others at right angles; has a handsome square in 

 the center, through which runs the principal street, 

 one of the most spacious in North America, three 

 quarters of a mile in length, and above a hundred 

 feet wide. At the opposite ends of this street are 

 two public buildings, the college and the capitol: 

 and although the houses are of wood, covered with 

 shingles,* and but indifferently built, the whole 

 makes a handsome appearance. There are few 

 public edifices that deserve to be taken notice of; 

 those, which I have mentioned, are the principal; 

 and they are far from being magnificent. The 

 governor's palace is tolerably good, one of the best 

 upon the continent; but the church, the prison, 

 and the other buildings, are all of them extremely 

 indifferent. The streets are not paved, and are con- 

 sequently very dusty, the soil hereabout consisting 

 chiefly of sand: however, the situation of Williams- 

 burg has one advantage which few or no places in 

 these lower parts have, that of being free from mos- 

 quitoes. Upon the whole, it is an agreeable resi- 

 dence; there are ten or twelve gentlemen's families 

 constantly residing in it, besides merchants and 

 tradesmen: and at the times of the assemblies, and 

 general courts, it is crowded with the gentry of the 

 country: on those occasions there are balls and other 



* These are formed in the shape of tiles, and are generally made 

 of white cedar or of cypress. 



[34] 



