WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA—According to a statement released by The College of William & Mary, recent archaeological work revealed the foundations of the eighteenth-century Williamsburg Bray School, one of the most historic buildings on the college’s early campus. In operation from 1760 to 1765, the school was one of the oldest known institutions in North America dedicated to the education of free and enslaved Black children. The discovery was originally made by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation but is currently being investigated by the W&M Center for Archaeological Research. Archaeologists uncovered a previously undocumented cellar filled with centuries of artifacts dating from the eighteenth through the early twentieth century, when the building housed individuals who were among the first generations of women to attend college in the United States. Objects found in the cellar space include jewelry, slate pencil fragments, buttons, and sherds of pottery and glass. One glass fragment depicts the Roman goddess Minerva. “The discovery of this cellar is thrilling,” said William & Mary president Katherine Rowe. “The roots of our city and university entwine here. Every layer of history that it reveals gives us new insights into our early republic, from the Williamsburg Bray School through the generations that followed, up through the early 20th century.” To read about independent communities established by some of the Civil War's earliest fugitive slaves, go to "Letter from Virginia: Free Before Emancipation."
