You're listening to an airwave media podcast.

Ben Franklin's world is a production of Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios.

Everyone loves to learn about pirates, of course, but the general court, like I said before, it's not just like a place for

pirates, you know, this is their way that they might interact with royal government.

So it means different things to different people I would say for sure.

I think it's also really important to think about the other side though of this building and what a court could mean to people. Hello and welcome to episode 391 of Ben Franklin's world. The podcast dedicated to

helping you learn more about how the people and

events of our early American past have shaped the present day world we live in.

And I'm your host, Liz Kovart.

Wainsburg, Virginia served as the capital of Virginia between 1699 and 1779.

During its 80 years of service as capital, Wainsburg represented the center of British authority in Virginia.

This meant that the royal governor of the colony lived in Williamsburg.

Indigenous colonial and other delegations came to Williamsburg to negotiate treaties and trade with Virginia,

and the colonial government of Virginia

met in Williamsburg to pass laws, listen to court cases,

and debate ideas.

Now in colonial period maps, the city of Williamsburg appears to be an arrow.

On the feather end of the arrow is the College of William and Mary, and at the tip of the

arrow is the capital building, the seat of British and later revolutionary governments in Virginia.

Now although the original Capitol Building burned down,

the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation reconstructed the Capitol Building during its early restoration period in the 1920s and 1930s.

Today, the Capitol Building is one of the highlights of the Foundation's Living History Museum.

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