Alumni House (College of William & Mary)
Encyclopedia
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
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Original parts of the house were thought to date back to 1871. Recently discovered watercolors of the campus, however, revealed that the Alumni House is an antebellum structure. "A long-lost panoramic watercolor of Williamsburg painted by a Union mapmaker, Robert Knox Sneden," was found and dated back to before the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Sneden’s watercolors are not always accurate and it is possible that the Italianate tower in his sketch was indeed embellished from an ambiguous flourish in his preliminary sketch. However, Sneden does get most details right (including that the President’s House and the Brafferton were requisitioned by Williamsburg’s military governor); it is therefore perhaps even more possible that the Bright House was in 1862 as Sneden depicted it, in the Italianate style then in vogue (as in the 1859 version of William and Mary’s main college building). The Alumni House is one of only several buildings on the College's entire campus to have witnessed, first-hand, a Civil War battle in Williamsburg.
During the house’s existence, it has been home to the William & Mary Kappa Alpha Order
Kappa Alpha Order
Kappa Alpha Order is a social fraternity and fraternal order. Kappa Alpha Order has 124 active chapters, 3 provisional chapters, and 2 commissions...
fraternity and College faculty. The Bright House became the Alumni House in 1973 after the W&M Alumni Association set out on a campaign to raise funds for some renovations to the building. Despite the modifications, the house still retains a mid-19th century identity. The Alumni House is sometimes used as the headquarters to host meetings pertaining to public interest. James City County
James City County, Virginia
James City County is a county located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Its population was 67,009 , and it is often associated with Williamsburg, an independent city, and Jamestown which is within the...
, York County
York County, Virginia
York County is a county located on the north side of the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Situated on the York River and many tributaries, the county seat is the unincorporated town of Yorktown...
and the City of Williamsburg have utilized the building.
Directly outside, facing Zable Stadium
Zable Stadium
Walter J. Zable Stadium at Cary Field, named for Walter J. Zable, former member of the College of William & Mary Board of Visitors, is located in Williamsburg, Virginia and is the home of the William and Mary Tribe football team. It is located centrally in the William & Mary campus, adjoining the...
, is the Elizabeth and T.C. Clarke Memorial Plaza, which is paved with hundreds of engraved bricks that commemorate special people, times and places in William & Mary history. The Plaza can seat 250 people for catered events.