In a place that is as dedicated to history as Williamsburg, you would think that people would notice a historic building just hanging around on the campus of William and Mary. But that’s not the case with the Bray School, which is the subject of this article. The school was founded in 1760 to teach both free and enslaved children by an English organization called the “Associates of the Late Dr. Bray.” It was closely allied with the Church of England. Benjamin Franklin, a member of the Associates while he was living in London, had suggested that "New York, Williamsburgh and Newport" would be good choices. The Associates rented a building in Williamsburg owned by Dudley Digges to house the school.
The school building was initially located near The College of William and Mary at the corner of Boundary Street and Prince George Street (just a block away from its current location). In 1765 the school moved out of the structure. On May 8, 1930, the school building was moved to the campus but was not recognized as the original school building until 2020. Here’s a map that shows you the current location of this house.
So how did this building hide in plain sight for so long? The story is long and complicated, but here’s the short version. One way of dating old structures is through dendrochronology – figuring out how old a building is by studying the tree rings in the wood that frames it. Early studies had looked at the rafters, and determined that the building was constructed around 1800 – but what people didn’t know at the time was that trees had grown faster than normal for the region. But in 2021, Matt Webster (executive director of Colonial Williamsburg’s Grainger Department of Architectural Preservation and Research) concluded that this was in fact the Bray School. In 2020, he had crawled under the building and notices parts of the fram and joists that might be used for new dendrochronology. After getting permission from the college – which owned the building – he took more samples. Analysis of four samples determined the felling season: either the winter of 1759-1760 or the spring of 1760. Webster got the call from the dendrochronology tests on June 22, 2021, proving that the building was the Bray School.
So here’s a little about the Bray School. Between 1760 and 1774, this school educated as many as 400 Black children – both free and enslaved. The story of this school is complicated; the Colonial Williamsburg website notes that the school’s ideology was unquestionably pro-slavery. It taught the students to be “faithful & Obedient to their masters.” Some slave owners treated the school as free child care for enslaved children until they were old enough to be useful. Others allowed children to be educated because literacy and numeracy increased their market value. Scholars suggest that, once educated, enslaved children used their skills in subversive ways that undermined the institution of slavery.
This story is in the news today because the building is scheduled to be moved tomorrow, February 9, to a new location in the historic area of Colonial Williamsburg. It will be placed next to the First Baptist Church archeological site.
Once the building is in place, there will be a ceremony commemorating the Bray School on the law of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, across the street from the new location. The President of the Colonial Williamsburg Foudation and the President of the College of William and Mary will both speak at this 2:00 pm ceremony, which will be livestreamed at https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/learn/research-and-education/architectural-research/williamsburg-bray-school-initiative/.
Colonial Williamsburg is currently excavating the remains of the First Baptist Church, founded by free and enslaved Black worshippers and one of the country’s earliest African American congregations. Once the Bray School is situated next to this archaeological dig, Colonial Williamsburg plans to use these structures to broaden its coverage of the expanded community in the city during the 18th century.
A project called the Bray School Lab has been launched in association with this project. I found out that this project was jumpstarted by contributions from two people who graduated from William and Mary with me, so I’m proud of them. The lab is located in the Travis House in Colonial Williamsburg, less than a block from the Bray School’s new location. This lab will house a variety of interdisciplinary research initiatives focused on uncovering the Bray School’s history.
History is everywhere. Sometimes you have to crawl under buildings to find it.
Karen, thanks for the information. It’s an interesting story. And thanks for the link to the ceremony. I’ve added it to my calendar. Enjoy your day!