Art: Life in Williamsburg

When John D. Rockefeller Jr. set out to restore the old colonial capital of Williamsburg, Va. back in 1926, he guessed the job might take as much as $5,000,000 to complete. It was a vast underestimation. For one thing, Rockefeller decided to spend $6,200,000 on accommodations for tourists. Then, to insure proper colonial atmosphere, the tracks of the Chesapeake & Ohio R. R. had to be moved, and all telephone and power lines buried underground. Building costs and land values started climbing. And the overall scope of the project grew; at first, Rockefeller aimed to restore only the old buildings that...

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