Courthouse (Colonial Williamsburg)
The courthouse once housed two separate court systems, one being the James City County Court, responsible for carrying out county cases, and the other, the Hustings Court, responsible for the city cases. The courthouse was built with red bricks with white wooden trim-boards and long arched windows with white shutters. A projected portico is located over one of the entrances and is unique in Georgian architecture. The hipped roof rests on an entablature with dentil moldings. The roof is pierced on both sides by a chimney and a central octagonal drum capped with a dome and a spire.
The courthouse was the site where Benjamin Waller read aloud the Declaration of Independence on July 25, 1776, after it arrived from Philadelphia.
The building was used as a hospital for the Confederate Army after the Battle of Williamsburg.