Governor's Palace, Williamsburg

This reconstructed brick mansion in Colonial Williamsburg was the official residence of the royal governors of Virginia and later of the first two state governors, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. The original burned in 1781, and the present building, rebuilt in the 1930s from documentary evidence, re-creates its imposing symmetry and elaborate entrance hall lined with displayed muskets and swords. Formal gardens, a maze, and outbuildings surround it.