Pocahontas's Baptismal Font

Bruton Parish Church in Colonial Williamsburg is restored to its pre-Revolutionary War appearance. Mirroring colonial society, there is a canopied throne up front for the Virginia colonial governor, whose enclosed pew box also seated the colony’s privy council. Colonial gentry had pew boxes also up front. Behind them were the merchant class, behind whom were poorer whites. Blacks, slave and free, sat in a balcony. Another balcony held students from the nearby College of William and Mary, which included Indian Christian converts. The third balcony held their professors, who were all ordained in the Church of England. Church vestrymen, also typically gentry, had special pews in front. Men and women sat on opposite sides of the church. The Geneva-style pulpit, from which the preacher expounded, loomed over all.