Francis Fauquier is buried in the north aisle of the Parish Church, and Lord Botetourt, a devoted churchman and a sincere Christian gentleman, was followed by a great concourse of mourning friends, to whom he had endeared himself, from the church to his last resting place in the Chapel vault in the College of William and Mary. Lord Dunmore gave to the gallery in the west end of the church the name, "Dunmore's Gallery," by resorting to it with his Council when the prayer for the King began to be unpopular, and when the Burgesses around the Governor's pew began to mutter irreverant imprecations, when, as loyal churchmen, they should have been praying devoutedly for King George III and his Parliament.
The House of Burgesses
The removal of the House of Burgesses to Williamsburg in 1699, caused the building of the present church in 1710-15, and brought Bruton into prominence as the Court Church of Colonial Virginia. As suggested by Governor Spotswood, the government appropriated a sufficient sum of money to "build the wings and intervening part of the church, and to provide pews for the Governor, his Council, and the members of the House of Burgesses." The foundations alone remain of the "Old Capitol" at the extreme east end of Duke of Gloucester Street, and a plain granite boulder, strong and rugged, bears this brief and eloquent inscription:
The Old Capitol
"Here, Patrick Henry first kindled the flames of Revolution by his resolutions and speech against the Stamp Act, May 29-30, 1765.
Here, March 12, 1773, Dabney Carr offered, and the Convention of Virginia unanimously adopted, the resolutions to appoint a Committee to correspond with similar Committees in the other Colonies: the first step taken towards the union of the States.
