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King Hussein of Jordan visited for the first
time in 1959 (and returned a few more times -- four total).
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The Shaw of Iran stopped by in the 1950s.
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Former British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher has visited so many times she's reported to have
lost count.
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President Richard Nixon visited at least
five times.
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John Wayne enjoyed his visit so much, he
stayed for a week.
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Benjamin Franklin visited in 1756 on post
office business and stayed to receive the first honorary
degree awarded by the College of William and Mary.
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Noah Webster stopped by on a lecture tour in
1785.
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The Marquis de Lafayette visited in 1824 --
which actually was something of a nostalgia visit for the
aging Frenchmen, as he was able to stay at what is now known
as the Peyton Randolph House, his quarters during the Battle
of Yorktown.
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John D. Rockefeller, Jr. visited in late
1926 as he started purchasing property in Williamsburg.
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Shirley Temple, artist Georgia O'Keefe and
band leader Mitch Miller visited in the 1930s
Poet Robert Frost visited in the early 1940s.
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Walt Disney came for a visit during World
War II to learn more about Colonial Williamsburg's
educational films.
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Winston Churchill and George C. Marshall
both visited after the war's end.
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Queen Elizabeth II visited for the first
time in 1957 (and again in 2007 for the 400th anniversary of
the birth of the settlement of nearby Jamestown).
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Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited
once, as did Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
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Perry Como visited in 1973.
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Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. stopped by in 1951.
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Charleston Heston visited in 1987.
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The American Academy of Achievement put
together a gathering of what it touted as 300 of the most
successful people in America in 1995, including Barbara
Streisand, Tom Selleck, Robin Williams, George Lucas, among
dozens of others.
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Emperor Hirohito of Japan also has visited
Colonial Williamsburg.
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Williamsburg hosted the Ninth Annual
International Summit of Industrialized Nations in 1983
(personally chosen by then-President Ronald Reagan).
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Patrick
Henry, James Madison, George Wythe, Peyton Randolph, and other
historical figures of great importance to the U.S. all visited
or even worked in Williamsburg before, during and after
the Revolutionary War. (In fact, many of the precepts of the
Declaration of Independence come from the Virginia Declaration
of Rights, adopted in Williamsburg when Virginia declared its
independence from Britain in May 1776.)