Eastern State Hospital is the oldest institution of its kind in America. Francis Fauquier was Governor in 1768. In November, 1769, the tenth year of the reign of George the Third, an act was passed by the House of Burgesses confirming the establishment of the institution. The Assembly placed this work in the hands of distinguished citizens as the first Court of Directors: Thomas Nelson, Jr., one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and Governor of Virginia in 1781; Peyton Randolph, President of the First Continental Congress in 1774; George Wythe, the preceptor of both Marshall and Jefferson in law at the College of William and Mary; Benjamin Waller; Thomas Everard; Robert Carter; Robert Carter Nicholas; John Blair; John Blair, Jr.; Thomas Nelson; William Nelson; John Randolph; Dudley Digges, Jr.; John Tazewell; and Lewis Burwell.
