Academy Square

In 1786, Chevalier Quesnay de Beaurepaire established an academy of arts and sciences at this location by erecting a large wooden building with an elaborate French garden. Two years later, delegates to the Virginia Convention of 1788 met there and ratified the U.S. Constitution. The academy itself was short-lived but the area bounded by Broad, College, Marshall, and 12^th streets became Academy Square. St. Philip Way retraces the original pathway through de Beaurepaire’s French garden.