Because of the Rockefellers, Williamsburg is known throughout the world. The patriotism of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, Patrick Henry, George Mason and others made Williamsburg historic, but the philanthropy of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his family made Williamsburg famous.

Virginia's colonial capital was a dusty, rundown town - its historic significance largely forgotten - until Rockefeller took an interest in the place in 1927. He accepted the Rev. W.A.R. Goodwin's invitation to acquire the town - secretly at first - and restore it to its 18th-century appearance. Rockefeller thought the project would cost a few million; by the time he died, 34 years later, he had spent $70 million. Other Rockefeller family members and family-sponsored trusts added almost $30 million more.

Rockefeller was devoted to Williamsburg - to the remembrance of events that had taken place there, to the people who lived there, to the restoration of its public buildings and old homes so that the future may learn from the past.

He and his wife, Abby, purchased Bassett Hall, a 600-acre estate not far from Duke of Gloucester Street, and made it their residence for the months of April and October. Rockefeller delighted in strolling about town, always attentive to the details of the restoration work. He was asked to join the Pulaski Club, a group of 31 men who enjoyed sitting on benches across the street from Bruton Parish Church and meeting for dinner once a year.

"Rockefeller's keen interest in Williamsburg," writes Donald J. Gonzales, "never wavered." And it was passed to two of his sons, first John D. 3rd and then Winthrop. It was Winthrop, the third chairman of Colonial Williamsburg, and Carlisle H. Humelsine, then the newly elected president of CW, who, in 1958, brought Gonzales to Williamsburg as vice president for public relations. He had been a correspondent for United Press covering the State Department and the White House.

Now retired, Gonzales has chronicled in "The Rockefellers at Williamsburg" the establishment and the development of CW as a world-renowned cultural institution. He credits Winthrop for carrying forward his father's vision and for securing Carter's Grove Plantation on the James River and for bringing Anheuser-Busch to James City County. (A site for a brewery in Newport News had caught the interest of August A. Busch Jr., but Rockefeller offered the Kingsmill tract instead.)

Although he didn't maintain a home in Williamsburg, Winthrop Rockefeller became a familiar visitor. He was often in town to escort distinguished persons - including ambassadors, royalty and foreign heads of state - through the Historic Area. He wasn't on hand, however, when President Lyndon B. Johnson came to Williamsburg in 1967 to address a group of Washington journalists, the Gridiron Club. It was during that weekend visit when Johnson attended Bruton Parish Church and the rector, the Rev. Cotesworth P. Lewis, asked for a logical straight-forward reason for the U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam.

Humelsine was furious at this "exquisite bad taste," but Johnson later wrote from the White House that he had "no regrets" about hearing Lewis' sermon. "It may be," Johnson wrote, "that I, and those who preceded me in this office, have made mistakes in regard to American policy towards Vietnam. But they were not, I believe, mistakes of conviction, nor did any proceed from a lack of moral concern."

Gonzales recounts numerous episodes about VIPs in Williamsburg - Winston Churchill playing gin rummy with Kenneth Chorley, Humelsine's predecessor; the Queen Mother of England gossiping in the ladies room about Winthrop Rockefeller; King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit of Thailand walking barefoot in a field of Queen Anne's lace; Japan's Emperor Hirohito riding in a specially equipped bullet-proof horse-drawn carriage. Gonzales favorite personal memory: the time he had to zip up Shirley Temple's dress.

Gonzales relates how, after Winthrop's death in 1973, Colonial Williamsburg had to seek financial support from others. He, himself, was instrumental in obtaining sizable contributes from DeWitt and Lila Wallace, founders and publishers of the Reader's Digest. They gave $12 million, plus stock worth many millions more. TV newscaster David Brinkley, a CW trustee, helped by chairing the Raleigh Tavern Society, an organization of big givers who have contributed $17 million. And artist Norman Rockefeller practically donated four pen and ink sketches used by CW in advertisements.

Gonzales fills his book with amusing stories and personal recollections. He writes in the breezy, fact-filled style of a wire service reporter and has chronicled the Rockefellers' influence on Williamsburg in a charming and amusing manner. This is a book that everyone who lives in and about Williamsburg - and those who visit Williamsburg - will enjoy.

THE ROCKEFELLERS AT WILLIAMSBURG

Backstage with The Founders, Restorers and World-Renowned Guests

By Donald J. Gonzales

EPM Publications

Photographs. 160 pages. $29.95 hard cover, $22.95 paperback