Jr. Charles E. Hatch

“ Life was stirring in the wilderness and nature had been generous, the colonists thought. There were fruits, abundant timber, deer and other animals for food, and a not too numerous native population. The hot, humid weather of midsummer and the snow, ice, and emptiness of winter were not in evidence. The choice of a site for settlement was both good and bad. The anchorage for ships at Jamestown was good. The island had not then become a true island and had an easily controlled dry land isthmus connection with the mainland. ”

“ In matters of religion, Virginia continued loyal to the Church of England, although there was considerable freedom for the individual. The Puritans found it uncomfortable to remain, however, and two Quaker preachers, William Cole and George Wilson, soon found themselves in prison at Jamestown. Writing “From that dirty dungeon in Jamestown,” in 1662, they described the prison as a place “... where we have not the benefit to do what nature requireth, nor so much as air, to blow in at a window, but close made up with brick and lime....” ”

“ Several months later, in the church at Jamestown, the maid, Ann Burras, was married to one of the settlers, John Laydon, a carpenter by trade. This marriage has been ranked as “the first recorded English marriage on the soil of the United States.” Their child, Virginia, born the next year, was the first to be born at Jamestown. Here was the beginning of family life in the new colony. Soon other women would arrive to help continue, or to establish, new homes. ”

“ The needs of tobacco culture—open fields and new soil—and the abundance of navigable waters in the rivers, bays, and creeks of tidewater Virginia led to a scattered population, based on the plantation system. These factors prevented the rise of trade centers and large towns for almost a century, despite the best efforts of both home and colonial officials. The idea was to make Jamestown the center of social, political, and economic life and to develop it into a city of some proportions. ”

“ This condition was not due to any laxity on the part of George Sandys, resident treasurer in Virginia, who was something of an economic on-the-spot supervisor for the company. Virginia could not yet support these projects profitably, and interest was lacking on the part of the planters who found in tobacco a source of wealth superior to anything else that had been tried. Tobacco was profitable, and it was grown, at times, even in the streets of Jamestown. It was the profit from tobacco that supported the improved living conditions that came throughout the colony. ”

“ Kemp’s house is the earliest all-brick house in Virginia that it has been possible to date conclusively up to the present time. It was in 1639, too, that the first brick church was begun, and a levy was collected for the acquisition of a statehouse. Among the new land holders at Jamestown in this period of activity were Capt. Thomas Hill, Rev. Thomas Hampton, and Alexander Stoner, a “brickmaker.” As the area along the river was occupied, additional patentees obtained holdings just outside of the town proper and others settled in the few lots that were not in use. ”

“ Thus, a new trade and industry were born in the colony, which proved to be the economic salvation of Virginia, and provided a means for making slavery profitable. Tobacco and slavery together led to the development of important characteristics of the whole social, political, and economic structure of the Old South. One of the immediate effects of tobacco culture in Virginia was the impetus it gave to the expansion of the area of settlement and to the number of settlers coming to Virginia.
Tobacco cultivation as practiced at Jamestown. ”

“ Returning to Virginia in the third supply were several men who had been earlier leaders in the colony and who were now all hostile to Smith—Archer, Ratcliffe, and Martin. A confusing scene developed over command. The old leaders, particularly Smith, refused to give way to the new in the absence of Gates, the appointed governor, and his instructions. There was considerable bickering which led to an uneasy settlement, leaving Smith in charge for the duration of his yearly term, now almost expired.
It was obvious to everyone that there were too many men for all to remain at Jamestown. ”

“ Another significant development of 1619 was the sending by the company of maidens to Virginia to be wives of the settlers. Although many women were already established with their 21 families in the Jamestown colony, the company recognized that homes and children for all the men would be conducive to established family life and permanent residence. Under this new project, the first maidens arrived in May and June 1620. Others followed, as ships brought more and more young women seeking their fortunes in Virginia. ”

“ In the Churchyard many dead are buried, and the few gravestones that have survived the wear of time and weather are a witness to the antiquity of the spot. These carry the names of Berkeley, Blair, Harrison, Ludwell, Bevereley, Lee, Sherwood, and others. Even the extent of the burial ground is unknown. It is more extensive than either the iron grill fence or the old wall (built of bricks from the ruins of one of the 17th-century Jamestown churches) suggests.
The foundations of the Last (fourth) Statehouse Group as it extends toward the James River. ”

“ With the second supply came workmen sent over to produce glass, pitch, soap ashes, and other items profitable in England. These men, including some Poles and Dutchmen, were quickly assigned to specific duties. So rapidly did they begin that “trials” of at least one product, glass, were sent home when Newport left Jamestown before the end of the year. As usual, in addition to settlers and supplies, Newport brought more instructions from the company officials. The colony was not succeeding financially, and it was urged that the council spend more time in the preparation of marketable products. ”

“ The treasurer of the group was Sir Thomas Smith, one of the most capable businessmen of the day. Richard Hakluyt, the foremost authority on travel, foreign regions, and colonization in general, assembled helpful data and had a large part in the preparation of instructions and orders for those to be sent out as colonists. It was this group and their associates that organized, financed, and directed the expedition that reached Jamestown on May 13, 1607, and saw to it that supplies came through and reinforcements were procured in the lean years of the settlement. ”

“ No attempt will be made to restore Jamestown as it was in 1607 or at any other period. The town was always small and always changing. Jamestown, it might be said, was never a city in the modern concept. It was more a village, a small community. The town of 1607, or 1610, was unlike that of 1623, and that of 1623 was far different from that of 1675. Architecture went all the way from timber and thatch structures to substantial all-brick houses. Even if the town had had a reasonable continuity of building types and plan, known information would be entirely insufficient to allow a restoration. ”

“ Gates, with his Council, on July 7, 1610, wrote that Jamestown seemed
raither as the ruins of some auntient [for] tification, then that any people living might now inhabit it: the pallisadoes he found tourne downe, the portes open, the gates from the hinges, the church ruined and unfrequented, empty howses (whose owners untimely death had taken newly from them) rent up and burnt, the living not hable, as they pretended, to step into the woodes to gather other fire-wood; and, it is true, the Indian as fast killing without as the famine and pestilence within. ”

“ For about 2 weeks, explorations were made along both banks of the James, below and above Jamestown, from its mouth to a point as far upstream perhaps as the Appomattox River (Hopewell, Va.) . Parties went ashore to investigate promising areas, and communication was established with the native tribes. On May 12, a point of land at the mouth of Archer’s Hope (now College) Creek, a little below Jamestown, was examined in detail. Capt. Gabriel Archer was particularly impressed with this location and urged that it be the point of settlement. ”

“ Bickering prevented measures that could have been taken to prepare for the winter. Dissension continued even after Smith’s departure. Then, too, the Indians knew of conditions at Jamestown, for they actually kept scouts in the fort much of the time. They were learning the ways of the white man and had come to see that he was most vulnerable in the winter season. Heretofore they had supplied him corn—by gift, by trade, or unwillingly through seizure. In the winter of 1609-10, they had a good opportunity to make him suffer, and throughout this period the Indians were openly hostile. ”

“ Lean times lay ahead, yet the most difficult years lay behind. Virginia now had a government that made for stability under the governor, and the old settlers, who, a little later, came to be called “Ancient Planters,” had learned well by experience.
15
Gates, after dealing with the Indians, left for England. Delaware, who continued to live aboard ship for a time, called a Council, reorganized the colonists, and directed operations to promote the welfare of the colony, including the construction of two forts near Point Comfort. ”

“ The Island Drive is a motor road that gives access to this island area. Starting from the central parking area, it traverses the island’s 1,559.5 acres of marsh and woodland. The full drive is about 5 miles although it has a shorter 3-mile loop. Natural features are named and markers carry legends about the land and the people. Large paintings here and there picture the life of the times in daily activities such as winemaking, tobacco-growing, and lumbering. ”

“ The early men at Jamestown knew of their countrymen who were lost in America and were under orders to seek them. This they did, but their search went unrewarded.
By 1600, England was readying herself for a concerted drive to establish colonies in the New World. The way had been prepared by the far-sighted Queen Elizabeth and her supporters. Within England there had been growth; capital had accumulated; industry was taking root; commercial organization was beginning ”

“ A blockhouse was built at the isthmus which connected the island [1] to the mainland for better control of the Indians, and a new fort was erected on a little creek across the river from Jamestown. Smith was now in command, as his fellow councilors either had returned to England or were dead. About this time there came a new disaster. With all attention centered on the numerous construction projects, insufficient protection was given the meager supply of grain. When discovered, rats had consumed almost all of the corn stores. ”

“ There is a large model of “James Fort” in the Visitor Center and a full scale reconstruction of it has been built in Festival Park above Glasshouse Point and adjacent to the Jamestown terminus of the Colonial Parkway.
In the words of William Strachey, recorder for the colony, the fort, as built in 1607, and standing in 1610, was “cast almost into the forme of a 46 Triangle, and so Pallizadoed. The South side next the River ... by reason the advantage of the ground doth so require, contains one hundred and forty yards: the West and East sides a hundred onely. ”

“ The entire townsite is an exhibit area. The Visitor Center (1) , at its edge, is a short distance from the parking area across a trestle bridge spanning Pitch and Tar Swamp.
In the Visitor Center, sponsored jointly by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and the National Park Service, an orientation program of movies and slides, an information desk, an extensive series of exhibits, and literature and souvenirs are available. The exhibits include many irreplaceable objects, such as earrings of Pocahontas, and many objects recovered from the ground. ”

“ As the leaves fell, game became easier to get, ducks multiplied in the ponds and marshes, and life in general seemed brighter. Work was resumed at Jamestown in preparation for the coming winter, and exploration was undertaken. It was in December, while investigating the Chickahominy River area, that Smith was taken by the Indians. He was eventually carried before Powhatan who released him, some say through the intercession of the young Pocahontas. This incident Smith did not mention in his detailed account of the events of the Colony written several months later. ”

“ Even the designation “New Towne” was forgotten in the years after 1650 when the area, including street alinement, changed considerably. Those living in houses here or owning property in Jamestown’s east end then included Sherwood, Thomas Rabley, James Alsop, Richard Holder, William Edwards, and Henry Hartwell, one of the founders of the College of William and Mary. The scanty remains of Hartwell’s Frame 50 House (15) are believed to have been identified and they are marked. ”

“ A typical view of the landscape on Jamestown Island. The high ground is principally along low ridges, sometimes called “fingers,” divided by marshes or very low ground.
Under Dale, the emphasis on colonization was away from Jamestown, yet later governors found the original seat desirable. Capt. Samuel Argall, who succeeded Yeardley as deputy governor in 1617, wrote that he advanced physical improvements prior to his hasty withdrawal from Virginia in the spring of 1619 to avoid arrest under charges of mismanagement of company affairs. Argall had been the first to prescribe limits for Jamestown. ”

“ Some are only the footings for a frame structure, some are brick foundations in full outline, and others are well-preserved cellars with interesting structural detail. Associated with the sites are fragments of hardware, glass, roofing tile, and related building materials. Some of the building remains are those of the most prominent structures at Jamestown, such as statehouses and governors’ houses. Brick kilns have been found, one being the well-preserved ruins in the Association grounds, showing clearly that 17th-century Virginians made much of their own brick and roofing tile. ”