Jamestown, Virginia

“ The English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, was the beginning of the highest civilization in the liberty of man and the establishment of the purest and best political government the world has ever known—perfected through many vicissitudes, stands as the beacon light of human liberty for all the world. ”

“ It was obvious to everyone that there were too many men for all to remain at Jamestown. John Martin was sent to attempt a settlement at Nansemond, on the south side of the James below Jamestown, while Captain Francis West, brother of Lord De La Warr, was sent to settle at the falls of the James. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The ideals that distinguish and guide the United States today trace back to the Virginia settlement where free enterprise, the rule of law, and the spirit of discovery took hold in the hearts and practices of the American people. Noble institutions and grand traditions were established in Jamestown. Amid tremendous difficulties, a determined few worked the land and expanded into the wilderness. Without knowing it, the colonists who built communities at Jamestown laid the foundation for a Nation that would become the ultimate symbol and force for freedom throughout the entire world. ”

“ In Jamestown was the first Anglican church built in America. The settlement was in a low marshy district which proved to be unhealthy; it was accidentally burned in January 1608, was almost completely destroyed by Nathaniel Bacon in September 1676, the state house and other buildings were again burned in 1698, and after the removal of the seat of government of Virginia from Jamestown to the Middle Plantations (now Williamsburg) in 1699 the village fell rapidly into decay. Its population had never been large: it was about 490 in 1609, and 183 in 1623; the mortality was always very heavy. ”

“ 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 same spirit that guided intrepid settlers to help establish Jamestown, Virginia, and found Germantown, Pennsylvania, is reflected in the indelible contributions to our common culture that we celebrate today. ”

“ 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....” ”

“ The economic, political, religious, and social institutions that developed during the first 9 decades of the existence of Jamestown continue to have profound effects on the United States, particularly in English common law and language, cross cultural relationships, manufacturing, and economic structure and status. (4) The National Park Service, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, and the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation of the Commonwealth of Virginia collectively own and operate significant resources related to the early history of Jamestown. ”

“ All through that winter it was dangerous to be alone far from the fort.
Not having sufficient stores set aside, not able to deal with the natives, and without the use of the resources of the countryside, there is small wonder that conditions became serious, even desperate, for the settlers. Those few men fortified on Hampton Roads under Capt. James Davis (after Captain West, perhaps under threat from the crew, left Virginia for England in the colony’s best ship) fared far better than did those at Jamestown. ”

“ Oh, if thou couldst imagine what events must take place in this little isolated world around Jamestown, before the mysteries of which I speak can rightfully be made clear to thee, thou wouldst fall upon thy knees and pray that such disastrous knowledge might never come to thy understanding! ”

“ But it is extremely doubtful that the Jamestown settlement, after its tragic first years, continued very long to be attractive to young men seeking adventure only. Many of the families of today who boast of their generations of ancestry in Virginia descend from or married into the families of the men and women who came to the colony in these earliest years of settlement, and have ancestors buried among the unknown dead of the Jamestown cemetery and churchyard. ”

“ Jamestown was still to be seated; the Governor had, practically, still to lay its foundations and to promote its growth with the most vigilant solicitude. Berkeley himself was commanded by the English Government to build several houses in the town, presumably at his own expense, and he was told to inform the members of the Council that the authorities in England would be highly pleased if each one would erect a residence at Jamestown. [34] To such expedients was the English Government driven to breathe life into that languishing corporation! ”

“ In midsummer of 1609, conditions at Jamestown were not good, although it is doubtful that they were any worse than during the two previous summers. The settlers were becoming acclimated, and they 12 were learning the ways of the new country. Supplies were low, yet the number of colonists was small, and a good harvest and a good autumn might have improved matters had not some 400 new, inexperienced settlers sailed into the James without their leaders, without instructions, and with damaged supplies. ”

“ When the kings of the earth send their navies into Virginia waters, when multitudes throng the gates, when cannon speaks to cannon, when orators bring their choicest words to grace the hour, a voice more eloquent than all these will rise from the sands of the desolate little island of Jamestown,—"We who lie here in unmarked graves died for you!" ”

“ Almost from the foundation of the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia was an important dependence of the mother country, not only as a land to which those who desired to establish new homes could emigrate, but as a community which, as its population expanded, required an ever enlarging volume of artificial supplies. ”

“ And just what was the Jamestown fort supposed to guard? Was it the few acres of the modern county of James City, or the right of Englishmen to possess the Virginia peninsula, where so much of importance to our national history has found its place? Not at all. It was the right of Englishmen to be in North America, to fish the waters that lay off its coast, to trade with its inhabitants, and to exploit such other opportunities as an unexplored and undeveloped continent might offer. How far these opportunities might lead no one could tell in advance—perhaps even to China. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Under the Amblers and Travises and later owners of the island, even parts of the townsite itself became farm land and functioned as an integral part of the plantation system which earlier events at Jamestown had helped so materially to create.
The fields, and woods, and marshes lay quietly on the James for generations, contributing in a small, but important, manner to a growing country. Americans often remembered the early years of the colony and the momentous events that had taken place on the island, and joined here to commemorate the deeds of their forefathers. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Exposition as an historical event should appeal to every American as an object lesson to create admiration, nor should we forget what the tercentennial celebration stands for. It is of little moment whether all detail to please the eye and secure comfort is perfected or not, but to keep in view the historical fact that Jamestown is the birthplace of our country is important. ”

“ 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. ”

“ An important provision of the law was that after its passage no wooden house was to be erected in Jamestown, and all such houses then standing in the Colony should not be repaired with the same material, but should be replaced by structures of brick. The levy of thirty pounds of tobacco a head was for the period of one year to be devoted to the extension of Jamestown, but after the expiration of that time, the annual levy for building was to be expended in establishing towns in Accomac, and on the York, Rappahannock, and Potomac. ”

“ The universal discontent was still further increased by the wasteful and lax use of public funds. The money which was wrung from the poor people by these unequal taxes, was seldom wisely or economically expended. Much was squandered upon foolish projects, costly in the extreme, and impossible of accomplishment. Such was the attempt to build a city at Jamestown. For many years it had been a matter of regret to the English government that Virginia should remain so entirely a rural country. ”

“ The wide expanse of the Powhatan at this point doubtless had some influence upon the minds of the adventurers if they could have sailed up to the future site of Henrico or Richmond, and made their earliest settlement there, they would have felt themselves entirely swallowed up by the wilderness. At Jamestown not only could the approach of a foreign enemy be quickly discovered, but the pathway to the European world seemed to be less obstructed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Half the young Cavaliers in Jamestown would have been willing devotees at the shrine of Wyanokee's beauty, after the corrupt fashions of the parent court and country. But such celebrity was not suited to the taste or ambition of the Indian maiden. Whenever the little errands of her patroness led her to the shops of the city, instead of encouraging the forward and impudent gallantries of the young profligates, she would trip along like a frightened partridge—always turning a deaf ear to their flatteries, and keeping her eyes fixed upon the earth, in the most modest, natural and simple guise. ”

“ With this act Virginia became a royal colony and continued as such until the American Revolution made it free and independent. From the point of view of operations in the colony the change was 25 almost painless although there was concern over land titles and a continuance of the assembly which had already voiced its feeling on taxation without representation. The company governor gave way to the royal appointee, but most institutions were left intact.
The remains of a brick and tile kiln (c. 1650) found at Jamestown. ”

“ Virginia did not develop any cities or even towns during the period 1625-1660. Indeed, the towns, such as Jamestown and Henrico, that had earlier been established, declined in population or were totally abandoned. The immigrants who were funneled into the colony through Jamestown were soon attracted to the ever widening frontier. During the first twenty years colonists had lived in organized farming communities, separated from other such settlements, but strictly supervised by local "plantation commanders." ”