31 chapters
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31 chapters
Preface
Preface
Jamestown , a name of first rank among historic names, saw the birth of English America. Here on an island in the James River in the heart of tidewater Virginia the English carved a settlement out of the wilderness. It grew from a rude palisaded fort into a busy community and then into a small town that enjoyed many of the comforts of daily living. For 13 years (until 1620) Virginia was the only English colony on the American mainland. Jamestown served this colony as its place of origin and as i
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Churches
Churches
The first church service at Jamestown was held under a piece of sailcloth in May 1607. The first frame church, constructed within the palisades, burned with the entire first fort in January 1608, and was eventually replaced by another frame structure after the fort was rebuilt. The exact date of the first church to stand on a brick foundation is uncertain, possibly 1639. Brick foundation traces, uncovered in 1901 by John Tyler, Jr., a civil engineer who volunteered his services for the Associati
54 minute read
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Mansions
Mansions
Despite official urgings that they build substantial town houses on Jamestown Island, the first successful planters often preferred to build on their holdings away from the capitol, once the Indian menace had passed. Only 2 houses at Jamestown, designed for single occupancy, have over 900 square feet of foundation area. One was either a stately residence or a public building (area 1,350 square feet) located near Pitch and Tar Swamp, just east of the Jamestown Visitor Center. Archeological eviden
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Row Houses
Row Houses
Although row houses—a continuous row of joined family residences on unit foundations—were a common city feature in 17th-century England, apparently they did not become popular at Jamestown. But the brick foundation of one true multiple-family unit has been uncovered, and two others approach this category, thus providing the true precedent for the row houses which came to characterize miles of Baltimore and Philadelphia streets, and are a familiar pattern of some modern duplex apartment units. Th
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Single Brick Houses
Single Brick Houses
These were once supposed to have been very common at Jamestown, but are represented by only 12 foundations, not all of which have been completely excavated. Like the other excavated structures, if these houses can be related to the ownership of the land tracts on which they once stood, we may someday know more of their possible identity....
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Frame Houses
Frame Houses
Partial or even whole brick footings do not always indicate brick houses at Jamestown. Some 30 structures have been recorded which had brick footings or isolated brick fireplace foundations, the appearance of which suggests frame houses. These may be briefly classified as follows: Some of the structures encountered in the first explorations remain to be more fully excavated and recorded. Structures in this category total 23....
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Miscellaneous Structures
Miscellaneous Structures
Because of the inadequacy of Jamestown remains and records, it is difficult to determine the purposes for which the various outbuildings were used. Doubtless, many outbuildings did exist for various purposes, and probably most of them were not substantial enough to leave a trace. Two clearly isolated, small structures properly called outbuildings (discovered in 1955) are all that will be cited here. The first is the large double-chimney foundation just beyond the southwest corner of the mansion
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Workshop Structures
Workshop Structures
Most of the early industries at Jamestown were undoubtedly housed in perishable wooden structures that have left the least evident traces, such as frame sheds for forges and wine presses, carpenters’ shops, and buildings used by various artisans and craftsmen. So far, only two industrial structures are clearly recognizable (aside from kilns), although their precise use is not certain. One of these, on the edge of Pitch and Tar Swamp, was a nearly square, tile-floored workshop with a rough but su
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Brick Walks or Paved Areas
Brick Walks or Paved Areas
It is difficult to assign a use for certain areas which have been paved apparently with brick rubble, or, in more evident cases, by flatlaid bricks. Four such paved areas have been discovered....
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Brick Drains
Brick Drains
Three brick drains, buried beneath the humus line, are identified with 17th-century houses....
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Ice Storage Pit
Ice Storage Pit
So far unique on Jamestown Island is a circular unlined pit, 14 feet in top diameter, excavated 7 feet into a sandy substratum, and corresponding in general character to known 17th-and 18th-century ice pits in England. This pit which lies 250 feet east of the Visitor Center may have served a spacious house which once stood nearby. It may be assumed that the missing surface structure was circular, probably of brick, had a small door, and was roofed over with thatch or sod for insulation....
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Kilns
Kilns
Both brick and lime kilns are present in the “James Citty” area, each type being represented by four examples. The oldest of four brick kilns so far discovered on the island is a small rectangular pit near Orchard Run, excavated to a floor depth of 4 feet, which has been dated between 1607 and 1625 by associated cultural objects. This small pit, without structural brick, was a brick-making “clamp,” consisting of unfired brick built up over two firing chambers. There is good evidence that a potte
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Ironworking Pits
Ironworking Pits
Also in the “industrial area” near Pitch and Tar Swamp, there is a circular pit in which lime, bog iron, and charcoal suggest the manufacture of iron. The previously mentioned pit within the area of the Confederate Fort yielded sword parts, gun parts, bar iron, and small tools, indicating a forge site, perhaps an armorer’s forge....
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Wells
Wells
At Jamestown, wells are conspicuous features near many house locations. Those that have been found may be summarized as follows: wood lined—1; circular, brick cased—10; circular, uncased with wooden barrel at bottom—6; circular, uncased, incompletely excavated—4. Wells are invariably found filled with earth mixed with trash, mainly food animal bones. A well, located immediately north of the row house, had a human left leg and left half of the pelvis buried in the fill at a depth of 4 feet....
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Ditches
Ditches
The most significant feature determining landholdings are the ditches of the Jamestown area. During the 1954-56 explorations 63 ditches were added to the 33 previously discovered, thus increasing the opportunity to delineate property lines, many of which used to be bounded by such ditches....
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Refuse Pits
Refuse Pits
“James Citty,” like all other settlements in all ages, had to have places for disposal of refuse. That much refuse was disposed of by casting it in the James River is unlikely, since before the dawn of history it has been a trait of man to live on top of his own refuse rather than litter a shore with it. While it may be that no pits were dug purposely for refuse disposal, pits opened for brick or ceramic clay (or dug for ice houses, wells, or other purposes and later abandoned) were used for dum
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Roads
Roads
Only one road identified by 17th-century references has been definitely located by archeologists. This is the “Maine Cart Road,” sometimes called the “Greate Road,” leading from Glasshouse Point across the isthmus and onto the island, where it can be traced as far as its passage into the main “James Citty” area just north of the brick church and churchyard. A trace is all that remains of a road which once ran east-west between parallel ditches, south of the row house. The foregoing has been a su
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Houses
Houses
Timber at Jamestown was plentiful, so many houses, especially in the early years, were of frame construction. During the first decade or two, house construction reflected a primitive use found ready at hand, such as saplings for a sort of framing, and use of branches, leafage, bark, and animal skins. During these early years—when the settlers were having such a difficult time staying alive—mud walls, wattle and daub, and coarse marshgrass thatch were used. Out of these years of improvising, cons
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House Furnishings
House Furnishings
Busy conquering a stubborn wilderness, the first Jamestown settlers had only a few things to make their houses cosy and cheerful. In most cases, their worldly goods consisted of a few cooking utensils, a change of clothing, a weapon or two, and a few pieces of homemade furniture. However, between 1607 and 1612, George Percy was generously outfitted with some necessities as well as much fine apparel and numerous luxury items (including a feather bed) by his brother the Ninth Earl of Northumberlan
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Table Accessories
Table Accessories
In the small houses at Jamestown the kitchen also served as the dining room. During the early years, many settlers probably ate with wooden spoons out of wooden bowls and trenchers, and drank from mugs made of horn, wood, or leather. As the colony became well established, these crude utensils and vessels were used less frequently and were gradually replaced with ones made of pottery, metalware, and glassware. None of the perishable woodenware, horn, or leather items have been found at Jamestown,
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Clothing and Footwear
Clothing and Footwear
The Jamestown settlers of the middle class were usually dressed in hard wearing, rough clothes made of homespun material, with a slightly better (and perhaps more colorful) costume for Sunday and holiday wear. In 1622 each Englishman who planned to emigrate to Jamestown was advised to supply himself with the following wearing apparel: The women wore plain frocks and petticoats, although a few of the wealthy ladies owned silk, satin, and velvet dresses. Bodices, as a rule, were long pointed, and
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Artisans and Craftsmen
Artisans and Craftsmen
Numerous objects recovered at Jamestown are extremely important as they reveal the kinds of craftsmen and artisans who worked in Virginia’s first capital, the nature of their tools and equipment, and examples of their handiwork. Scores of tools used by the men who helped build the Jamestown houses have been unearthed, including chisels, augers, gouges, hammers, reamers, saw fragments, bits, axes and hatchets, plane blades, gimlets, files, calipers, compasses, scribers, nail pulls, and a saw wres
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Home Industries
Home Industries
During archeological explorations many artifacts relating to household and town industries were recovered. It is believed that many of these small industries were home activities carried on in the houses at Jamestown. A few of these activities, and the products of them are mentioned briefly. A few metal parts from spinning wheels and looms have been excavated—reminders that the pioneer housewife who spun the thread and yarn, and wove the cloth for her large family, was seldom idle. One Jamestown
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Military Equipment
Military Equipment
The vast assemblage of military equipment that has been unearthed (probably the largest collection of late 16th-and 17th-century English weapons used in America) emphasizes the important part which firearms and other weapons played during the early years of the settlement. They helped the colonists to protect themselves from the ever-menacing Indian and from the Spaniards who might at anytime have sailed up the James River to attack the small colony. They were also the means of providing the set
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Farming
Farming
The first settlers brought seeds from England, and planted wheat 2 weeks after landing at Jamestown. The early Virginians successfully grew many kinds of crops: grains (wheat, Indian corn, barley, oats, and rye), vegetables (peas, beans, turnips, parsley, onions, potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, parsnips, lettuce, and others), and fruits (apples, peaches, apricots, quince, figs, grapes, and melons). The colonists planted Indian corn as early as 1609, and cultivated many other Indian food
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Fishing
Fishing
When the first settlers planted their small colony at Jamestown, the tidewater rivers and bays and the Atlantic Ocean bordering the Virginia coast teemed with many kinds of fish and shellfish which were both edible and palatable. Varieties which the colonists soon learned to eat included sheepshead, shad, sturgeon, herring, sole, white salmon, bass, flounder, pike, bream, perch, rock, and drum, as well as oysters, crabs, and mussels. Seafood was an important source of food for the colonists, and
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Health
Health
Keeping well and healthy, even managing to stay alive in the unfamiliar Virginia wilderness during the first two decades of the Jamestown settlement, was no easy matter. In the group of 105 original settlers, 67 died during the first 8 months. During the hard winter of 1609-10 (known as the “starving time”), the population dwindled from 500 to about 60 as a result of sickness, Indian attacks, and famine. One of the members of the first colony was a surgeon, William Wilkinson by name. As the colo
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Amusements and Pastimes
Amusements and Pastimes
The difficult and time-consuming job of conquering the Virginia wilderness (clearing the land, building homes, planting and harvesting crops, and warding off Indian attacks) left few hours for leisure and amusements. There were times, however (especially after the first few hard years had passed), when a colonist could enjoy himself by smoking his pipe, playing a game, practicing archery, bowling, playing a musical instrument, singing a ballad, or taking part in a lively dance. Excavated artifac
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Travel
Travel
During the 17th century, travel in Virginia was mainly by boat. As the roads leading from Jamestown to the nearby settlements were usually in deplorable condition, especially after heavy rains, the settlers preferred to travel by water whenever possible. As the colony grew, and roads were improved somewhat, travel by horse became more common, especially for short trips. After 1650 the use of wagons increased, and records indicate that a few of the more prosperous planters imported fine carriages
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Trade
Trade
Some interesting objects recovered at Jamestown relate to early trade. These include items used in trade with the Indians, as well as an excellent assortment of lead bale clips. These clips are decorated discs which were often attached to bales of goods (especially woolen cloth) imported from England. One object, the heaviest unearthed at Jamestown, relates indirectly to trade. It is a 1,300-pound iron piledriver which was once used to build wharfs and piers. One reason why the colonists selecte
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Worshipping
Worshipping
The Jamestown colonists were, for the most part, religious and God-fearing people. The majority were members of the Church of England. One of the first settlers, the Rev. Robert Hunt, was an ordained minister of that church. Whenever possible, services were held every morning and evening, and sermons delivered twice on Sundays. A few ornamental brass book clasps excavated near Jamestown may have been used on early Bibles and Prayer Books. Under the care of Bruton Parish Episcopal Church in Willa
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