Part 1

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A PICTORIAL BOOKLET ON EARLY JAMESTOWN COMMODITIES AND INDUSTRIES

by

J. PAUL HUDSON

Jamestown, Virginia

Illustrated by Sidney E. King

Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation Williamsburg, Virginia 1957

Copyright©, 1957 by J. Paul Hudson, Jamestown, Virginia

Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklet Number 23

INTRODUCTION

In the pages which follow only a few of many goods and commodities made, collected, or grown at or near Jamestown during the seventeenth century will be discussed. No pretense is made to do more than touch lightly on the ones mentioned most frequently by the early settlers. With the exception of tobacco, grape vines, and herbs, agricultural products are omitted.

Jamestown has never received proper recognition as the place where many American industries were born in the New World. Few people are aware that boatbuilding, timbering, glassmaking, tobacco-cultivation, wine-making, iron-smelting, and the making of pitch, tar, potash and soap-ashes, were carried on in Virginia's colonial capital; nor is it generally known that there was production of pottery, bricks and tile, of considerable volume.

Besides the products mentioned in this booklet, attempts were made to grow or produce other items at or near "James Citty"--including cordage, silk-grass, dyes, salt, flax, hemp, alum, white earth, walnut-oil, minerals, sweet-gums, madder, sugar cane, cotton, citrus fruits, olives, bark, roots, and berries. A few brought profits to the planters while others, like indigo, cotton, sugar cane, and citrus fruits, resulted in failure. The tropical plants from the West Indies could not, of course, withstand the cold Virginia winters.

Attempts made by the early planters to find commodities and raw materials revealed to a large degree the industrial and agricultural resources of the new colony. The lessons learned at Jamestown--even information derived from the failures--were invaluable ones. For from the successful activities carried out in the small huts, in the fields, and in the woodland areas, would later develop industries and agricultural pursuits undreamed of by the early settlers.

The history of American commodities, like the history of the nation, is no longer a brief one. Three hundred and fifty years have now passed since the first adventurous Englishman, with musket in hand and ears alerted to the sound of moccasined feet, searched the wilderness area up and down the James River for New World wealth. As time permitted, he worked in his small shop making utilitarian things out of clay, wood, sand, and metal--objects not entirely lacking in beauty. Busy as he was with these tasks, he still found time to tend his small vineyard and tobacco field. As he worked he may have dreamed of the day when his hogs-heads of sweet-scented tobacco and casks of red wine would reach England safely and be sold for a profit. Trying to better his condition in a new land, he never dreamed that the seeds of his incessant labors, which he was unconsciously planting, would some day flower into a great industrial and agricultural nation.

CONTENTS

Introduction iii

Boatbuilding 1

Timbering 4

Barrels and Casks (Coopering) 8

Potash and Soap-Ashes 11

Pitch and Tar 14

Iron 16

A Jamestown Blacksmith Shop 18

Glassmaking 23

Furs and Hides 26

Building 30

Tobacco 40

Wine 42

Silk 46

Pottery 48

Metalworking 52

Fishing 56

Brewing 60

Herbs and Medicinal Plants 64

Furniture 68

The Box-Maker and Turner 71

Carriages and Wheeled Vehicles 72

Spinning 73

Bread-Baking 74

"Harvesting" Ice 76

A Happy Home in Jamestown 77

Selected Bibliography 78

BOATBUILDING

On April 27, 1607, the day after the Jamestown colonists landed at Cape Henry, some of the settlers began to build or assemble a small boat. George Percy, one of the original colonists, reported that it was completed and launched on April 28.

It appears, therefore, that 350 years ago--on the sandy beach near Cape Henry--the Jamestown bound colonists made their first important commodity by hand in the New World.

Contemporary records reveal that many small boats were built at Jamestown from the earliest years of the settlement. They afforded the best means of transportation through the uncharted wilderness, and were used for fishing, trade, and exploration.

The conjectural illustration shows colonists building a small boat at Jamestown Island--near Back River--about 1650.

TIMBERING

Timbering was one of the first activities undertaken by the Jamestown colonists and was one of the first English industries in America. The day the settlers arrived they began cutting down trees, for timber was needed to build their fort and town as well as to export to the mother country. Thomas Studley, a member of the first colony, reported that clapboards were made for loading on the ships which were to return to England:

Now falleth every man to worke, the Councell contrive the fort, the rest cut downe trees to make place to pitch their tents; some provide clapboard to relade the ships, some make gardens, some nets, &c.

Captain Newport left Jamestown in June, 1607 and aboard his two ships were clapboards and other wooden products.

The virgin forests growing in the vicinity of Jamestown furnished planks, masts, clapboard, wainscoting, and other wooden products needed by the mother country. As England had run short of timber and was paying exorbitant prices to European countries for naval stores and timber products, the supply furnished by the Jamestown colony helped greatly to relieve the situation. The Virginians were also helped, for timber was one of the few products which brought profits to the struggling colony.

The conjectural painting shows settlers carrying out timbering activities at Jamestown. Some of the piled up lumber will be used in the colony, some will be shipped to England.

BARRELS AND CASKS

(COOPERING)

As early as 1607 barrel staves were made at Jamestown for exporting to England. Later, when tobacco and other crops were grown successfully--and a few commodities were produced in Virginia for export--barrels, casks, and other wooden containers were made by the cooper in large numbers.

John Lewes was the first cooper to reach Jamestown, arriving in January, 1608. Others followed him throughout the seventeenth century; and for almost a hundred years their craft was an important one in the "Capital Cittie."

The illustration shows a cooper and his helpers making barrels and casks at Jamestown, about the year 1625.

POTASH AND SOAP-ASHES

Soap-ashes and potash were among the first commodities produced by the English in America. Potash was made from soap-ashes (wood ashes, especially those obtained from burning ash and elm) and was used at Jamestown for making both soap and glass. Soap-ashes were exported to England as early as 1608, and throughout the remainder of the century it appears that both potash and soap-ashes were shipped to the mother country, As early as 1621 soap-ashes were selling for six shillings to eight shillings per hundred weight, whereas potash was bringing between thirty-five shillings and forty shillings per hundred weight.

Although few contemporary records are available which mention the profit made from the sale of soap-ashes and potash by the Virginia planters, it is known that some small returns were made from time to time throughout the seventeenth century. While tobacco was the important money-making crop, the part played in the economy of the Jamestown settlement and environs by other commodities--including soap-ashes and potash--should not be overlooked.

In the conjectural picture Jamestown settlers are shown making potash. Five steps were necessary:

1. A pile of firewood (billet-wood) was burned until grey ashes were formed. The best woods were oak, ash, poplar, hickory, elm, hazel, and beech. Old hollow trees, if not dead, were especially desirable.

2. After several pounds of ashes had accumulated, they were leached (boiling water was percolated through the ashes), resulting in a very strong alkali solution known as ley or lye.

3. The alkali solution (or ley) was strained through a coarse linen cloth to keep out any coarse materials (such as small pieces of half-burnt wood), that might happen to remain in the ashes.

4. The strained ley solution was poured in an iron pan, and evaporated over a quick fire--almost to dryness.

5. The residue remaining in the bottom of the pan was removed and put into an iron pot. The pot was put over a strong fire till the matter was melted. Immediately the melted matter was poured out upon an iron plate, where it soon cooled and appeared in the form of a solid lump of potash.

To a chemist the somewhat primitive methods described are very obvious ones in making an impure form of potash. The combustion of hardwoods resulted in an ash residue containing the desired potassium carbonate. Some purification was obtained by leaching the ash residue in boiling water and then filtering the "ley" through a coarse linen cloth. The filtered "ley" was evaporated in an iron pot to dryness. The potash resulting was now ready for making soap and glass, as well as for other industrial uses.

PITCH AND TAR

Pitch and tar--used by shipbuilders from time immemorial for caulking and covering seams of vessels--were made at Jamestown as early as 1608. After the second supply ships reached Jamestown in October, 1608, one of the settlers wrote:

No sooner were we landed, but the President dispersed [as] many as were able, some for glasse, others for pitch, tarre, and sope ashes.

A month later trials of pitch and tar were carried to England by Captain Christopher Newport, as reported by Thomas Studley, one of the original planters:

Captaine Newport being dispatched with the tryals of pitch, tarre, glass, frankincense and sope ashes, with that clapbord and wainscot [which] could bee provided ... returned for England.

As pitch and tar were made in Virginia throughout the seventeenth century, mainly for exporting to England, it appears that the colonists made some profit from the sale of such products.

Pitch and tar were obtained from pine trees, one of the common trees in the Tidewater Virginia woods. Tar is an oily, dark colored, product obtained in the destructive distillation of pine wood. In Virginia it was commonly made from the resinous roots and wood of various pines. The wood was heaped into a conical stack depressed at the center, covered with earth, and fired. The tar ran into a hollowed-out place in the soil beneath the stack of wood. Pitch was a dark-colored viscous substance obtained as a residue in distilling pine tar, and widely used for caulking seams of boats.

It is of interest that the early settlers named the large swamp north of the town area "Pitch and Tar Swamp." Undoubtedly the large pine trees which bordered the swamp were used for making pitch and tar, as well as turpentine and resin.

IRON

It is possible that small amounts of iron were smelted at Jamestown in earth ovens or Catalan-type furnaces during the early years of the colony. In 1955 archeologists unearthed a circular-shaped pit which contained charcoal, burned oyster shell, iron ore, pieces of smelted iron, and slag. It is known that some iron was made in earth ovens in England during the early years of the seventeenth century, where iron was smelted in holes dug in the ground. The fires were fed with logs and charcoal, and the heat was increased by use of large foot bellows. The same method may have been used at Jamestown; or it is possible that the "earth oven" may have been used for hardening bar iron imported from England, as much bar iron received from the mother country was very soft and unsatisfactory for making tools.

The conjectural sketch shows Jamestown colonists making iron in a primitive earth oven or furnace.

A JAMESTOWN BLACKSMITH SHOP

A blacksmith, James Read by name, was a member of the first group of colonists who planted the Jamestown settlement in 1607. Perhaps he helped forge the small chisels which Captain John Smith mentioned (writing of the month of September, 1607):

As yet we have no houses to cover us, our tents were rotten, and our cabbins worse than nought: our best commoditie was iron which we made into little chissels.

Many small chisels have been unearthed at Jamestown, and one may wonder whether any were made during the hard autumn of 1607, when the state of the new colony was at such a low ebb.

Another early Jamestown blacksmith was Richard Dole, who arrived on the supply ship _Phoenix_, April 20, 1608. Read and Dole were the vanguards of many ironworkers who emigrated to Virginia at various periods of time throughout the seventeenth century.

In 1955 archeologists discovered the site of an early seventeenth century forge or smithery near historic Jamestown church. Large quantities of slag were unearthed together with pieces of bar iron, weapons, tool fragments, and several partially-completed iron handles, chisels, and nails. A few blacksmiths' tools and a small anvil were also found. Associated cultural material found indicated that the forge operated between 1610 and 1625, and there was good evidence that it may have been located in an armourer's shop. The forge site appears to be the oldest one used by the English which has been discovered in America.

The sketch showing the Jamestown blacksmith at work is based on a 1685 engraving by Johann Comenius.

GLASSMAKING

Glass was made at Jamestown in 1608-1609, and again in 1621-1624, its manufacture being one of the first English industries in the New World.

Among the colonists who reached Jamestown in October, 1608, were "eight Dutchmen and Poles," some of whom were glassmakers. When Captain Christopher Newport sailed for England a few weeks later he carried with him "tryals of pitch, tarre, glasse, frankincense, sope ashes; with that clapboard and waynscot that could be provided." It is not known what kinds of glass were taken to England by Newport. John Smith, writing of the year 1609, stated: "... wee made three or foure lotts of tarre, pitch, and sope ashes; produced a tryall of glass...." Again, the records do not reveal what kinds of glass were produced.

In 1621 six Italian glassmakers arrived at Jamestown, and during the next three years attempts were made to manufacture glass, but it appears that only small amounts were blown.

Oddly enough, archeological excavations did not disclose what kinds of glass were made at Jamestown during the two ventures. When the glasshouse site was excavated in 1948 only small fragments and drippings--dark green in color--were found. It appears that the tiny fragments could have been pieces from window panes, bottles and vials, and simple drinking glasses. No glass beads were found at or near the furnace site.

The conjectural sketch shows a Jamestown glassblower at work.

FURS AND HIDES

Shortly after the Jamestown colony was planted the English adventurers explored the rivers and bays in the vicinity of the settlement, visited many Indian villages, and traded colorful articles to the natives in exchange for foods, furs, and other commodities.

The first exploring party left Jamestown a week after the establishment of the colony. Twenty-four of the settlers sailed up the James River as far as the falls, a distance of about ninety miles. At Arahatteak (near present-day Richmond) the explorers gave the Indians "penny knyves, sheeres, belles, beades, glass toyes &c...." for mulberries, wheat, beans, tobacco, and a "crowne which was of deares hayre, dyed redd." Before leaving the village Captain Newport presented the Indian chief with a hatchet and a red waistcoat.

On the return trip to Jamestown the exploring party visited other Indian towns on the James River, including one whose chieftain was Powhatan's brother--the wily and crafty Opechancanough. Gabriel Archer, a member of the group, recorded that the chief's "kyngdome is full of deare (so also is most of all the kyngdomes:) he hath (as the rest likewise) many ryche furres."

Many of the early settlers listed the fur-bearing animals that inhabited the dense woods near Jamestown. George Percy, an original planter, observed that:

There is also great store of deere both red and fallow. There are beares, foxes, otters, bevers, muskats, and wild beasts unknowne.

John Smith, in one of his early books describing Virginia (_A Map of Virginia, With a Description of the Country_, Oxford, 1612), gives brief descriptions of deer, squirrels, opossums, muskrats, bears, beavers, otters, foxes, and others. With the exception of bears, these fur-bearing animals still inhabit Jamestown Island--protected by the National Park Service.

It appears that early in the century some profit was being made from the sale of furs in England, for Thomas Studley, who was in charge of the first storehouse at Jamestown, wrote that "one mariner in one voyage hath got so many [furs] as he confessed to have solde in England for £30."

William Strachey, who lived at Jamestown in 1610-1611, described a trading expedition made by Captain Samuel Argall in 1610: