Part 2

Within this river, Captayne Samuell Argoll in a smale river which the Indians call _Oquiho_. Anno 1610. trading (in a bark called the Discovery) for corne, with the great king of _Patawomeck_, from him obteyned well neere 400. bushells of wheat, pease and beanes (besyde many kind of furrs) for 9. powndes of copper, 4. bunches of beades, 8 dozen of hatchetts, 5 dozen of knives, 4 bunches of bells, 1. dozen Sizers, all not much more worth than 40_s._ English....

It is evident, therefore, that the Jamestown colonists who traded their colorful beads and trinkets to the woodland Indians in exchange for food and other commodities--including furs and hides--were the pioneer English fur traders in the New World. The experiences which adventurers like Christopher Newport, John Smith, and Samuel Argall had with the cunning Virginia aborigines were just as exciting and stirring as those shared by the hardened trappers and traders who searched the Rocky Mountain streams for beaver two hundred years later. The hunt for furs which began at Jamestown in 1607 did not diminish until the western boundary of the United States had expanded to the shores of the Pacific Ocean during the middle of the nineteenth century.

BUILDING

The day the colonists landed at Jamestown, May 14, 1607, they began building a triangular-shaped fort ("a pallizado of planckes and strong posts, foure foote deepe in the ground, of yong oakes, walnuts, &c."), "a setled streete of houses," a church, a guardhouse, and a storehouse. It is apparent that all men familiar with tools and building skills were extremely busy during the first few weeks, especially the four carpenters in the group (William Laxon, Edward Pising, Thomas Emry, and Robert Small), two bricklayers (John Herd and William Garret), and mason (Edward Brinto). As brick houses were not built at Jamestown until about 1625, the bricklayers who came to Virginia with the first group of colonists undoubtedly aided the carpenters. Perhaps it was they who made the first stone footings and mud and stick chimneys for the frame houses which were built inside the fort.

As timber was plentiful in Virginia during the early years of the settlement, most of the houses were of frame construction. During the first decade or two house construction reflected a primitive use, not of materials brought from England but those that were found ready at hand, such as saplings for a sort of framing, use of branches, leafage, bark and animal skins. During these early years, when the settlers were having a difficult time staying alive, mud walls, wattle and daub, and marsh grass thatch of a coarse sort were used. Out of these years of improvising the construction with squared posts, later with quarterings (studs), came into practice. There probably was little thought of plastering walls during the first two decades, and when it was done, clay, or clay mixed with oyster shell lime, was first used. The early floors were of clay, and it should be remembered that clay floors continued to be used in the humbler dwellings throughout the seventeenth century. It can be assumed that most of the dwellings, or shelters, of the Jamestown settlers, certainly until about 1630, had the primitive appearance of "settlers" houses, and were rough on the exterior.

After the settlement had become fairly well established the colonists began building a few brick houses. In the picture English artisans are shown erecting a small brick structure at Jamestown about the year 1630. It is quite clear from the documentary records and the archeological remains that the colonists not only made their own bricks--and probably many of their roofing tiles--but that the process, as well as the finished product, followed closely the English tradition.

An old account, relating to brick-making in England three hundred years ago, is summarized:

1. Before Christmas we begin to dig the earth and let it lie to mellow till Easter.

2. Then we water the earth well and temper it with a narrow spade.

3. The moulder cuts off a piece of earth, throws it into the mould made of beech, levelling it off with a wooden implement called a strike.

4. The carrier carries the mould to the drying ground, where he adroitly turns it over, laying the bricks on the ground, and lifts up the mould.

5. When the bricks are dry, they carry them to a place where they row them up like a wall. They are covered with straw, till they are dry enough to be carried to the kiln.

6. Then they are stacked in the kiln, a fire kept till they are at the top red fire hot.

7. Then we let them cool, and sell them as we can for as much money as we can get, but usually about 13 or 14 shillings the thousand.

Similar methods may have been used at Jamestown during the seventeenth century.

In order to build brick houses lime was needed by the bricklayers and plasterers for making plaster and mortar. Contemporary records reveal that "lymeburners" emigrated to Jamestown as early as 1610. As four lime kilns were found during archeological excavations, it is evident that the lime used by the Jamestown builders was made on the historic island. In the kilns oyster shells from the James River were burned and converted into lime by the limeburners.

The unearthing of large quantities of plaster and mortar at Jamestown indicates that the majority of the brick houses (as well as many frame structures) had plastered walls and ceilings, especially after 1635. Some plaster excavated had been white-washed while other bore its natural whitish-gray color. All plaster and mortar found was made from oyster shell lime, sand, and clay.

Ornamental or decorative plaster was found near a few of the house foundations. The plasterwork, decorated in raised ornamental designs, was used for enhancing the beauty of both the interior and exterior of a building. Designs on the plaster included Roman numerals, letters, mottos, crests, veined leaves, rosettes, geometric patterns, a lion, and a face or mask. Many fragments of moulded plaster cornices were also recovered. Broken oyster shells are distinguishable in the ornamental plasterwork, indicating that the pargetting was made at Jamestown.

TOBACCO

When Jamestown was established in 1607 the Indians living in Tidewater Virginia were smoking a leaf from the native tobacco plant, _Nicotiana rustica_. It was a bitter tasting leaf of rather poor quality, and never cultivated on a large scale by the early planters.

About 1611, seeds of a West Indies tobacco plant, _Nicotiana tabacum_, were introduced into Virginia. A year later John Rolfe experimented with the seeds from the West Indies plant, together with tobacco seeds from South America. The exact nature of Rolfe's tests, carried on at or near Jamestown, is unknown, but the plant he seemingly developed was one with a mild, sweet-scented, leaf.

The new sweet-scented leaf became popular overnight, and during the remainder of the seventeenth century it proved the economic salvation of the colony. To a large degree, the new crop determined the economic, social, and political life of the planters. The demand in England for the new leaf was also responsible, in a large measure, for the spread of settlement and increase of population in Virginia. The tobacco plant developed by Rolfe was the first crop grown by the Virginia settlers which made a profit.

The conjectural illustration shows Jamestown colonists harvesting tobacco about the year 1650.

WINE

During the early years of the Jamestown settlement the Virginia Company of London encouraged many agricultural pursuits, including the planting and cultivation of grape vines and the making of wine. The reasons seemed to have been twofold: first, to make money for the Virginia Company, whose stock-holders had invested much capital in the new colony; and secondly, to insure the mother country a steady flow of inexpensive wine--which was impossible as long as continental merchants charged exorbitant prices for wines sent to England. Then, too, if wine could be made successfully in Virginia, the people living in the new settlement would profit accordingly.

Vineyards were planted on Jamestown Island at various periods of time during the seventeenth century, and quantities of good wines were made, but far too often inferior wine was fermented. Because of the long sea journey from Virginia, casks of good wine sent to England frequently arrived in a spoiled condition.

After 1675 the hope of producing good Virginia wine for export purposes waned. During the last ten years of the century, when Jamestown declined, the vineyards were neglected, fell prey to deer and the elements, and soon became engulfed in the wilderness.

The illustration shows a man and woman pressing grapes at Jamestown about 1650. The woman is trampling them, whereas the man is using a primitive grape press.

SILK

During the early years of the seventeenth century England was paying exorbitant prices for silk. Most of it was purchased from the Mediterranean countries--France, Italy, and Spain. Some was imported from the Near East, and small amounts from the Orient were bought from Dutch sea captains. As extremely high prices were being paid for the precious cloth, the Virginia Company decided to experiment with silk culture in the new colony.

Silk was made at Jamestown during the seventeenth century, but the enterprise seldom brought profit to the planters. The majority of the colonists had to struggle to grow crops and produce goods with which they were familiar, and were reluctant to experiment with a commodity which required a special skill that they did not possess. A few settlers, however, made serious efforts to raise silkworms, and at times small quantities of silk were made and shipped to England.

The silk-making venture died a hard death, but the large mulberry trees which still grow in many places in Tidewater Virginia (perhaps scions of seventeenth century ones) are reminders of a day when a few Virginia colonists fed and nurtured silkworms and "wound off" silk thread onto primitive wooden reels.

In the conjectural illustration a woman is drawing silk thread from the cods; the man is winding the thread on a wooden reel.

POTTERY

There is definite evidence that pottery was made at Jamestown over 300 years ago. A kiln site was uncovered in 1955, and nearby were found overfired pots, misshaped vessels, and mis-glazed pieces--undoubtedly from the "waster" pile. Also found near the kiln site were two complete pots, and hundreds of fragments from local-made vessels which were used in the colony between 1625 and 1650--indisputable evidence that crude, utilitarian, lead-glazed earthenware was made at Jamestown during the seventeenth century.

Although made for everyday use, many of the pieces unearthed at the Jamestown kiln site are symmetrical in form and not entirely lacking in beauty. One can easily see that the craftsman took pride in shaping the pieces, as three centuries later the crude wares are still pleasing to behold.

The Jamestown potter, indeed, was no young apprentice or mere farmer who potted on the side. The potter's art, then as now, was a highly specialized one, rooted in a long tradition. Our potter was an artisan, trained in the mysteries of a medieval craft, and it was probably he who first transplanted his ancient skills to the Virginia wilderness.

The conjectural illustration shows a Jamestown potter shaping a vessel on his crude kick wheel.

METALWORKING

As early as 1608 two goldsmiths--William Johnson and Richard Belfield--emigrated to Jamestown. With them were two refiners and a jeweler. Although John Smith wrote that these artisans "never had occasion to exercise their craft," it is possible that they made a few small objects of silver, pewter, and latten metal (a brass-like alloy).

In spite of the fact that few specimens of silver and pewter were found at Jamestown, seventeenth century records and inventories indicate that many Virginia families owned such wares, including cups, beakers, dishes, salts, salvers, tankards, porringers, bowls, and plates.

A pewterer who lived thirty miles from Jamestown--Joseph Copeland by name--made the oldest dated piece of American pewter which has been found. In the 1930's, National Park Service archeologists, working at Jamestown, recovered the significant specimen--an incomplete pewter spoon which is a variant of the trifid or split-end type common during the 1650-1690 period. Impressed on the handle, in the trefoil finial of the stem is the mark of the maker, giving his name, the Virginia town where he worked, and the year he started business. The matchless spoon bears the sole surviving "touch" or mark of an American pewterer of the seventeenth century. The complete legend, encircling a heart, reads: "IOSEPH COPELAND/1675/CHUCKATUCK." (Chuckatuck is a small Virginia village located about thirty miles southeast of Jamestown.) Copeland later moved to Jamestown, and as he worked in the statehouse from 1688-1691 he may have made pewter in Virginia's capital "Citty."

The conjectural sketch shows a Jamestown metalworker making spoons.

FISHING

When the first settlers planted their small colony at Jamestown the tidewater rivers and bays teemed with many kinds of fish and seafood. Varieties which soon appeared on the colonists' tables included sheepshead, shad, sturgeon, herring, sole, white salmon, bass, flounder, pike, bream, perch, rock, and drum; as well as oysters, crabs, and mussels.

The day after the colonists reached Virginia, April 27, 1607, George Percy observed that the oysters were large and tasty:

We came to a place where they [the Indians] had made a great fire, and had beene newly a rosting oysters. When they perceived our comming, they fled away to the mountaines, and left many of the oysters in the fire. We eat some of the oysters, which were very large and delicate in taste.

The following day, April 28, Percy noted that some of the oysters had pearls:

... we got good store of mussels and oysters, which lay on the ground as thicke as stones. Wee opened some, and found in many of them pearles.

The Jamestown planters who wrote accounts of the new colony commented on the abundance and variety of fish and shellfish in the rivers and creeks near the "capital citty." It seems rather surprising, therefore, that so many colonists died during the first autumn "of meere famine," as reported by Percy, when the James River teemed with fish, oysters, and crabs.

Captain Gabriel Archer, Gentleman, mentioned a seven foot sturgeon which was caught on June 13, 1607: "Our Admiralls men gatt a sturgeon of 7 foote long which Captayne Newport gave us." George Percy commented on the excellence of the sturgeon in the James River:

There are many branches of this river, which runne flowing through the woods with great plentie of fish of all kindes; as for sturgeon, all the world cannot be compared to it....

John Smith and William Strachey also listed the delicious and palatable varieties of fish and shellfish which were found in Virginia waters, revealing that seafood was an important source of food for the colonists. At times, especially during the early years, it was one of the main sources.

BREWING

One seventeenth century building unearthed at Jamestown appears to have been used as a place where beer, ale, brandy, and other alcoholic beverages were made. Nearby were found pieces of lead, which may have been part of a lead cistern which held barley, and inside the building were three brick ovens, which may have been used for drying malt. A handle from a copper kettle was discovered near one of the ovens, and pieces of copper and lead pipes were recovered not far from the building. Historical objects excavated near the site revealed that the structure was used between 1625 and 1660.

A 1685 account relating to brewing could very well refer to a Jamestown establishment where beer and other beverages were made nearly 300 years ago:

Where wine is not to be had they drink beer, which is brewed of malt and hops, in a caldron. Afterwards it is powred into vatts, and when it is cold, it is carried in soes [wooden pails], into the cellar and is put into vessels.

Brandy-wine, extracted by the power of heat from dregs of wine in a pan, over which a limbeck [an apparatus used in distillation] is placed, droppeth thorow a pipe into a glass.

Wine and beer, when they turn sowr, become vinegar.

They make mede of wine and honey.