Part 6

Between the Ambler House ruins and the Visitor Center stood a “_long house_” (18), one made of several sections with common connecting walls. Its long walls have been outlined on the ground as it stood some three centuries ago. Behind this site are the original ruins (displayed under cover) of an early building that appears from its fireboxes and other features to have served some, but as yet unidentified, “manufacturing” purpose. Near it, unmistakeable evidences of pottery manufacturing have been found. This particular locality has evidences, too, of other types of workmanship. Perhaps, for a time, it was a kind of “_Production Center_” (19) in Jamestown.

The story of Jamestown is not all concerned with the townsite itself. Much of it deals with farming and other activities on the island surrounding the town except on the river front, and especially to the east. 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. After passing the _Confederate Fort_ (20), you come to _Black Point_ (21) at the east end of the island where there is an excellent view of the lower reaches of the James River. Then the loop takes you past the _Travis Graveyard_ (22) and _The Pond_ (23), where Lawrence Bohun collected herbs for medical experiment in 1610.

The one-way tour road loops back to the parking area and to the isthmus connecting the island and _Glasshouse Point_ on the mainland, so named because the colonists, in 1608, undertook to produce glass at this location. Here are exhibited the _Original Glass Furnace Ruins_ (24) the remains of the first attempt to produce glass in America. Nearby is a _Working Furnace_ (25) of the same type housed in a thatch-covered building constructed in the manner of those used in Virginia and England three and a half centuries ago. The Jamestown Glasshouse Foundation, Inc., representing a number of leading American glass companies, helped to make this possible. The Foundation operates the furnace and in season the blowing of glass in the old way can be observed. Handmade glass objects can be purchased.

The tour of Jamestown ends here at the “Glasshouse.” From this point the Colonial Parkway leads to Williamsburg and Yorktown. Following this route you can read history on the spot in the order it occurred.

_How to Reach Jamestown_

Jamestown Island is easily reached over the Colonial Parkway from Williamsburg only 10 miles away. Williamsburg is the nearest rail and bus terminal and the closest point of concentration of housing and eating facilities. The approach from the south is over State Routes 10 and 31 to the ferry over the James River from Scotland to Glasshouse Point near the Jamestown Entrance Gate. From Richmond and points to the West, State Routes 5 and 31 can be used without entering Williamsburg.

_About Your Visit_

Jamestown is open daily, except on Christmas Day, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from April 1 to September 30 and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. the rest of the year. A single admission of 50 cents per person is collected at the Entrance Gate on Glasshouse Point. However, during the 350th Jamestown Anniversary Festival season in 1957 this charge is a part of, and included in, a $1 per person admission including all of Jamestown and nearby Festival Park with its reconstructed “James Fort,” ship replicas, and other features. All school students 18 years of age and under, when in groups, and all children under 12 are admitted without charge when accompanied by adults assuming responsibility for their orderly conduct. Organizations and groups are given special service if arrangements are made in advance. All visitors are urged to go first to the Jamestown Visitor Center where literature, information, and a special program are available.

No eating or lodging facilities are available at Jamestown. There is, however, a restaurant and picnic ground in the Virginia State Festival Park at Glasshouse Point.

_Administration_

Jamestown Island (except Jamestown National Historic Site administered and maintained by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities) is part of Colonial National Historical Park. The park also includes Yorktown Battlefield, Colonial Parkway, and Cape Henry Memorial. It is administered by the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior.

Inquiries relating to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities area should be addressed to that Association, Jamestown, Va.; those relating to the National Park Service area to the Superintendent, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown, Va.

_Suggested Readings_

Andrews, Matthew Page. _Virginia: The Old Dominion._ Doubleday Doran. New York. 1937.

Chandler, J. A. C., and Thames, T. B. _Colonial Virginia._ Times-Dispatch Company. Richmond, Va. 1907.

Forman, Henry Chandlee. _Jamestown and St. Mary’s: Buried Cities of Romance._ The Johns Hopkins Press. Baltimore. 1938.

Hatch, Charles E., Jr. _The First Seventeen Years: Virginia, 1607-1625._ Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklet No. 6. Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation. Williamsburg, Va. 1957.

Stanard, Mary Newton. _The Story of Virginia’s First Century._ J. B. Lippincott. Philadelphia. 1928.

Tyler, Lyon Gardiner. _The Cradle of the Republic: Jamestown and James River._ Ed. 2. The Hermitage Press. Richmond, Va. 1906.

Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson. _The First Americans 1607-1690._ A History of American Life Series, Vol. II. The Macmillan Company. New York. 1927.

Wright, Louis B. _Atlantic Frontier: Colonial American Civilization: 1607-1761._ Alfred A. Knopf. New York. 1947.

Yonge, Samuel H. _The Site of Old “James Towne” 1607-1698._ The Hermitage Press. Richmond, Va. 1907.

_Footnotes_

[1]Although Jamestown Island was not a true island until the isthmus was washed out about the period of the Revolution, it was called an island even in the early years of the Colony.

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1952 O—630041

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES

(Price lists of National Park Service publications may be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D.C.)

Antietam Bandelier Chalmette Chickamauga and Chattanooga Battlefields Custer Battlefield Custis-Lee Mansion, the Robert E. Lee Memorial Fort Laramie Fort McHenry Fort Necessity Fort Pulaski Fort Raleigh Fort Sumter George Washington Birthplace Gettysburg Guilford Courthouse Hopewell Village Independence Jamestown, Virginia Kings Mountain The Lincoln Museum and the House Where Lincoln Died Manassas (Bull Run) Montezuma Castle Morristown, a Military Capital of the Revolution Ocmulgee Petersburg Battlefields Saratoga Scotts Bluff Shiloh Statue of Liberty Vanderbilt Mansion Vicksburg Yorktown

Transcriber’s Notes

—Silently corrected a few typos.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.

End of Project Gutenberg's Jamestown, Virginia, by Charles E. Hatch, Jr.