USA > Virginia > City of Williamsburg > City of Williamsburg > Site of old "James Towne," 1607-1698 : a brief historical and topographical sketch of the first American metropolis > Part 2
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colony towards the close of the town's career are, however, fixed in and near this older quarter of the town.
A description of the town would be incomplete without some reference to its most interesting feature, the first Anglican church in America. Brief descriptions of the several church structures of "James Citty " parish, erected at "James Citty," are therefore included.
As the page of the Virginia Land Patent Records containing transcripts of two of the earliest patents, viz: to Sir George Yeardley, Knight, and Captain Roger Smith, are missing, it was necessary, for locating the tracts they represented, to depend on the meager information contained in the Patent Record In- dex, and the renditions of the missing transcripts as contained in the writings of other investigators, which are not very satis- factory.
An appendix comprises the details, in as comprehensive form as possible, of the method of establishing the position of "the New Towne." The plats of several grants which have been located in " the New Towne " are omitted from the "Map of Iames Citty," as by introducing them those of greater antiquity and interest would be covered, and confusion created in the different lines. The parts of some of the plats which extend beyond the limits of the town are also omitted.
All dates are given according to Old Style.
The occasion seems opportune for informing the reader that the credit of rescuing from oblivion and preserving some of the most important ancient landmarks of Virginia, including James- town, is entirely due to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Organized and administered by ladies of the " Old Dominion," the association is not only arousing an ever-increasing interest in events of colonial days, which en- genders a spirit of true patriotism, but in spite of a slender ex- chequer, is achieving remarkable results in preserving historic landmarks.
After exhausting all available sources of information about the town, it is found that a great deal is lacking to make a knowl-
17
THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
edge of the subject complete and satisfactory. This much, how- ever, is learned, that the town, even though measured by what would appear to be a standard of its time, was small, poor and insignificant. This fact invests the place with the deepest inter- est, when it is remembered that from such a small beginning in the wilderness has sprung what bids fair to become, if not so already, the greatest nation of the earth.
Three centuries have elapsed since the laying of the corner- stone of the nation's foundation. How striking the contrast between then and now, in the mode of living, in the knowledge of the sciences and the liberal arts, and in the supersedure of intolerance and blind superstition by freedom of conscience and enlightenment !
2-J. T.
INDEX TO "MAP OF JAMES CITTY, VA., 1607-1698."
A-First Ridge, " Block House Hill," belonging to John Bauld- win in 1656.
B-Second ridge, containing tracts of Richard James, John . Bauldwin, Rev. Thomas Hampton, et al.
C-Third ridge, on which stood the third and fourth state houses. D-Fourth ridge, on which the town was principally situated.
a, a, a, a-Jetties constructed in 1895-96 to protect island bank. 1-Approximate position of western shore line of island, 1600- 1700.
2-Present shore line of mainland above the island.
3-Bridge across Back River on road to Williamsburg.
4-Lot of Philip Ludwell, Esq., in 1694, containing the ruins of three brick houses.
5-Third and fourth state houses, 1666 to 1698.
6-" Country House," in 1694.
7-Part of foundations of building reputed to have been a powder magazine.
8-Site of brick fort constructed between 1670 and 1676.
9-The lone cypress.
10-Approximate position of northerly line between Richard James and John Bauldwin in 1657.
11-Approximate site of tract of Richard Saunders, 1644.
12-Approximate site of tract of Edward Challis, 1643.
13-Approximate site of tract of Radulph Spraggon, 1644.
14-Approximate site of tract of Geo. Gilbert, 1643.
15-Probable outline of original paled four-acre town, shown by red lines.
X
16-Tract of Edward Chilton, Attorney-General, 1683.
17-Tract of Wm. Edwards, Sr., 1690.
[18 ]
Powhatan Creek-
MAP OF"IAMES CITTY, VA. 1607 - 1698. Constructed From ANCIENT RECORDS BY
PYPING POINT
RIVER
Richard James 1654
2
Saml. H. Yonge, Civil Engineer. SCALE
0 100 1000 FECT
BAY
of Isthmus.
Probable Site
FRIOGETT LANDING
BACK
. 39.
BAC
Thos. Hampton 1089 d1644
Sır Geo. Yeardley 1624'
Dr. John Pott 1628
Berkeleyy Trancher
.26
27
2 Fathoms
Bauldwin
Cast . Captain Roger Smitte22 William
Dr. Jno. Pott
Pierce
1624
e
Richard
Lawrence
Governor
41
B
-
14
D 1639
37
32
34
Jaxon o
33
30
21
22
H
46
23
8
47.
a
42
25
Oid Wharf
R
I
V
E
ME
S
SCALE
0
%
IMILE
JAMES
RIVER
2
Spratley's Bay
8
ranch of Swamp
A
Sketch of . LAME'S CITTY ISLAND
42
G
JAMES CITTY ISLAND
Orchard Run
G
Richard Holder
¡Edw. , Ross
#696C
RCLL
John White 1544
38
48
Harvey 1624
1672
7
1624 M
9 Fathoms
10 Fathoms
6 Fathoms 7 Fathoms 8 Fathoms
FBRA
4
sbt. Bevert
1676
/H E
Sir Francis Wyatt
310
John
SEA WALL OF 21901
1
2
1656
.29
3 Fathoms
5 fathom's
1694
NEW
FSTREET
13
Captain
9
The
48/
R
The Site of Old "James Towne" 1607-1698. 1
Copyright. 1901 by Samuel H. Yonge.
Governor
28
3
THE
I Fathom
SANDY
19
THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
X 18-Piles of former bridge between island and mainland, con- structed during first half of nineteenth century
19-Tract of John Howard, 1694.
20-Tract of Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., 1694. Contains foundation of chimney.
21-Confederate fort constructed in 1861.
22-Ancient tower ruin, inclosed part of old graveyard, and foundation of third, fourth and fifth churches.
23-Probable site of triangular fort constructed in 1607, designated in 18th century MS, " Fort Hill."
24-Probable site of " bridge " (wharf), constructed by Dale in 1611.
25-Probable landing place of first settlers, May 14, 1607, indicated by red flags.
26-Approximate site of blockhouse, built by Captain Richard · Stephens in 1624, and probable site of Berkeley's trench. 27-Confederate redoubt commanding Back River, constructed in 1861.
28-Modern ditch draining " Pitch and Tarr Swamp."
29-Boundary lines of tract belonging to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.
30-" The old state house " (approximate), used from about 1630 to 1656, on one-acre tract, of which part was sold to Ludwell and Stegg in 1667. Most probably contained Gov. Harvey's residence prior to 1641, Gov. Berkeley's residence prior to 1656 and subsequently Gov. Bennett's residence.
31-Ruins of building on site of Ambler-Jaquelin messuage.
32-Tract of John Chew, 1624.
33-Tract of Captain Richard Stephens, 1623.
34-Tract of Captain Ralph Hamor, 1624, Secretary of State and chronicler.
35-Site of the turf fort, erected probably about 1663.
36-Cross streets connecting " the way along the Maine River" and the Back Street.
37-Tract of George Menefy, 1624, member of the Council of State
X
20
THE SITE OF OLD " JAMES TOWNE."
38-The " way along the Greate river," or " Maine river." 39-Cart track "leading to Island House," in 1665.
40-Causeway over swamp formerly connecting part of island containing " the new towne " with the second ridge.
41-One-acre tract bought by William Sherwood in 1681, “on which formerly stood the brick house formerly called the Country House," and later, probably Sherwood's resi- dence.
42-Jamestown Island wharf.
43-Probable site of tract of Richard Clarke, 1646.
44-The " main cart path."
45-" The old Greate Road," in 1694.
46-Ancient graveyard.
47-Point where skeletons were exposed by bank abrasion in 1895.
48-Shore line of 1903.
49-Traces of house foundations. Probable site of Richard Lawrence's dwelling about 1676.
N. B. Broken lines on map indicate approximate boundaries, etc.
DECECCCf
כוכבבפני
8
DESCRIPTION OF JAMESTOWN ISLAND.
AMESTOWN Island is situated in James River, sixty- eight and three-fourths miles below the head of tidewater, at the foot of the Richmond rapids, and fifty-eight miles above the Virginia capes.
No ancient charts of the island and town of the Jamestown period (1607-1698), have been discovered. "The Draughte by Roberte Tindall, of Virginia, Anno 1608," and "Chart of Virginia," sent to Philip III of Spain in the same year by Zu- ñiga to accompany the report of Francisco Maguel,1 " the Irish- man," a spy in the service of Spain, and published in The Genesis of the United States, although possessing some merit as reconnoisance sketches, prove to be inaccurate on comparison with modern maps, and furnish information of but little value as to the shape of the island and the site of the town.
The island, thus invariably designated in the old land patents, and so referred to in Ralph Hamor's Discourse, and other an- cient writings, is two and three-fourths miles long, with a width varying from about three hundred yards at its head to about one and one-fourth miles near its lower extremity. It was formerly connected at its upper extremity with the mainland by a narrow neck, which being at a much lower elevation than the island, constituted an isthmus only at ordinary tides. What appear to be traces of the isthmus are found at one to two feet below low tide, just west of the piling of an old trestle bridge, which for- merly connected the island with the mainland. The bridge was destroyed by a storm over fifty years ago. As compared with the neighboring mainland, the general elevation of the island is low.
Adjoining the head of the island is a marsh, which is referred to in the old land patents as " belonging to the Back river."
The head of the island is composed of three ridges and part
1 His name was probably Francis McGill.
[ 21 ]
22
THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
of a fourth, marked on accompanying map A, B, C, D, having an easterly trend, and rising to about twelve to sixteen feet above low tide. Between the three uppermost ridges are narrow marshes or slashes. The slash between the first and second formerly connected with Back River only, but by the abrasion of the western shore of the island it would now connect James River with the Back River were it not for the recently constructed sea wall. Between the second and third ridges is a slash or branch of a large swamp situated near the middle of the island and ex- tending easterly to the Back River. It drains into Spratley's Bay, and was anciently referred to as "the Pitch and Tarr Swamp." (See Map, Sketch of Iames Citty Island.) About two hundred yards inland from the western shore of the island the above slash becomes the boundary between the second and fourth ridges.
The boundary between the third and fourth ridges is "a little vale," which, near the river bank, is two to three feet above high tide. This valley, as will appear later, contained near its former river end a brick fort constructed towards the close of the seventeenth century. The head of the fourth ridge is re- ferred to in an eighteenth century MS. as Fort Hill. Here the ground rises quite rapidly to an elevation of about ten feet, and for two small areas to fourteen feet above low tide, forming two knolls, one at the tower ruin and the other in the Confederate fort of 1861. The two knolls were probably "the two Moun- taines," on which Percy informs us, in his Discourse, " was sowne most of our Corne." The western extremities of the above ridges, as is shown below, prior to the last two centuries extended four or five hundred feet beyond the present island bank.
Below the fourth ridge is a narrow slash, now partly filled with sand, another branch of the main swamp, in which there is a minute stream referred to in the ancient patents as " Orchard Run," draining the swamp into the river (see sketch of " Iames Citty Island "). East of the last mentioned slash is a ridge, also having an easterly trend. East of the above ridge and ex- tending to James River is a branch of a great marsh, referred to
23
THE SITE OF OLD " JAMES TOWNE."
below. Next follows a series of seven low ridges, forming collectively what was anciently known as Goose Hill. The Goose Hill ridges are separated by slashes of the extensive marsh above referred to, lying north and east of them, named Goose Hill marsh. It is drained into James River by Passmore's or Paschmore's Creek.
Goose Hill is a hill only in the same relative sense that the two knolls where the English wheat was planted were mountains. The fourth ridge has a larger area of good soil above extreme high tide than the other ridges at the head of the island. The Back River, which is referred to in many of the old patents, forms the northern boundary of the island. Although its chan- nel is from seven to twenty-three feet deep, the depth on the bar in Spratley's Bay, into which it empties, is but four feet ; ample, however, for the crossing of the "friggett," from which the landing in Back River near the head of the island was named, and of whose coming the town's people were apprised by a musical note, as the vessel rounded " Pyping Point," 2
Above the Back River was situated " Sandy Bay," having the isthmus for its western and " Powhatan Swamp " for its eastern boundary, and receiving on the north the flow of Powhatan Creek. Near the northeastern shore of the bay, about a mile from " James Towne," was situated what is believed to have been the first American glass works, in which beads were manu- factured for trading with the Indians.
As will appear later, the two branches of " Pitch and Tarr Swamp " above mentioned were the upper and lower limits of the principal part of "James Citty." A line of stumps, visible at low tide, extending shoreward from a solitary cypress stand- ing two hundred and seventy feet from the recently constructed sea wall, probably indicates the former position of the head of the upper branch of the swamp, where, as will be shown further on, a tract of land was granted in 1696 to Lieutenant Edward Ross.
2 The point was located by platting a patent to Richard James (Virginia Land Patent Records, Book III, p. 368).
24
THE SITE OF OLD " JAMES TOWNE."
The mean tidal range at Jamestown Island is but twenty-two inches. Great tides, however, rising to seven or eight feet above low water, are occasionally caused by gales from between south and east. Whenever the tide rose slightly above its nor- mal level, the isthmus was submerged. During great tides there is a flow from the river through the depression between the third and fourth ridges into the upper branch of the swamp.3
3 By the extension of the sea wall in 1905 and 1906, this flow is prevented.
=
=
=
THE SEA WALL From Block House Hill
ABRASION OF THE ISLAND.
NTIL 1901, the length of the western bank exposed to abrasion was about a half mile. In the above year about half of the exposed bank was protected by the sea wall before mentioned. This part of the wall ended at the third ridge, thus fortunately protecting from the encroach- ments of the river the ground which two years later was found to contain the old state house foundations. The shore of the mainland from a short distance above the island to the Chickahominy River, a distance of about six miles, is being abraded, and there are unmistakable signs of this action being operative for a very long period in the past. There is very good evidence that this bank was being abraded by the waves as early as 1686. The above shore, on account of its projection, originally formed a natural protection for the island headland, and by its recession the latter became exposed to wave action.
It would hardly seem possible that the abrasion of the island was in progress as early as 1686, or even in 1696, as in the latter year a grant of land, situated on its western bank, con- tiguous to and below the upper branch of "Pitch and Tarr Swamp " was made to Lieutenant Edward Ross,1 before alluded to. It seems probable that the island was not attacked by the river before 1700. Under this assumption, therefore, the whole period of the island's abrasion to the time of its protection in 1901, would be two hundred and one years. Observation of the bank in recent years shows that its annual rate of recession has been about four feet. Prior to the extensive use of side wheel steamers on James River, probably about 1860, and when occasional strong winds between west and north were the sole destroying agents, the rate probably did not exceed two feet. Applying the above rates for forty years and one hundred and
1 Virginia Land Patent Records, Book IX, p. 49.
[ 25 ]
26
THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
sixty-one years respectively, the total width of the prism of abrasion would amount to about 482 feet.
From the data contained in the following quotation from Amoenitates Graphicae, a magazine edited by Professor Louis Hue Girardin, in 1803,2 "many yards of the palisades erected by the first settlers are yet to be seen at a low tide standing at least 150 to 200 paces from the present shore," it would appear that the annual rate of abrasion, assuming the pace at thirty inches, was about twice that given above. Professor Girardin's description, however, shows that he was not accustomed to esti- mating distances, and his figures, therefore, do not appear to have any value.
As the time when the abrasion began and its rate from time to time are unknown, no reliable deduction can be made as to the exact position of the western shore of the island in the seventeenth century.
From the Edward Ross patent, the direction of the shore for two hundred and fifteen feet, immediately below the head of the upper branch of "Pitch and Tarr Swamp," is learned to have then been about S. 3º W. (corrected for declination) or about the same as that of the present western shore at the third ridge.
In 1891 there still remained, about sixty yards above the Confederate fort, the lower part of the island headland, pro- jecting about thirty yards from the general line of the shore and forming a sharp point, modernly known as "Church Point." The lower side of the point in the above year furnishes the general direction of the southern shore of the headland.
In the account of the bi-centenary celebration at Jamestown Island in 1807, it is stated that the "Lady Washington," one of the visiting vessels, anchored "in a beautiful cove in the form of a crescent, which stretching on either side afforded a safe and expanded bason.""
' Foot note, page 8, Report of the Proceedings of the Late Jubilee at James-Town (in 1807).
¿ Report of the Proceedings of the Late Jubilee at James-Town, p. 7.
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THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
The point above mentioned, then projecting several hundred feet further westward than the present shore, undoubtedly formed the head of the cove. Its foot was about five-eighths of a mile below its head, and is marked by an old abandoned wharf which was in use in 1861. The shore of the cove below the new wharf remains about as it was when the island was first settled.
The description of a course in the survey notes of a patent to William Sherwood ' " and by the same [Back River] to Sandy Bay, to a persimmon tree under Block House Hill, thence under the said hill six chains to James River," shows that the head of the island at the southern end of the isthmus was about 200 feet wide.
From patents issued to Alexander Stonar in 1637, and to Richard Sanders in 1644, for land situated on the first ridge ; to Edward Challis in 1643, to Radulph Spraggon in 1644, and to John Bauldwin in 1656,5 on the second ridge, it would appear that the general direction of the western bank of the island at its upper extremity was approximately the same as it is to-day. On account of incomplete descriptions, the true positions of the above tracts cannot be determined. As even their approximate locations give them some value, they are shown on the map. From a reference in the Spraggon patent the approximate posi- tion of part of "the way leading towards the mayne," near the head of the island, is established.
From the preceding data the shape of the head of the island during the " James Citty " period, as exhibited on the map, was determined.
Since the first settlement of the island by the English, prob- ably twenty acres at its western extremity have been lost by abrasion. The abraded area comprises principally parts of the uppermost three ridges, and a very small proportion of the fourth ridge. The tidal currents at Jamestown are too light to erode the clay of which the banks at the head of the island are
‘ Va. Land Pat. Records, Book VII, p. 384, et seq.
5 Va. Land Pat. Records, Book I, p. 466; Book II, pp. 11, 12; Book IV, p. 88.
28
THE SITE OF OLD " JAMES TOWNE."
formed. Wave action developed in the long reach of wide water extending in a northwesterly direction has been the de- stroying agent, the waves from every passing steam vessel con- tributing to the work of destruction.
From the observation of the height of waves at Jamestown Island, it seems evident that their abrading effect does not reach to greater depths than three or four feet below low water. The one fathom curve on the map, therefore, is considerably west of the extreme outer limits of the western shore line during the " James Citty " period.
LANDING PLACE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.
HE trough of the channel off the head of the island has steep sides, and is from fifty to ninety feet deep. As it lies in a bed of dense, tough clay, the scouring effect of the light currents of the locality, continuing even for centuries, should be very slight. From the deposition of material worn from the island and the shore above, there has probably been a slight diminution of depth during the past three hundred years in the thalweg or deepest part of the chan- nel, but little or none on its sides. The above remark is in- tended to apply particularly to the vicinity of Jamestown Island. At other localities on James River battures have formed under projecting points between the trough of the channel and the shores.
The hydrographic contours off the western shore of the island show the channel gradually nearing that shore from above until it approaches to within about one hundred and seventy-five yards of it, at about three hundred yards above the tower ruin (see con- tours on map). Below the ruin it gradually leaves the island and opposite the former site of the turf fort, hereinafter re- ferred to, is about three hundred and fifty yards from the shore. The contours also exhibit a stretch of channel upwards of two hundred and fifty feet long at the point of divergence above the tower ruin, having its north side steeper than elsewhere in the above reach of river.
According to the rate of abrasion above determined the western shore of the island extended to the part of the channel having the steep sides during the seventeenth century.
According to Master George Percy's Discourse, the ships, at the first landing place of the settlers, were moored to trees standing on the river bank, contiguous to which the water depth
[29]
30
THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
was six fathoms. The modern contours of the channel, as has been pointed out, cannot differ materially from those existing when the first settlement was made. The part of the side of the channel, therefore, which is steepest, and to which the island bank formerly extended, is manifestly the spot where the settlers debarked May 14, 1607, and of which Percy wrote, “ where our shippes doe lie so neere the shoare that they are moored to the Trees in six fathom water."
The landing was well selected for convenience of discharging the ship's cargoes and very few similarly suitable exist on James River. As Archer's Hope, on the mainland opposite the lower end of the island, was regarded as a very desirable location for the first settlement, and was rejected only on account of its shore being made inaccessible to Newport's vessels by shallow water the day before the island was selected, it is apparent that the ease of discharging the vessels' cargoes directly on the river bank outweighed many other far more important considerations in deciding on the abiding place of the settlers.
LOCATION OF FIRST FORT AND TOWN.
HE first fort, " which was triangle wise, having three Bul- warkes at every corner like a halfe Moone and foure or five pieces of Artillerie mounted in them," was com- pleted June 15-the 31st day after the first settlers disembarked.1 As there is no information extant as to the site of the first fort, that detail will have to be arrived at induc- tively. It was not at the original landing place, for, from the letter of Sir Thomas Dale, of May 25, 1611,3 " to the President and Counsell of the Companie of Adventurers and Planters in Virginia," it is learned that immediately after his arrival at James Towne to succeed Lord La Warr as deputy governor, "a bridge to land our goods safe and dry upon," i. e., a wharf, was constructed by Captain Newport and "his Mariners." The construction of this wharf is alluded to in the " Breife Decla- ration,"3 as follows :
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