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 7
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6-J. T.
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THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
Ludwell. By his will, proved May 15, 1671, Thomas Stegge left to Thomas Ludwell his interest in a house bought jointly with Ludwell of Henry Randolph.13 Ludwell subsequently secured a patent for a half acre of land adjoining the house ruins and sold the property to Sir William Berkeley for one hundred and fifty pounds sterling, March 17, 1672.14
It seems most probable that the building erected by Governor Berkeley between 1642 and 1655 and sold by him to Richard Bennett in the latter year, the one referred to in the patent to Ludwell and Stegge of 1667, that sold by Randolph to Thomas Ludwell in 1671, and by Ludwell to Berkeley in 1672, were one and the same.
The foregoing proves conclusively that the first state house was near the southern bank of the island and eastward of the old tower ruin.
It also seems probable that the orchard land and two houses donated to Governor Berkeley in March, 1642-43, were the same bought by the Grand Assembly from Sir John Harvey in April, 1641, and paid for in January following, and that the building previously referred to as being built by Berkeley was an addition made by him on the western side of the Harvey buildings. The westernmost of the two buildings previously owned by Harvey, therefore, became the middlemost of the block. It had been used as a courthouse in his time, as stated above, and constituted the state house during Berkeley's first term.
In the description of a tract of land patented to John Bauld- win in October, 1656, as previously noted, the land of Richard James is given as its eastern boundary, and " the slash which lyeth between the State House [land] and the said Mr. James " as its southern.15 Richard James' land, of which patent was re- corded June 5, 1657, included one hundred and fifty acres of the second ridge east of a "northerly " line passing "by " the
13 Genealogical Gleanings in England, p. 102.
14 Robinson's Transcripts, p. 258.
15 Va. Land Pat. Records, Book IV, p. 88.
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THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
" Friggett Landing," to the marsh below "Pyping Point," 16 including forty acres granted in 1654.17 The slash, forming Bauldwin's southern boundary, was the upper branch of " Pitch and Tarr Swamp," which is the northern boundary of the third and fourth ridges. The state house referred to in the patent, or probably more precisely the state house land, would seem to have been on the fourth ridge, as the part of the third ridge east of James' western line prolonged is very low ground.
During the session of the Assembly in October, 1666, an act was passed confirming the ownership of land held under unre- corded patents, on the grounds that their being unrecorded resulted from the neglect of the clerks and the destruction of the records by " two severall fires." 18 The above indicates that the repositories of the records-two state houses-had been burned prior to 1666. The "two severall fires," therefore, were doubtless those of the " old state house "-the first state house, on the southern island bank-and its successor, referred to in the Bauldwin patent, on the fourth ridge.
As Governor Berkeley sold his house in the " old state house " block to Governor Bennett, March 30, 1655, and as the Assembly passed an act during the session beginning December 1, 1656, providing for the payment of 2,500 pounds of tobacco to Thomas Woodhouse for house rent for the accommodation of the committee and for two sittings of the quarter courts,19 held probably in June and September, 1656, preceding, it would appear that the first state house was burned between March, 1655, and June, 1656.
The second state house was probably improvised out of a private dwelling, for in those days of great inertia the four to seven months interval between the burning of the first state house and the issuing of the Bauldwin patent which contains
16 Ibid, Book IV, p. 196.
17 Ibid, Book III, p. 368.
18 Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 245.
1º Ibid, Vol. I, p. 425.
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the allusion to the second state house seems hardly long enough for erecting a building.
The second state house was probably burned shortly before 1660, for during the session of the Assembly in October of that year, house rent incurred for Assembly meetings amounting to 3,500 pounds of tobacco, and for meetings of the governor and Council amounting to 4,000 pounds of the same medium of exchange were appropriated and ordered paid to Thomas Hunt and Thomas Woodhouse, respectively.30
During the above session Governor Berkeley was requested by the Assembly to take charge of the building of a state house and authorized to pay liabilities incurred therefor out of the public funds and those to be thereafter raised by act of Assem- bly. He was also authorized to impress ten men to work on the building.21
In 1654 a grant of an acre lot on the southern water front of the town was made to Thomas Woodhouse.22 Judging from the agreement of direction of the lot's southern boundary, as given in the patent, with the part of the river bank one hundred yards east of the first state house, or just west of the turf fort, the lot was near that locality. A grant of one acre on the same shore about two hundred yards further east, was also made to Thomas Hunt in 1655.23 It is possible that the above tracts were those on which were situated the taverns, in which rooms were rented for meetings of the Assembly and for holding court. Their de- scriptions in the patents, however, are insufficient to definitely locate them. Thomas Woodhouse in 1694 owned a tract on the crest of the fourth ridge, just west of the Ambler mansion, on which, possibly, his tavern was situated.
During a session of the Assembly in March, 1660-1661, the expense of renting halls for holding its meetings and those of the court was urged as a cogent reason for acquiring a state
20 Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 12.
21 Ibid, Vol. II, p. 13.
22 Va. Land Pat. Records, Book III, p. 380.
" Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 3º.
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house, and, with a view to making the necessary taxation for the purpose as light as possible, it was resolved to solicit subscrip- tions. The governor, councillors, and burgesses headed the list of subscribers, donating considerable sums of money and tobacco, to be paid out of the next crop. After a lapse of over two years the matter was again brought up in the Assembly, on September 16, 1663.24 The question as then submitted was, " Since the charge the country is yearly at for houses for the quarter courts and assemblys to sit in would in two or 3 years defray the purchase of a state house. Whether it were not more profitable to purchase for that purpose then continue for ever at the expence, accompanied with the dishonor of all our laws being made and our judgments given in alehouses."
On the day following a committee of six burgesses was appointed to confer with the governor about a state house.25
Under date of April 10, 1665, Thomas Ludwell, colonial secre- tary of state, wrote Lord Arlington that the rebuilding of the town in brick was sufficiently advanced to furnish the necessary buildings in which to transact the business of the colony. The buildings referred to by Ludwell were probably some of those erected in furtherance of the act of Assembly of December, 1662, for rebuilding the town with brick houses,28 and it is probable that the meaning of the letter was that the state house building was completed.
There does not appear to be extant any description of the third state house. The following extract from a message addressed to the House by the governor during the session of the Assembly of 1685 27 shows that the third and fourth state house buildings occupied the same site and probably were of the same shape and proportions : " This day an addresse and some orders of yr. House have been presented to me & ye Council by some of yr. members, and doe much wonder, you should pro-
24 Ibid, Vol. II, p. 204.
֏ Ibid, Vol. II, p. 205.
26 Ibid, Vol. II, pp. 172, 173.
27 McDonald Papers, Vol. VII, pp. 379, 380.
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pose soe unreasonably, as to desire our concurrence, in ye memo- rial [removal?] of ye secretaries office, wch. ever since ye state House was first built, until burnt, has been continued in ye place you allot for an office for ye Clerk, soe that Mr. Secretary justly claims it by prescription, and you yrselves have soe consented and alsoe desired, that it be enlarged as by ye agreement made ye last Gen'l Assembly with Col. Ludwell." The spot, there- fore, is established where, in June, 1676, Bacon, at the head of his little army, demanded a commission to proceed against and chastise the Indians, and where the testy old governor, while baring his breast, reiterated the words, "here! shoot me, 'fore God, fair mark, shoot."
After the burning of the third state house in September, 1676, it was proposed to rebuild the town, retaining its original name, at Tindall's Point,28 now known as Gloucester Point, on York River. Gloucester Point at this time was a prosperous settle- ment and being on salt water was probably very healthy. " James Towne," however, was not yet to be abandoned, and in about eight years the rebuilding of the state house on the old site was begun.
In the interim between the burning of the third state house and its rebuilding, the expedient of using taverns for holding the sessions of the Grand Assembly, as had been twice done when the colony had lost its capitol by fire, was again resorted to, allowances of tobacco being made to Mr. Henry Gauler for several meetings of the court and Assembly held at his tavern.29 In the 1685 session of the General Assembly an agreement was entered into with Mr. William Sherwood for the use of "his great Hall, and ye back room on ye same floor and ye cellar under ye said room," for courthouse purposes, during the en- suing year, including " fire, candle and attendance," at twenty- five pounds sterling per annum.30 Sherwood's house was un-
28 Hening's Statutes, Vol. II, p. 405.
2 McDonald Papers, Vol. VII, pp. 372, 376.
80 Ibid, pp. 385, 388
Ancient Foundations at Jamestown, a. Discovered and Identified in 1903, 21g Sanit H. Jonge Scale 9 8 12 16 20 24 ft.
forth
Sea Wall
Steps
Steps
seit
Pared
-
Ceffar
Ceffar
20epp O
Doors"
Sec's
Fire places
Office after
Commeil Chamber 10 Court House Room
1685
Porch+
Porch
Prich
Porch
State - House
Well
Country House
Philip Ludwell's
Three Honses
Fireplace
Brick Having
Ea
The Site of Old James Towne," 1607-1898.
Copyright, 1903, by Samuel H. Yonge.
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THE SITE OF OLD " JAMES TOWNE."
doubtedly on the site of the acre lot bought by him in 1681, on which stood the country house.
The approximate site of the fourth state house is learned from the following quotation from a patent to William Sherwood, recorded April 20, 1694: 31 " grant unto William Sherwood of James City Gent, 308 acres of land Scituate lying and being in James City and James City Island, beginning on James River at the head of Pitch and Tarr Swamp next above the state house and running along the North side thereof " [branch of swamp]. A study of the above patent leaves no room for doubting that the branch of swamp referred to was the upper branch, from which it follows that the building stood on the third ridge.
The site of the fourth state house was unknown until early in 1903, when, as before stated, it was located by the author. A few references to its predecessor occur in "T. M.'s account of Bacon's Rebellion. This narrative, written thirty years after the above revolution, shows that the state house of 1666-1676 was a two-story building. At the eastern end of the first story was an apartment used as the council chamber and for court house purposes. In the second story was the Assembly room of the House of Burgesses, " a long room." From the manner in which the " end of the state house " is referred to by "T. M.," it might appear that the building had but one free end. This accords with the plan of the fourth state house, the western end of which, as discovered by excavating its foundations, adjoined the easternmost of Philip Ludwell's three houses referred to below.32 The Ludwell tract had an area of one and one-half acres, in the shape of an oblong rectangle, with its northern boundary "near the Pitch and Tarr Swamp." The patent shows that the northern and southern fronts of three houses, of which the tract contained the ruins, had collectively the same length, viz., three and three-fourths chains,33 or one hundred and
& Va. Land Pat. Records, Book VIII, p. 384.
32 Force's Historical Tracts, Vol. I, p. 16 .- Bacon's Rebellion.
83 The chain used in the "James Citty " surveys was two poles, or thirty-three feet long.
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THE SITE OF OLD " JAMES TOWNE."
twenty-three and three-fourths feet, and about the same azimuth as the north and south boundary lines of the tract.
In February, 1903, the earth overlying the walls found during the preceding month by probing on the crest of the third ridge where it seemed probable the ruins of the three houses men- tioned in the Ludwell patent of 1694 had stood, was removed on the recommendation of the author, by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, when the brick foundations of a former row of buildings about two hun- dred and forty feet long by about twenty-four to forty-six feet wide, were disclosed at one to five feet below the surface. The foundations are on the highest part of the ridge where its elevation is about two and one-half to three and one-half feet above great tides. The ground falls gently from the foundations towards the east, and the shapes of the contours indicate that the part of the ridge abraded by the waves sloped towards the western shore.
The foundations are divided by heavy cross-walls into five principal divisions. The main walls are about two feet thick, the cross-walls from fourteen inches to two feet.
As above explained, the westernmost foundations belonged to the " Country House," those of the next three buildings to the ruins of Philip Ludwell's houses and the easternmost to the state house. All of the buildings except the state house were about forty feet square within the walls. A small proportion of the underpinning of the northernmost wall of the middle and eastern Ludwell houses is granite rubble. With the above exception the walls rest on a bed of mortar about two inches thick. On account of the base of the foundations being of different material, as above noted, and of the cross walls north of the middle main wall being out of line with those south of it, it is surmised that the northern halves of the two houses alluded to were constructed at a different period from the southern halves, possibly a later one. The inside dimensions of the earlier houses would, therefore, have been twenty by forty feet,
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THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
thus according with the specifications contained in the statute of December, 1662, for rebuilding the town.
The remains of several immense fire places are found in all of the buildings excepting the state house. The fire places are generally about eight feet long between the jambs. One, in the southern half of the "Country House," is eight and a half feet long. The jambs project about three feet from the walls.
The buildings appear to have been divided into apartments about twenty feet square by the fire places and heavy partition walls.
The foundations of two of the partitions are T-shaped. It is conjectured that the spaces between the heads of the T's and the southern porches were approximately square halls, with a room at either end. The spaces between the T-heads and the middle main wall of either side of the stem of the T were prob- ably utilized as lockers or closets. The obliquity of the T par- tition and also of the porch of the middle Ludwell house with reference to the main walls cannot be satisfactorily explained. It may have been the result of careless work of the builder, or it may indicate that the main walls belonged to buildings erected at different periods from the other parts referred to. The floors of two of the rooms were paved with brick, parts of the paving still remaining.
Brick foundations of several porches projecting from the southern main wall indicate that the buildings faced the south. One of the porches adjoins the middle of the state house, two others the easternmost and middle Ludwell houses. They were about ten feet square inside. Their foundation walls are eigh- teen to twenty-two inches thick. At the eastern end of the middle Ludwell house are what appear to have been the founda- tions of another and smaller porch eight and one-half feet square inside the walls. It may have belonged to a house erected prior to 1665.
Under the northern half of the westernmost Ludwell house was found a cellar, twenty by forty feet by about six feet deep, filled with the brick of fallen walls. The cellar is paved with
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THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
brick. In the floor is a pit three and one-half feet square by three feet deep, with brick-lined sides. Leading from the pit to what was apparently formerly a hole about a foot in diameter is a shallow drain. It is possible that the pit was for draining the cellar, but it is far more probable that it was a well. On the floor of the cellar were several sheets of melted lead, and among the brick débris were a " sacar " shot, also two bombshells-one of the calibre of a demi-culverin, the other of a sacar-and frag- ments of exploded shells. The above warlike relics may have been fired in 1676 from Bacon's trench near the north end of the isthmus. The cellar is entered by a fight of steps on its northern side. A pipe, scissors, steel sewing-thimble, copper candle stick, ladies' riding-stirrup, and an old bottle, all of quaint and antique shapes, found in the cellar, form additions to the Association's relics.
The bond of the brick work of the cellar walls is the same as that of the foundations and tower ruin of the brick church of 1639-47-viz., the so-called English bond. This bond is found in Flanders, Holland, and Rhenish Germany, from which coun- tries it appears to have been introduced into Great Britain.34 Its employment at "James Towne " is probably to be accounted for by several of the residents of the town during its fourth decade being German or Dutch brickmakers and bricklayers.
" The Country House " is separated from the Ludwell build- ings by an eighteen-inch party wall. Under its northern half was an unpaved cellar entered by a flight of steps on the north side similar to those of the Ludwell cellar.
The foundations of the state house show that it was about seventy-four feet by twenty feet within the walls. It was divided by a fourteen-inch cross wall into two parts, one about forty- two, the other obout thirty-one feet long. Projecting from the middle of the north wall are foundations of a wing about fifteen feet square within the walls, referred to below. On each side of the wing is a projection which may have belonged to bay win-
& Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. IV, page 461.
SECTION OF STATE HOUSE FOUNDATIONS DISCOVERED AND EXCAVATED IN 1903 In the foreground is shown cellar of Ludwell's easternmost house, and between it and the river that of the "Country House." "The lone cypress" appears in the background.
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THE SITE OF OLD " JAMES TOWNE."
dows or fireplaces. If not to the latter, the state house prob- ably was not heated, as there are no other indications of fire- places in the building.
The general plan of the state house, with its north wing and south porch, is symmetrical.
From the original transcript of the Journal of the General Assembly, held at Jamestown in May, 1684 ª it is learned that during that session a committee consisting of " Collo Kendall- Capt : Fra : Page-Capt : Robinson-Collo George Mason-Mr. Hen : Hartwell-Major Allen and Mr. Sherwood," was appointed to consider the rebuilding of the state house and to ascertain its cost. The committee was also instructed to submit with its re- port the proposals of any persons willing to perform the work. The committee acted promptly and its report 3 was as promptly approved by the House. The report was then submitted to the governor, who appointed Mr. Sherwood to draw up a contract " between his ExIncy & the Speaker in behalfe of the Generall Assembly and the Honble Collo Phillip Ludwell for the Rebuild- ing the state house."
The only available data pertaining to the arrangement of the interior of the building are the allusions to it in "T. M.'s " account of Bacon's Rebellion, and the Journal of the General Assembly held at "James Citty " in November and December, 1685 37 quoted from above.
During the above session the rebuilding of the state house was probably nearly completed, and it was ordered by the House " That Mr. Auditor Bacon pay to Col. Philip Ludwell fower hundred pounds sterling out of ye Moneys accruing from ye duty of three pence pr. gallon upon liquors, for and in consid- eration of rebuilding ye State House, upon payment of wch
35 Colonial Record Book, Vol. 85, pp. 168-207, P. R. O., London, England.
38 Miss Ethel B. Sainsbury, of London, England, who examined and made transcripts of portions of the above documents for the author states that the committee's report does not appear in the files of the London P. R. O.
37 McDonald Papers, Vol. VII, p. 312, et seq.
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money, Mr. Auditor is desired to take bond from Col. Ludwell for ye full compleating of ye House, in such manner as shall be fully satisfactory to his Excellency ye Council & ye House of Burgesses answerably good and equivalent to the condition of ye same." ª8
From the same Journal of the Assembly it is learned that the Assembly room wherein the burgesses met most probably occu- pied the entire second floor of the main building, and that adjoining the Assembly room was a smaller apartment referred to as the porch room or porch chamber, which in the third state house had been used as the secretary's office and as a repository of the colonial records. This room, as shown by the extracts from the Assembly Journal, was a bone of contention between the governor (Lord Howard of Effingham) and the burgesses, and no doubt had much to do with the subsequent persecution of Robert Beverley, clerk of the Assembly. It is conjectured that the porch room was over the south porch.
The chamber used for the double purpose of holding sessions of the court and meetings of the Council was on the first floor- probably represented by the larger of the two divisions, the eastern, formed by the fourteen-inch cross wall. The smaller, or western, was used as a waiting-room for those having business at court. A part of the latter, at its western end, was cut off by a wooden partition in 1685 or 1686 for an office for the secre- tary of state. It is likely that there was a wide hall in the first story connecting the south porch and the north wing, and as "T. M." states that he saw the Council in session through the open doorway while on his way up to the Assembly, it seems likely that the hall contained the staircase.
As the foundations of the north wing are but fourteen inches thick, they probably carried walls but one story high, which prior to 1686 may have belonged to the office of the clerk of the Assembly.
* Ibid, p. 366.
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THE SITE OF OLD "JAMES TOWNE."
Subjoined are extracts from the Journal of the Assembly in December, 1685, the authority for some of the foregoing deduc- tions :
" Resolved by ye House, that ye room in ye state House, called ye Porch Chamber be kept and appropriated an office for ye Clk of ye Assbly and yt Robert Beverley ª ye present Clerk take possession thereof and therein Lodge and place all Records, Books and Papers, belonging to ye Assembly, wch either now are or for ye time to come shall be committed to his charge keeping or Custody.
Ordered that this resolve of ye House be sent to his Excel- lency and ye Councel, with ye requests of this House for their concurrence therein.
Proposed by ye House, yt ye lower room in the state House opposite to ye Court House room be with all possible expidition fitted for ye Secretaries Office, And this House doe pray his Excellency will please to command and direct ye doing thereof, and yt the Honble Col Ludwell be treated with about it
Xber 4th 1685
Signed by Order of ye House of Burgesses
ROBT. BEVERLEY, Clk Assbly "
" Xber 8th 1685.
By ye House of Burgesses
To his Excellency and ye Council.
This House having read and considered yr Exclies late answer to ye resolve of this House, appointing ye room called ye Porch room in ye State House for an office for their Clerk, and that ye lower room under ye Assembly room may be fitted, soe much thereof, as is necessary, for an office for Mr. Secretary, doe now again supplicate yr Excellency and ye Council, will please to concur with them therein, for although they doe acknowledge
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