LATER YEARS AT JAMESTOWN.

The removal of the capital ultimately proved the death blow for Jamestown, for this eliminated the primary reason for its existence. Decline set in immediately, but Jamestown retained a seat in the assembly for another three-quarters of a century. Its end as a town, legally and physically, may be given as the period of the American Revolution. There was a military post here early in that struggle. Later, it became a point of exchange for American and British prisoners of war, and it featured in the maneuvers leading to the Siege of Yorktown. It witnessed the movement of Cornwallis’ army across the James and was a landing and resting point for American and French soldiers being sent to join Washington’s allied army.

A watercolor by Robert M. Sully showing the shoreline at Jamestown in 1854 at a point just above the Old Church Tower. In this period erosion was slowly destroying the west end of the site of “Old James Towne.” (Original in the collection of the late Miss Julia Sully, Richmond, Va.)

Even before 1700, property on Jamestown Island was being consolidated into a few hands. The consolidation continued unabated after this date, and before the middle of the 18th century the major part of the island was in the hands of two families—Ambler and Travis—each of which had its own “mansion.” The Travis family estate at Jamestown had grown slowly since before 1650, and Richard Ambler, of Yorktown, acquired, through marriage, the extensive Jaquelin, formerly Sherwood, holdings. After 1830, the island came under a single ownership. Under the Amblers and Travises and later owners of the island, even parts of the townsite itself became farm land and functioned as an integral part of the plantation system which earlier events at Jamestown had helped so materially to create.

The fields, and woods, and marshes lay quietly on the James for generations, contributing in a small, but important, manner to a growing country. Americans often remembered the early years of the colony and the momentous events that had taken place on the island, and joined here to commemorate the deeds of their forefathers. There was the Bicentennial of 1807, the Virginiad of 1822, the 250th anniversary in 1857, and the Tercentennial of 1907. In the years between these events there were thousands who came individually and in small groups, the famous and those now unknown. It was this remembrance and loyalty to one of its great landmarks that led to the establishment of Jamestown Island as a national historic shrine.

Jamestown National Historic Site

The first organized effort toward saving the Jamestown area came in 1893 when the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities acquired 22.5 acres of the old townsite. This land, donated for preservation by Mr. and Mrs. Edward E. Barney, embraced the Old Church Tower, the graveyard, and the west end of the townsite.

The Association which was chartered in 1889 is better known, perhaps, as the APVA. It is a non-profit organization interested in the acquisition, preservation, and restoration of “ancient historic grounds, buildings, monuments, and tombs in the Commonwealth of Virginia” and in the collection and care of relics associated with them or with the history of the State. Its Jamestown property is one of a number of holdings which it administers. Another is the 17th-century Warren House on the Rolfe property in Surry County just across the James River from Jamestown.

Until 1934 the Association was the sole active agency working at Jamestown to conserve and interpret the site for the American people. As the custodian of a significant part of the site of old “James Towne,” it continues working to promote measures insuring the protection of the site and making it available for your use and inspiration. Landscaping, limited reconstruction, some restoration, and the stabilization of the remains of the Old Church Tower, the tombs, and foundations have all been a part of its program, together with the acquisition and display of Jamestown relics. In its work, it has solicited and received aid from various organizations, particularly patriotic societies, in the placement of memorials, and related activities. The Memorial Church was constructed by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. The Association was especially active in preparation for the Jamestown Exposition in 1907.

The Association was successful in its efforts to encourage the United States Government to construct the seawall which was built by Col. Samuel H. Yonge in 1900-1901 to halt bank erosion by the James River along the Association grounds. Colonel Yonge became a serious student of Jamestown history and wrote The Site of Old “James Towne,” 1607-1698, a work still available through purchase from the Association. In 1907, the Association made available the grounds on which the Tercentenary Monument was erected, and again in 1956 it provided land on which to place the Jamestown Visitor Center.

In 1940 the Association entered into agreement with the United States of America, through the Secretary of the Interior, to provide for a unified program of development and administration for the island. It was at this time that the APVA grounds were designated as Jamestown National Historic Site. The joint cooperative agreement continues in force and the Association and the National Park Service are working together to preserve, maintain, and interpret this historic area.

In 1956 it became possible to present the townsite as a single unit when the ferry to the island and the State highway crossing the island were moved upriver above Jamestown. The APVA and the Service then combined their separate museum exhibits to form the displays now seen in the Visitor Center, and consolidated other operations at the center where both are hosts to Jamestown visitors.

Early ceramic types found in the excavations.

Colonial National Historical Park

In 1930, by Presidential proclamation, all of Jamestown Island’s 1,559.5 acres (equally divided between marsh and dry land) were included within the boundaries of Colonial National Monument. The monument designation was changed to that of a national historical park by act of Congress in 1936. Actual Federal ownership of the island (other than the 22-acre Association tract) was obtained in 1934, and some years later, a bit of the mainland opposite the western tip of Jamestown was added because of its close ties to the site.

Colonial National Historical Park is made up of several areas of which Jamestown is one. It includes, as well, the Cape Henry Memorial, at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, where the first settlers who established Jamestown first stopped in Virginia; the Yorktown Battlefield; and the Colonial Parkway.

Colonial Parkway

This 23-mile scenic motor road connects historic Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. Along its course are descriptive markers that give bits of history which often show the interrelation of Jamestown (where the Nation began), Williamsburg (the 18th-century capital of Virginia where important elements of our Revolutionary leadership were nourished), and Yorktown (where the climatic battle in our struggle for independence was fought).

The Study of Jamestown

When the major part of Jamestown Island, including much of the townsite, was placed in its custody in 1934, the National Park Service, working with the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, assumed responsibility for preservation of the historic remains on the island and for interpreting the site. This posed many problems, for the Jamestown story is a vital segment of our national history, involving the origins and growth of the culture of this formative period of English colonization. The first pressing concern was the accumulation of data on which to base a more complete understanding of life and conditions as they existed at that time, specifically at Jamestown. This was needed in order to plan for the preservation, development, and interpretation of the area.

A program was drawn up which combined the various types of research that the conditions and problems at Jamestown required. The overall objective was to secure and preserve all possible data on Jamestown history (giving history its broadest interpretation), and to gain a well-rounded picture of the growth of agriculture, industry, commerce, and society during the period Jamestown was inhabited.

Trained historians began to search in the leading libraries of the country. At Jamestown, engineers and archeologists, assisted by historians, architects, and museum technicians, began to survey the island. Little of the old town existed aboveground, yet it was known that there were, in all probability, extensive remains underground. Systematic excavation was begun on the townsite on July 11, 1934.

In the beginning, it was recognized that the program would be of long duration. Initially, in the years prior to World War II, the support of the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) proved invaluable. Work all but ceased during the war years and went on at a very slow rate in the years just after the war. The program was renewed with vigor in 1954 as plans for Jamestown’s 350th anniversary began to materialize.

On June 1, 1938, a field laboratory and storage building to house the Jamestown activities was completed, giving the project an adequate physical plant. It soon came to house thousands of cultural objects and included offices as well as facilities for cleaning, sorting, storing, and cataloguing excavated materials. This temporary building served the need for study, and later for interpretation, until it was removed early in 1957. It was replaced, although on a different site, by the Jamestown Visitor Center early in 1957.

Excavation in progress at Jamestown in 1955.

Lighting equipment as used at Jamestown. (These objects were excavated on the site.)

The findings of the program have been extensive. Documentary Study has gleaned data which, when carefully examined, yields a more complete picture of 17th-century Jamestown than was thought possible. However, the picture is sketchy and needs the details filled in. For this reason, research continues in anticipation of bridging the gaps.

Archeological work proved more fruitful than the most optimistic had anticipated during the initial phases of the work. The materials and information found beneath the ground at Jamestown have been astonishing in both quantity and type. Architectural and constructural findings are of various types. More than a hundred building-remains have been excavated. Some are only the footings for a frame structure, some are brick foundations in full outline, and others are well-preserved cellars with interesting structural detail. Associated with the sites are fragments of hardware, glass, roofing tile, and related building materials. Some of the building remains are those of the most prominent structures at Jamestown, such as statehouses and governors’ houses. Brick kilns have been found, one being the well-preserved ruins in the Association grounds, showing clearly that 17th-century Virginians made much of their own brick and roofing tile. Pottery manufacture has been documented as well as other such activities. Several types of early wells, often brick-lined, have yielded many objects dropped in accidentally, or by design, while they were still in use.

Even road traces still exist. Some of them, considered in the light of documentary references, have made it possible to reestablish the route of the “Greate Road” formerly connecting the island and the mainland. The reopening of old property line ditches and the rediscovery of fence lines (by identifying old post holes) have aided immeasurably in locating property tracts. This information, added to that of the old land grants and survey plats, has made possible the location of many early landholdings and has helped in the study of the physical layout of the town. Other features uncovered include lime kilns, where the early Jamestown builders burned their own lime for plaster—occasionally found still clinging to basement walls—and brick drains.

The number and variety of objects found in the excavations can only be indicated in general terms. The great bulk of thousands of items now collected is made up of pieces of iron, copper, brass, bronze, pewter, clay, and earth. Occasionally some more perishable materials, such as wool, leather, and wood, are found. Among the more interesting finds are clay tobacco pipes, glass wine bottles, pottery vessels, Delft tiles, gun and sword fragments, bullets, cannon balls, spurs, bits of armor, stirrups and bridles, locks, keys, nails, spoons, forks, shears, pins, thimbles, axes, hoes, window glass, buckles, combs, and rings. A complete list would be much longer. Often only fragments remain, yet in many cases it is possible to make a full restoration of the original piece, such as has been done with a clay baking oven. A special illustrated publication is available, in popular style, describing the archeological work and the collection.

In early Jamestown, water came from shallow wells which often had a barrel at the bottom such as this found still in place.

Individually and collectively, these objects give us an insight into the manner in which 17th-century Jamestown men and their families lived. These objects will help you get a more complete picture of the first Virginians—how they dressed, worked, built and equipped their homes, and satisfied their daily needs.

Sgraffito—often called “scratch” ware since the design was scratched into the upper layer of pliable clay before it was baked—is one of the most common 17th-century ceramic types found at Jamestown.

The Development of Jamestown

No attempt will be made to restore Jamestown as it was in 1607 or at any other period. The town was always small and always changing. Jamestown, it might be said, was never a city in the modern concept. It was more a village, a small community. The town of 1607, or 1610, was unlike that of 1623, and that of 1623 was far different from that of 1675. Architecture went all the way from timber and thatch structures to substantial all-brick houses. Even if the town had had a reasonable continuity of building types and plan, known information would be entirely insufficient to allow a restoration. Major discoveries of new material are still expected, yet the detail necessary for an authentic restoration may always be too meager.

The site of old “James Towne” has, however, retained much of the spirit of its antiquity. Its serene and peaceful atmosphere seems to take one back through the years. You may be able, for a moment, to disassociate yourself from the swift pace of present living as you wander past the old foundations and look upon the Old Church Tower.

The National Park Service, following the precedent established by the Association, is endeavoring to preserve this unbroken link with the past. The emphasis is on the presentation of the townsite itself and the island wilderness as the real exhibit. There are “streets” and winding paths, exposed and marked foundations, existing remains, paintings of buildings and scenes, property markings (old ditches, fences of period design, and hedges), and natural planting. Shaded vistas and secluded points for quiet reflection are provided as much as possible. Some use is being made of period-type buildings (but not specific reconstructions) as in the “glasshouse” with its thatch, wattle and daub, and “cruck” design.

Physical features of the 17th century have not survived at Jamestown in sufficient number to illustrate the complete story, and the townsite will not adapt itself to a full coverage. However, there are extensive supplementary exhibits in the Jamestown Visitor Center, which are designed to help you understand and “experience” Jamestown.

The Old Church Tower, standing on the grounds of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, was probably built about 1639.

BUILDING HARDWARE
UNEARTHED AT JAMESTOWN

HINGES NAILS DOOR LOCKS RIVET PADLOCKS STRAP HINGE STRAP HINGE WITH PINTLE KEYS

Guide to the Area

(Numbers correspond to numbers on the map on [page 43].)

“James Towne” developed on the west end of Jamestown Island. At its maximum extent it lay along the river for approximately three-quarters of a mile. It was a thin strip of a town between the James River and the marsh that came to be called Pitch and Tar Swamp. At first there was only the fort, then an enlarged palisaded area. Gradually the town grew with the building of houses, a church, a market place, shops, storehouses, forts, statehouses, and other public buildings grouped along streets and paths. The entire townsite is an exhibit area. The Visitor Center (1), at its edge, is a short distance from the parking area across a trestle bridge spanning Pitch and Tar Swamp.

In the Visitor Center, sponsored jointly by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and the National Park Service, an orientation program of movies and slides, an information desk, an extensive series of exhibits, and literature and souvenirs are available. The exhibits include many irreplaceable objects, such as earrings of Pocahontas, and many objects recovered from the ground. There are dioramas, a large model of James Fort, illustrated panels, and other displays telling about early Jamestown and explaining the points of interest on the townsite and along the island tour or drive.

“JAMES TOWNE”
JAMESTOWN ISLAND
VIRGINIA

The adjacent townsite is easily reached from the Visitor Center, and a good general view of it may be had from the observation terrace around the Tercentenary Monument (2). This shaft of New Hampshire granite rising 103 feet above its base was erected in 1907 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the settlement.

A footpath leads from the monument terrace to the church area, crossing the trace of the “Greate Road,” which served the town’s residents some 300 years ago. It passes close to the site of a 17th-century brick kiln just inside the entrance to the APVA grounds.

The Church Area (3), the most inspiring spot at Jamestown today, embraces the Old Tower, the Memorial Church, and the Churchyard. The ivy-covered Old Church Tower is the only standing ruin of the 17th-century town. It is believed to have been a part of the first brick church built about 1639. Its 3-foot-thick walls of handmade brick laid in English bond have been standing for more than 300 years. The Memorial Church, directly behind the tower, was erected in 1907 by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America over the foundations of the early brick church. Within the church are memorials and burials, including the “Knight’s” tomb and that of Rev. John Clough.

Of particular note, inside the church, are the exposed cobblestone foundations of an earlier church said to have housed the first representative legislative assembly in America which convened at Jamestown on July 30, 1619. In the Churchyard many dead are buried, and the few gravestones that have survived the wear of time and weather are a witness to the antiquity of the spot. These carry the names of Berkeley, Blair, Harrison, Ludwell, Bevereley, Lee, Sherwood, and others. Even the extent of the burial ground is unknown. It is more extensive than either the iron grill fence or the old wall (built of bricks from the ruins of one of the 17th-century Jamestown churches) suggests.

The foundations of the Last (fourth) Statehouse Group as it extends toward the James River. It was the burning of this statehouse in 1698 that was the immediate reason for moving the capital of the colony from Jamestown to Williamsburg.

Adjacent to the church are a number of memorials and monuments erected through the years, particularly in 1907, to commemorate important events at Jamestown and to honor some of those outstanding in Virginia history. These include the House of Burgesses Monument (4) listing the members of America’s first representative legislative assembly in 1619, the Pocahontas Monument (5), by William Ordway Partridge; and the Capt. John Smith Statue (6), designed by William Couper.

The graveyard near the Memorial Church. The sycamore (center) now separates the graves of Rev. James Blair, a founder of William and Mary College, from that of his wife, Sarah Harrison Blair.

The footpath leads to the concrete walkway on the edge of the seawall. This seawall (built in 1900-1901) along the shoreline of the Association grounds and the later riprap extension of it now protect the site from further erosion. Walk to the right (upriver) along the concrete walkway. It passes near, but outside, the Confederate earthwork thrown up in 1861 when the James River approach to Richmond was being fortified. At one point a bit of history can be read from the ground in a Site Use Exhibit (7). The earth in the side of the embankment has been carefully sliced and various levels are identified—undisturbed ground, the level of Indian use, the zone with evidences of 17th-century use, and, topping all, the earthwork built by Confederate troops in 1861.

Just beyond, but at a point now in the river, due to the erosion of the last three centuries, is the site of “James Fort” (8), which was built in May and June 1607, and constituted the Jamestown settlement in the first few years. There is a large model of “James Fort” in the Visitor Center and a full scale reconstruction of it has been built in Festival Park above Glasshouse Point and adjacent to the Jamestown terminus of the Colonial Parkway.

In the words of William Strachey, recorder for the colony, the fort, as built in 1607, and standing in 1610, was “cast almost into the forme of a Triangle, and so Pallizadoed. The South side next the River ... by reason the advantage of the ground doth so require, contains one hundred and forty yards: the West and East sides a hundred onely. At every Angle or corner, where the lines meete, a Bulwarke or Watchtower is raised, and in each Bulwarke a peece of Ordnance or two well mounted. To every side, a proportioned distance from the Pallisado, is a setled streete of houses, that run along, so as each line of the Angle hath his streete. In the middest is a market place, a Store house, and a Corps du guard, as likewise a pretty Chappel ... [all] inclosed ... round with a Pallizado of Planckes and strong Posts, foure foote deepe in the ground, of yong Oakes, Walnuts, &c ... the principall Gate from the Towne, through the Pallizado, opens to the River ... at each Bulwarke there is a Gate likewise to goe forth, and at every Gate a Demi-Culverin and so in the Market Place....”

Just beyond the fort site, approximately 125 feet from the present seawall, at a point where it makes a pronounced turn to the right, is the First Landing Site (9) which the colonists reached on May 13, 1607. Here the next day, all came ashore and landed supplies. This spot, like the fort site, is now in the river. The Old Cypress (10), standing several hundred feet from the shore above the landing site, is said to have stood at one time on the edge of the island. This is visible evidence of the erosion that has taken at least 25 acres of the western part of the townsite.

The Tercentenary Monument erected by the United States in 1907, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the landing of the first permanent English settlers at Jamestown.

The Hunt Memorial erected to the memory of Rev. Robert Hunt, first minister at Jamestown, by the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Virginia.

Inshore, at this point, the Memorial Cross (11) occupies a position of prominence. This marks the burial ground that extended along the ridge behind it. This is the earliest known burial ground at Jamestown and is thought to have preceded that around the church. It was along this ridge, first used as a cemetery, that Jamestown’s third statehouse (burned by Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., in 1676) was constructed. A decade later the fourth (and last) statehouse was built on the same site. It was the accidental burning of the last statehouse and the structures associated with it, in 1698, that was the immediate reason for moving the seat of government from Jamestown. This group of houses—the Last Statehouse Group (12)—consisted of the last country house, three houses of Philip Ludwell, and the fourth statehouse. The foundations are marked and the footpath, leaving the concrete walkway, follows along these foundations and passes near the Memorial Cross.

The walkway now returns to the Church area. The path follows across a low area, known in the old days as the “Vale,” and into the Confederate earthwork. Here is the bronze relief memorial to The Rev. Robert Hunt (13). He was the chaplain to the first settlers. On the third Sunday after Trinity, in June 1607, he administered the first recorded Holy Communion according to the rites of the Church of England.

One of the larger of the Jamestown foundations, located in the “New Towne” section. It has been identified as the “Country House.” As the foundations indicate, several houses occupied this site.

The tour route emerges from the Confederate earthworks near the entrance to the church and passes again near the Smith, Pocahontas, and House of Burgesses markers and other memorials. Just beyond, the tour leaves the Association grounds (the west end of the site of old “James Towne”) and follows a walk close to the bank of the river. Beyond, stretches the eastern section of “James Towne.”

The foundation ruins of the First Statehouse at Jamestown, where the House of Burgesses met in the period 1640-55. Believed to have been used earlier by Sir John Harvey.

It has become possible to define on the ground the pattern of Jamestown as it existed in at least a part of the early period. Utilizing the route of the “Greate Road,” “Back Streete,” “the highway close to the river,” and various connecting ways, a plan now lays on the ground east from the Visitor Center. Exposed original foundations, other ruins marked aboveground in brick and wood (these in dull white), reopened old ditches (which often mark property lines), fences of period type, and replanted hedges are all used. Paintings help in visualizing the houses that once stood on some of the foundations while recorded descriptions, narrative markers, and other aids give information on owners, events, and happenings.

The extreme east end of Jamestown is that area developed after 1619, first actually surveyed by William Claiborne in 1623, and known to its first residents as New Towne. Here it is possible to locate, plot, and identify, with some assurance, a number of the early property holdings.

There is the plot taken up by Capt. John Harvey in 1624, on which he had houses and where he kept a garden and cultivated fruit trees. Across “Back Streete” from the Harvey site was the holding of Dr. John Pott who was sent from England in 1621 accompanied by two surgeons and a chest of medicine. He had a house here by 1622, although it was not until after this date that he obtained his land patent.

West of the Harvey site was the home and lot of George Menefie, an attorney, administrator, and member of the council. Near the home of Menefie was the tract of Ralph Hamor, Dale’s secretary of state, who died in 1626. Farther west were the holdings of John Chew, a merchant (1624), and of Richard Stephens (1623), who had personal difficulties with John Harvey, and who later appears to have been a party to the first duel fought in an English colony. North of the “Back Streete” and west of Pott’s holdings were those of Edward Blaney (a merchant), Capt. Roger Smith, and Capt. William Pierce, whose house George Sandys, in 1623, pronounced “the fairest in Virginia.”

Near the river, in the “New Towne” section, stood the First Statehouse (14) in Virginia. Foundations here (now partly exposed and partly marked) are thought to be those of this significant structure. It served the colony from 1641 to 1656. In it, during the early governorship of Sir William Berkeley, were discussed the measures needful for the government of the growing colony. Here, too, the colony gave its submission to the commonwealth government of Oliver Cromwell in England in 1652, and Richard Bennett was chosen as governor by the assembly to succeed Berkeley.

Even the designation “New Towne” was forgotten in the years after 1650 when the area, including street alinement, changed considerably. Those living in houses here or owning property in Jamestown’s east end then included Sherwood, Thomas Rabley, James Alsop, Richard Holder, William Edwards, and Henry Hartwell, one of the founders of the College of William and Mary. The scanty remains of Hartwell’s Frame House (15) are believed to have been identified and they are marked. In this instance the discovery of a preponderance of “H-H” initialed wine bottle seals furnished a helpful identity clue.

An early baking oven of clay reconstructed from fragments found in the excavations at Jamestown.

The “Country House” (16) in this early period lay in the “New Towne” section. Perhaps a number of houses stood here on the same site prior to the first brick structure that bears this designation. In excavations on the site, the foundations of the brick building were found, including excellent specimens of ornamental plaster which may have adorned this structure or that of a later private residence of William Sherwood, which was found to have occupied the same site. Its foundations are visible.

Dominating the scene today in this area are the ruined walls of the Jaquelin-Ambler House (17). These are a testimony of the late colonial period (18th century) when Jamestown Island was no longer the seat of government and when, as the town declined, the island became the private estate of two families—Ambler and Travis. The present walls of the Ambler House constitute the center portion of a rather impressive residence that was flanked by two wings. It was begun about 1710 and when fully established, had formal gardens, the brick walls of which were partly uncovered during archeological work on the townsite. Its construction is thought to have obliterated all trace of Richard Kemp’s house, the first recorded all-brick house in Virginia.

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.

Winemaking as it may have been practiced at Jamestown three centuries ago. (A painting by Sidney E. King.)

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.

A building, such as may have been used in 1608-09, houses the glassmaking exhibit on Glasshouse Point.

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.

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