As yet we have no houses to cover us, our tents were rotten, and our cabbins worse than nought: our best commoditie was iron which we made into little chissels.
Many small chisels have been unearthed at Jamestown, and one may wonder whether any were made during the hard autumn of 1607, when the state of the new colony was at such a low ebb.
Another early Jamestown blacksmith was Richard Dole, who arrived on the supply ship Phoenix, April 20 1608. Read and Dole were the vanguards of many ironworkers who emigrated to Virginia at various periods of time throughout the seventeenth century.
In 1955 archeologists discovered the site of an early seventeenth century forge or smithery near historic Jamestown church. Large quantities of slag were unearthed together with pieces of bar iron, weapons, tool fragments, and several partially-completed iron handles, chisels, and nails. A few blacksmiths' tools and a small anvil were also found. Associated cultural material found indicated that the forge operated between 1610 and 1625, and there was good evidence that it may have been located in an armourer's shop. The forge site appears to be the oldest one used by the English which has been discovered in America.
The sketch showing the Jamestown blacksmith at work is based on a 1685 engraving by Johann Comenius.
A Jamestown Blacksmith Working In A Forge Shop
Conjectural sketch