A Small Jamestown House Built About 1630
Conjectural Painting
The frame house shown is believed to be typical of many built by the yeomen settlers after 1630. A coarse marsh grass thatch covers the roof and rough clapboards cover the sides of the building. The few casement windows used have diamond-shaped panes, and heavy wooden doors swing on hand wrought iron strap hinges. In the foreground is a large brick chimney, oven, and woodshed. The shed and recessed nook in front of the oven are covered with red earthenware pantiles. Jamestown has taken on a degree of permanency, and many of the Colonists are realizing small profits from the sale of tobacco.
After the settlement had become fairly well established the colonists began building a few brick houses. In the picture English artisans are shown erecting a small brick structure at Jamestown about the year 1630. It is quite clear from the documentary records and the archeological remains that the colonists not only made their own bricks—and probably many of their roofing tiles—but that the process, as well as the finished product, followed closely the English tradition.
An old account, relating to brick-making in England three hundred years ago, is summarized:
1. Before Christmas we begin to dig the earth and let it lie to mellow till Easter.
2. Then we water the earth well and temper it with a narrow spade.
3. The moulder cuts off a piece of earth, throws it into the mould made of beech, levelling it off with a wooden implement called a strike.