Seventeenth Century Timbering and Building
The 1685 engraving shows activities relating to timbering and house building. Similar practices were carried out at Jamestown during the seventeenth century. From Orbis Sensualium Pictus by Johann Comenius (London, 1685).
BARRELS AND CASKS
(COOPERING)
As early as 1607 barrel staves were made at Jamestown for exporting to England. Later, when tobacco and other crops were grown successfully—and a few commodities were produced in Virginia for export—barrels, casks, and other wooden containers were made by the cooper in large numbers.
John Lewes was the first cooper to reach Jamestown, arriving in January, 1608. Others followed him throughout the seventeenth century; and for almost a hundred years their craft was an important one in the "Capital Cittie."
The illustration shows a cooper and his helpers making barrels and casks at Jamestown, about the year 1625.
