Read Ebook: A Pictorial Booklet on Early Jamestown Commodities and Industries by Hudson J Paul King Sidney E Sidney Eugene Illustrator

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A month later trials of pitch and tar were carried to England by Captain Christopher Newport, as reported by Thomas Studley, one of the original planters:

Captaine Newport being dispatched with the tryals of pitch, tarre, glass, frankincense and sope ashes, with that clapbord and wainscot could bee provided ... returned for England.

As pitch and tar were made in Virginia throughout the seventeenth century, mainly for exporting to England, it appears that the colonists made some profit from the sale of such products.

Pitch and tar were obtained from pine trees, one of the common trees in the Tidewater Virginia woods. Tar is an oily, dark colored, product obtained in the destructive distillation of pine wood. In Virginia it was commonly made from the resinous roots and wood of various pines. The wood was heaped into a conical stack depressed at the center, covered with earth, and fired. The tar ran into a hollowed-out place in the soil beneath the stack of wood. Pitch was a dark-colored viscous substance obtained as a residue in distilling pine tar, and widely used for caulking seams of boats.

It is of interest that the early settlers named the large swamp north of the town area "Pitch and Tar Swamp." Undoubtedly the large pine trees which bordered the swamp were used for making pitch and tar, as well as turpentine and resin.

IRON

It is possible that small amounts of iron were smelted at Jamestown in earth ovens or Catalan-type furnaces during the early years of the colony. In 1955 archeologists unearthed a circular-shaped pit which contained charcoal, burned oyster shell, iron ore, pieces of smelted iron, and slag. It is known that some iron was made in earth ovens in England during the early years of the seventeenth century, where iron was smelted in holes dug in the ground. The fires were fed with logs and charcoal, and the heat was increased by use of large foot bellows. The same method may have been used at Jamestown; or it is possible that the "earth oven" may have been used for hardening bar iron imported from England, as much bar iron received from the mother country was very soft and unsatisfactory for making tools.

The conjectural sketch shows Jamestown colonists making iron in a primitive earth oven or furnace.

A JAMESTOWN BLACKSMITH SHOP

A blacksmith, James Read by name, was a member of the first group of colonists who planted the Jamestown settlement in 1607. Perhaps he helped forge the small chisels which Captain John Smith mentioned :

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.

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.

GLASSMAKING

Glass was made at Jamestown in 1608-1609, and again in 1621-1624, its manufacture being one of the first English industries in the New World.

Among the colonists who reached Jamestown in October, 1608, were "eight Dutchmen and Poles," some of whom were glassmakers. When Captain Christopher Newport sailed for England a few weeks later he carried with him "tryals of pitch, tarre, glasse, frankincense, sope ashes; with that clapboard and waynscot that could be provided." It is not known what kinds of glass were taken to England by Newport. John Smith, writing of the year 1609, stated: "... wee made three or foure lotts of tarre, pitch, and sope ashes; produced a tryall of glass...." Again, the records do not reveal what kinds of glass were produced.

In 1621 six Italian glassmakers arrived at Jamestown, and during the next three years attempts were made to manufacture glass, but it appears that only small amounts were blown.

Oddly enough, archeological excavations did not disclose what kinds of glass were made at Jamestown during the two ventures. When the glasshouse site was excavated in 1948 only small fragments and drippings--dark green in color--were found. It appears that the tiny fragments could have been pieces from window panes, bottles and vials, and simple drinking glasses. No glass beads were found at or near the furnace site.

The conjectural sketch shows a Jamestown glassblower at work.

FURS AND HIDES

Shortly after the Jamestown colony was planted the English adventurers explored the rivers and bays in the vicinity of the settlement, visited many Indian villages, and traded colorful articles to the natives in exchange for foods, furs, and other commodities.

The first exploring party left Jamestown a week after the establishment of the colony. Twenty-four of the settlers sailed up the James River as far as the falls, a distance of about ninety miles. At Arahatteak the explorers gave the Indians "penny knyves, sheeres, belles, beades, glass toyes &c...." for mulberries, wheat, beans, tobacco, and a "crowne which was of deares hayre, dyed redd." Before leaving the village Captain Newport presented the Indian chief with a hatchet and a red waistcoat.

On the return trip to Jamestown the exploring party visited other Indian towns on the James River, including one whose chieftain was Powhatan's brother--the wily and crafty Opechancanough. Gabriel Archer, a member of the group, recorded that the chief's "kyngdome is full of deare he hath many ryche furres."

Many of the early settlers listed the fur-bearing animals that inhabited the dense woods near Jamestown. George Percy, an original planter, observed that:

There is also great store of deere both red and fallow. There are beares, foxes, otters, bevers, muskats, and wild beasts unknowne.

John Smith, in one of his early books describing Virginia , gives brief descriptions of deer, squirrels, opossums, muskrats, bears, beavers, otters, foxes, and others. With the exception of bears, these fur-bearing animals still inhabit Jamestown Island--protected by the National Park Service.

It appears that early in the century some profit was being made from the sale of furs in England, for Thomas Studley, who was in charge of the first storehouse at Jamestown, wrote that "one mariner in one voyage hath got so many as he confessed to have solde in England for ?30."

William Strachey, who lived at Jamestown in 1610-1611, described a trading expedition made by Captain Samuel Argall in 1610:

It is evident, therefore, that the Jamestown colonists who traded their colorful beads and trinkets to the woodland Indians in exchange for food and other commodities--including furs and hides--were the pioneer English fur traders in the New World. The experiences which adventurers like Christopher Newport, John Smith, and Samuel Argall had with the cunning Virginia aborigines were just as exciting and stirring as those shared by the hardened trappers and traders who searched the Rocky Mountain streams for beaver two hundred years later. The hunt for furs which began at Jamestown in 1607 did not diminish until the western boundary of the United States had expanded to the shores of the Pacific Ocean during the middle of the nineteenth century.

BUILDING

The day the colonists landed at Jamestown, May 14, 1607, they began building a triangular-shaped fort , "a setled streete of houses," a church, a guardhouse, and a storehouse. It is apparent that all men familiar with tools and building skills were extremely busy during the first few weeks, especially the four carpenters in the group , two bricklayers , and mason . As brick houses were not built at Jamestown until about 1625, the bricklayers who came to Virginia with the first group of colonists undoubtedly aided the carpenters. Perhaps it was they who made the first stone footings and mud and stick chimneys for the frame houses which were built inside the fort.

As timber was plentiful in Virginia during the early years of the settlement, most of the houses were of frame construction. During the first decade or two house construction reflected a primitive use, not of materials brought from England but those that were found ready at hand, such as saplings for a sort of framing, use of branches, leafage, bark and animal skins. During these early years, when the settlers were having a difficult time staying alive, mud walls, wattle and daub, and marsh grass thatch of a coarse sort were used. Out of these years of improvising the construction with squared posts, later with quarterings , came into practice. There probably was little thought of plastering walls during the first two decades, and when it was done, clay, or clay mixed with oyster shell lime, was first used. The early floors were of clay, and it should be remembered that clay floors continued to be used in the humbler dwellings throughout the seventeenth century. It can be assumed that most of the dwellings, or shelters, of the Jamestown settlers, certainly until about 1630, had the primitive appearance of "settlers" houses, and were rough on the exterior.

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:

Similar methods may have been used at Jamestown during the seventeenth century.

In order to build brick houses lime was needed by the bricklayers and plasterers for making plaster and mortar. Contemporary records reveal that "lymeburners" emigrated to Jamestown as early as 1610. As four lime kilns were found during archeological excavations, it is evident that the lime used by the Jamestown builders was made on the historic island. In the kilns oyster shells from the James River were burned and converted into lime by the limeburners.

The unearthing of large quantities of plaster and mortar at Jamestown indicates that the majority of the brick houses had plastered walls and ceilings, especially after 1635. Some plaster excavated had been white-washed while other bore its natural whitish-gray color. All plaster and mortar found was made from oyster shell lime, sand, and clay.

Ornamental or decorative plaster was found near a few of the house foundations. The plasterwork, decorated in raised ornamental designs, was used for enhancing the beauty of both the interior and exterior of a building. Designs on the plaster included Roman numerals, letters, mottos, crests, veined leaves, rosettes, geometric patterns, a lion, and a face or mask. Many fragments of moulded plaster cornices were also recovered. Broken oyster shells are distinguishable in the ornamental plasterwork, indicating that the pargetting was made at Jamestown.

TOBACCO

The new sweet-scented leaf became popular overnight, and during the remainder of the seventeenth century it proved the economic salvation of the colony. To a large degree, the new crop determined the economic, social, and political life of the planters. The demand in England for the new leaf was also responsible, in a large measure, for the spread of settlement and increase of population in Virginia. The tobacco plant developed by Rolfe was the first crop grown by the Virginia settlers which made a profit.

The conjectural illustration shows Jamestown colonists harvesting tobacco about the year 1650.

WINE

During the early years of the Jamestown settlement the Virginia Company of London encouraged many agricultural pursuits, including the planting and cultivation of grape vines and the making of wine. The reasons seemed to have been twofold: first, to make money for the Virginia Company, whose stock-holders had invested much capital in the new colony; and secondly, to insure the mother country a steady flow of inexpensive wine--which was impossible as long as continental merchants charged exorbitant prices for wines sent to England. Then, too, if wine could be made successfully in Virginia, the people living in the new settlement would profit accordingly.

Vineyards were planted on Jamestown Island at various periods of time during the seventeenth century, and quantities of good wines were made, but far too often inferior wine was fermented. Because of the long sea journey from Virginia, casks of good wine sent to England frequently arrived in a spoiled condition.

After 1675 the hope of producing good Virginia wine for export purposes waned. During the last ten years of the century, when Jamestown declined, the vineyards were neglected, fell prey to deer and the elements, and soon became engulfed in the wilderness.

The illustration shows a man and woman pressing grapes at Jamestown about 1650. The woman is trampling them, whereas the man is using a primitive grape press.

SILK

During the early years of the seventeenth century England was paying exorbitant prices for silk. Most of it was purchased from the Mediterranean countries--France, Italy, and Spain. Some was imported from the Near East, and small amounts from the Orient were bought from Dutch sea captains. As extremely high prices were being paid for the precious cloth, the Virginia Company decided to experiment with silk culture in the new colony.

Silk was made at Jamestown during the seventeenth century, but the enterprise seldom brought profit to the planters. The majority of the colonists had to struggle to grow crops and produce goods with which they were familiar, and were reluctant to experiment with a commodity which required a special skill that they did not possess. A few settlers, however, made serious efforts to raise silkworms, and at times small quantities of silk were made and shipped to England.

The silk-making venture died a hard death, but the large mulberry trees which still grow in many places in Tidewater Virginia are reminders of a day when a few Virginia colonists fed and nurtured silkworms and "wound off" silk thread onto primitive wooden reels.

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