A Pictorial Booklet on Early Jamestown Commodities and Industries Part 3

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.

4. The carrier carries the mould to the drying ground, where he adroitly turns it over, laying the bricks on the ground, and lifts up the mould.

5. When the bricks are dry, they carry them to a place where they row them up like a wall. They are covered with straw, till they are dry enough to be carried to the kiln.

6. Then they are stacked in the kiln, a fire kept till they are at the top red fire hot.

7. Then we let them cool, and sell them as we can for as much money as we can get, but usually about 13 or 14 shillings the thousand.

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

[Ill.u.s.tration: Building A Small Brick House At Jamestown, About 1630 _Conjectural sketch_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Making Brick At Jamestown About 1650 _Conjectural sketch_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo courtesy National Park Service._ Overall View Of Brick Kiln Unearthed at Jamestown In addition to bricks, flat roofing tiles were found in this kiln--placed there for firing with the bricks. Four brick kilns were discovered at Jamestown during archeological explorations.]

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 sh.e.l.ls from the James River were burned and converted into lime by the limeburners.

The unearthing of large quant.i.ties of plaster and mortar at Jamestown indicates that the majority of the brick houses (as well as many frame structures) 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 sh.e.l.l 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 sh.e.l.ls are distinguishable in the ornamental plasterwork, indicating that the pargetting was made at Jamestown.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Making Lime From Oyster Sh.e.l.ls, About 1625 _Conjectural sketch_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo courtesy National Park Service._ Ornamental Plaster Made At Jamestown Archeological explorations revealed that ornamental plaster was used on a few Jamestown buildings--for enhancing the beauty of both the exterior and interior. Broken oyster sh.e.l.ls are imbedded in the decorated plaster, indicating that the pargetting was made at Jamestown.]

TOBACCO

When Jamestown was established in 1607 the Indians living in Tidewater Virginia were smoking a leaf from the native tobacco plant, _Nicotiana rustica_. It was a bitter tasting leaf of rather poor quality, and never cultivated on a large scale by the early planters.

About 1611, seeds of a West Indies tobacco plant, _Nicotiana tabac.u.m_, were introduced into Virginia. A year later John Rolfe experimented with the seeds from the West Indies plant, together with tobacco seeds from South America. The exact nature of Rolfe's tests, carried on at or near Jamestown, is unknown, but the plant he seemingly developed was one with a mild, sweet-scented, leaf.

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 ill.u.s.tration shows Jamestown colonists harvesting tobacco about the year 1650.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Research on painting by author. Photo courtesy National Park Service.

Harvesting Tobacco At Jamestown About 1650 _Conjectural Painting_]

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 quant.i.ties 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 ill.u.s.tration 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Research on painting by author. Photo courtesy National Park Service.

Making Wine At Jamestown About 1650

_Conjectural Painting_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo courtesy National Park Service._

Items Found At Jamestown Relating To Wine

Wine was a popular beverage in Virginia during the seventeenth century.

A few items unearthed at Jamestown which relate to wine consumption are shown: a wine bottle, wine gla.s.s, gla.s.s bottle seals (which were attached to the shoulders of many wine bottles), a bronze spigot, and wooden barrel staves. In 1610 Francisco Maguel, who had spent eight months in Virginia, wrote that "There grow in that country [Virginia]

wild many forest grapes, of which the English make a wine that resembles much the wine of Alicante, according to the opinion of the narrator who has tasted both."]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Vintage. _Vindemia._

Wine groweth in the Vine-yard 1, where Vines are propagated, and tied with Twigs to Trees 2, or to Props 3, or Frames 4. When the time of grape-gathering is come, they cut off the Bunches, and carry them in measures of three bushels 5, and throw them into a Vat 6, and tread them with their Feet 7, or tramp them with a wooden Pestil 8, and squeese out the juice in the Wine-press 9, which is called Must 11, and being received in a great Tub 10, it is powred into Hogs-heads 12, it is stopped up 15 and being laid close in Cellars upon Settles 14 it becommeth Wine. It is drawn out of the Hogshead, with a c.o.c.k 13, or Faucet 16, (in which is a Spigot) the Vessel being unbunged.

Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library Washington, D. C.

Making Wine In 1685

The interesting engraving ent.i.tled "The Vintage" was made in 1685. A wine making establishment at Jamestown may have resembled the one in the ill.u.s.tration.

From _Orbis Sensualium Pictus_ by Johann Comenius (London, 1685). ]

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 quant.i.ties of silk were made and shipped to England.