A Pictorial Booklet on Early Jamestown Commodities and Industries Part 5

BREWING

One seventeenth century building unearthed at Jamestown appears to have been used as a place where beer, ale, brandy, and other alcoholic beverages were made. Nearby were found pieces of lead, which may have been part of a lead cistern which held barley, and inside the building were three brick ovens, which may have been used for drying malt. A handle from a copper kettle was discovered near one of the ovens, and pieces of copper and lead pipes were recovered not far from the building. Historical objects excavated near the site revealed that the structure was used between 1625 and 1660.

A 1685 account relating to brewing could very well refer to a Jamestown establishment where beer and other beverages were made nearly 300 years ago:

Where wine is not to be had they drink beer, which is brewed of malt and hops, in a caldron. Afterwards it is powred into vatts, and when it is cold, it is carried in soes [wooden pails], into the cellar and is put into vessels.

Brandy-wine, extracted by the power of heat from dregs of wine in a pan, over which a limbeck [an apparatus used in distillation] is placed, droppeth thorow a pipe into a gla.s.s.

Wine and beer, when they turn sowr, become vinegar.

They make mede of wine and honey.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Brewing Beer _Conjectural sketch_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Drawing.

Where Wine is not to be had they drink Beer, which is brewed of Malt 1, and Hops 2, in a Caldron 3, afterwards it is powred into Vatts 4, and when it is cold, it is carried in Soes 5, into the Cellar 6, and is put into Vessels. Brandy-wine, extracted by the power of heat from dregs of Wine in a Pan 7, over which a Limbeck 8, is placed droppeth thorow a Pipe 9, into a Gla.s.s. Wine and Beer, when they turn sowr, become Vinegar.

They make Mede of Wine and Honey.

Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D. C.

Beer, Brandy, Mead, and Vinegar

These beverages may have been made at Jamestown in a building somewhat similar to the one shown in the 1685 engraving.

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

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo courtesy National Park Service._ Artifacts Unearthed Relating To Brewing And Distilling Shown are lead and copper pipes, kettle fragments, a bra.s.s spigot, and sc.r.a.p metal. It is believed that most of the beer and ale brewed at Jamestown after 1620 was made by the common brewer. One act, pa.s.sed in 1620/21 "for the repressinge of the odious ... sinne of drunkenesse,"

stated that "noe person ... shall at any tyme ... brewe anie beere or ale, and sell the same againe in his or her house ... unless it bee in townes where there is noe comon brewer."]

HERBS AND MEDICINAL PLANTS

Among commodities which the early Jamestown settlers searched for were herbs and medicinal plants. It is possible that Thomas Wotton and Will Wilkinson, surgeons with the first colony, were the first members of the English medical profession to collect and experiment with New World plants.

The few colonists who wrote of their travels in Virginia frequently made mention of the herbs and native plants. George Percy related that five days after the settlers had planted their colony at Jamestown, May 19, 1607, that "One of the savages brought us on the way to the wood-side, where there was a garden of tobacco and other fruits and herbes."

On an exploring trip upriver from Jamestown in late May, 1607, Gabriel Archer recorded that "One [savage] shewed us the herbe called in their tongue _wisacan_, which they say heales poysoned woundes, it is like lyverwort or bloudwort."

John Smith mentioned the spring herbs, though he did not know their names: "Many _hearbes_ in the spring time there are common dispersed throughout the woods, good for brothes and sallets, as violets, purslin, sorrell, &c. Besides many we used whose names we know not."

The first supply, approximately 120 settlers, reached Jamestown in midwinter and early spring, 1608. Among the group was a physician, Dr.

Walter Russell; a surgeon, Post Ginnatt; and two apothecaries, Thomas Feld and John Harford. There is no record, however, indicating that these men used Virginia plants and herbs for medicinal purposes.

The man who first made intensive experiments with native plants was Doctor Lawrence Bohun. Arriving at Jamestown in 1610, he is mentioned several times by William Strachey, who also reached Jamestown in 1610, in _The Historie of Travell into Virginia Britania 1612_:

[Ill.u.s.tration: Doctor Lawrence Bohun Experimenting With Herbs At Jamestown, 1610

_Conjectural sketch_]

There groweth in the Island of James-towne a smale tree of leaves, armes and fruict, like the myrtle-tree, the fruict thereof hath a tast with the mirtle, but much more bynding, these trees grow in great plentye, rownd about a standing pond of fresh water in the middle of the Island; the pill or rynd whereof is of so great force against inveterate dissentericall fluxes of which Doctor Bohoune made open experiment in many of our men labouring with such diseases and therefore wisheth all such phisitians as shall goe thither to make use thereof.

As early as 1610 the Virginia Company of London instructed the colonists to send the following plants to England: sa.s.safras, bayberries, "poccone to be gotten from the Indians," "galbrand [galbanum] groweth like fennell," sarsaparilla, and walnut oil. Other plants, both native and exotic, which were cultivated at Jamestown for medicinal purposes included mastic, woodbine, senna, snakeroot, dittany, mechoacan, pepper-wort, Jamestown (or Jimson) weed, wild cherry, and rhubarb.

Most of the herbs which were cultivated in English gardens grew successfully in Virginia, especially the ones listed in John Gerard's _The Herbal_ (London, 1597), and William Lawson's _The Country Housewifes Garden_ (London, 1617). Many contemporary records reveal that several herbs were used for medicinal purposes as well as for improving the flavor of certain foods and beverages.

A few herbs still grow on Jamestown Island, and together with the native sa.s.safras, bayberry, wild bergamot, and bee balm, they remind us that the wilderness physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries did everything in their power to keep the English settlers alive and well three centuries ago.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo courtesy National Park Service_ Items Used By Jamestown Doctors And Apothecaries The drug jars, ointment pot, vials, and mortar and pestle fragments remind us that physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries experimented with herbs and native plants three centuries ago--attempting to keep the Jamestown colonists alive and well.]

FURNITURE

Virginia in the seventeenth century was a woodsman's paradise, and there is every reason to believe that most of the furniture used in Jamestown houses was made by colonial cabinetmakers. In the forests grew magnificent specimens of oak, walnut, pine, cypress, cedar, maple, and many other varieties; and although contemporary records are scanty, it is believed that the "James Citty" furniture makers made skillful use of such woods. William Strachey, who reached Jamestown in 1610, wrote that the church furniture was made of cedar and black walnut:

It [the church] is in length threescore foote, in breadth twenty foure, and shall have a chancell in it of cedar, and a communion table of blake walnut, and all the pewes of cedar, ... a pulpet of the same, with a font hewen hollow, like a canoa....

In spite of the fact that few records exist regarding the kinds of furniture made in the seventeenth century by Virginia cabinetmakers, the pieces extant reveal that the English styles were followed closely.

While it is true that the wealthy planters imported some ornamented furniture from London, much of their furniture was made on the plantations. It is believed that practically all furniture used by the yeomen settlers was locally made.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Jamestown Cabinetmaker At Work _Conjectural sketch_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo courtesy National Park Service._ Tools Unearthed At Jamestown Which Were Used by Coopers, Carpenters, And Furniture Makers

Shown are gouges, augers, chisels, bits and hammers; an adze, hewing-axe, punch, race-knife, scriber, and wedge. All were hand wrought during the seventeenth century.]

The Box-Maker and Vehicles

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Box-Maker, and the Turner.

The Box-Maker 1, smootheth hewen-Boards 2, with a Plain 3, upon a Work-board 4, he maketh them very smooth with a little plain 5, he boareth them thorow with an Augre 6, carveth them with a Knife 7, fasteneth them together with Glew, and Cramp-Irons 8, and maketh Tables 9, Boards 10, Chests 11, &c. The Turner 12, sitting over the treddle 13, turneth with a throw 14, upon a Turners-bench 15, Bowls 16, Tops 17, Puppets 18, and such like Turners work.

Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D. C.

The Box Maker And Turner