burg did Jamestown wholly lose its importance, but this was in some measure due to the fact that it was by legislative enactment the seat of local government.[1]
The proper site for the Colony was at the modern Hampton. The subsequent course of events proved that there was no real danger to be anticipated from a foreign enemy if a settlement had been made in that general neighborhood. The expulsion of the Indians from the surrounding fields was to be brought about at an early date, and if it had taken place at once, the danger of attack precipitated would not have been less great. The adjacent country had been cleared of woods, and lay ready for the English hoe and spade. The climate on the whole was more healthy than that of Jamestown. Every local condition was favorable to the immediate success of the Colony if it had been planted there.[2]
The first step taken by the Englishmen, as soon as they had secured a foothold on Jamestown Island, was to begin the erection of a fort, a precaution which their situation made imperative. Two weeks after their arrival the colonists began to sow the English wheat brought over in the ships. As there was no cleared ground on the island when the foundation of the settlement was laid, this grain
- ↑ Clayton declared in 1688, that the natural situation of Jamestown was such “as perhaps the world had not a more commodious place for a town, where all things conspire for advantage thereof.” Clayton’s Virginia, p. 23, Force’s Historical Tracts, vol. III. In the report which the commissioners from England made upon the condition of the Colony after the suppression of the insurrection of Bacon and his followers, they say that “Jamestown is not only the most ancient, but the most convenient place for the metropolis of that country.” McDonald Papers, vol. V, p. 258, Va. State Library. This expression is quoted in Order and Report of the Lords of the Committee for Trade and Plantations touching Lord Culpeper’s Commission and Instructions, March 14, 1678-79.
- ↑ Strachey described it as “a delicate and necessary seat for a city.” Historie of Travaile into Virginia, p. 60.
