brick ever built in Virginia. No account of its exterior shape or the division of its apartments has survived; it was doubtless devoid of architectural pretensions, a square unadorned residence which was not even imposing in size. A number of brick houses were now erected at Jamestown, and if the facilities for securing brick existing there had been extended to the planters at large, it would probably have promoted the use of this material in the construction of their homes. It is not surprising to find that when Berkeley built a residence at Green Spring, distant about two miles from Jamestown, he employed brick in its construction. He was doubtless anxious to set an example which might be followed by the landowners in general. This house had the wide hall characteristic of all the larger dwellings in Virginia at this time, and only six rooms, showing that it was a structure of moderate proportions. The wideness of the hall was for the purpose of obtaining the fullest ventilation, the climate of this part of the Colony in the warm season being oppressive and unwholesome.[1]
It is quite certain that brick was used very generally in the construction of chimneys before the middle of the century. Being made on the ground or brought by water from the nearest kiln, the small quantity which each planter required did not put him to serious expense in the transportation. The absence of stone in all parts of the Peninsula was one of the most remarkable features of the country. There were no local quarries from which material for chimneys could be obtained. It is not likely that wooden cross-pieces daubed with mud would have afforded
- ↑ Neill’s Virginia Carolorum, p. 204. There were doubtless outbuildings. Berkeley also owned three brick houses in Jamestown, as we learn from a deed bearing date March, 1654-55. He sold one of these houses afterwards to Richard Bennett. See Hening’s Statutes, vol. I, p. 407.
