Middle Plantation, Virginia
Middle Plantation in the Virginia Colony was the unincorporated town established in 1632 that became Williamsburg in 1699. It was located on high ground about halfway across the Virginia Peninsula between the James River and York River. Middle Plantation represented the first major inland settlement for the colony. It was established by an Act of Assembly to provide a link between Jamestown and Chiskiack, a settlement located across the Peninsula on the York River.
Overview
Middle Plantation's growth was encouraged by the completion in 1634 of a continuous fortification, or palisade, across the peninsula a distance of about between Archer's Hope Creek, which drained southerly to the James River and Queen's Creek, which drained northerly to the York River. Also in 1634, James City Shire was established by the House of Burgesses to include Middle Plantation and the surrounding area. James City Shire soon thereafter became James City County, the oldest county in the United States.As the small town grew, a new Bruton Parish Church was constructed there. In 1693, Middle Plantation was selected as the site of the new College of William & Mary. After serving as a temporary meeting place several times during contingencies of the 17th century when the Capital of the Colony had been located at Jamestown, Middle Plantation became the new Capital of the Virginia Colony in 1699. It was soon renamed Williamsburg in honor of King William III of Great Britain, and is today the site of the Historic District known as Colonial Williamsburg.
Middle Plantation was described as a place where "clear and crystal springs burst from the champagne soil."
Geography
Middle Plantation was located on a ridge at the western edge of a geographic plateau of the Tidewater Region of southeastern Virginia, from which the land of the coastal plain slopes eastward down to sea level at the lower end of the Virginia Peninsula. At this point, the land portion of the Peninsula was relatively narrow between two creeks which drained into the James River and the York River. As much of the lower peninsula to the east was becoming settled, this was a natural point for the English settlers who established Jamestown and the Virginia Colony beginning in 1607 to build a line of defense during early conflicts with the Native Americans.History
Concept of a defensive palisade across the peninsula
The idea of a palisade or fortification across the peninsula was discussed as early as 1611. Sir Thomas Dale, then governor, in a letter to the Earl of Salisbury, recommended the establishment of a fortified settlement at Chiskiack, some up the York River from Point Comfort. But, during the era of relative peace, which began with the marriage of John Rolfe and Pocahontas in 1614, nothing was immediately done to implement the suggestion.The idea of building a palisade was renewed around 1623, following the Indian massacre of 1622. At that time, 73 of the settlers were slain in Martin's Hundred at Wolstenholme Towne, situated on the James about below Jamestown. The survivors were so alarmed and weakened that they temporarily abandoned the settlement. Governor Francis Wyatt and his council wrote to the Earl of Southampton that they had a plan of "winning the forest" by running a pale between the James and York from Martin's Hundred to Chiskiack.
In 1626, Samuel Mathews, of Denbigh and William Claiborne, of Kecoughtan, offered to build the palisades and construct houses, at short intervals, between Martin's Hundred and Chiskiack. They attached conditions and costs, and historians do not believe their offer was accepted.
Development along north side of the peninsula
There was little development along the north side of the peninsula adjacent to the York River by the English settlers before 1630, and no action on a cross-peninsula palisade had taken place. Under Governor John Harvey, at a meeting held at Jamestown, October 8, 1630, Governor Harvey and the Governor's Council,"for the securing and taking in a tract of land called the forest, bordering upon the cheife residence of ye Pamunkey King, the most dangerous head of ye Indyan enemy," did "after much consultation thereof had, decree and sett down several proportions of land for such commanders, and fifty acres per poll for all other persons who ye first yeare and five and twenty acres who the second yeare, should adventure or be adventured to seate and inhabit on the southern side of Pamunkey River, now called York, and formerly known by the Indyan name of Chiskiack, as a reward and encouragement for this their undertaking."
Under this order, houses were built on both sides of King's Creek, and extended rapidly up and down the south side of the York River. In 1630, grants of 600 acres each were given for would later be known as Bellfield Plantation to John West and Kings Creek Plantation to John Utie. By September, 1632, population on the south side of the York River had become considerable enough to claim two representatives in the General Assembly.
Chiskiack and York
The region on the York River was divided into two plantations, one retaining the old name, Chiskiack, and the other to be named York. The latter was settled by Sir John Harvey at the mouth of Wormeley's Creek, about below the present Yorktown.Years later, Captain Nicholas Martiau, a French engineer employed by the colony, patented the land embracing the site of Yorktown. When, in 1680, the General Assembly authorized the establishment of 10 ports, it directed that one be here, between the two settlements of Chiskiack and York. Thus, the town of Yorktown at once assumed importance. Soon, both Chiskiack and York became two of the lost towns of Virginia.
1632: Middle Plantation patented
The plan of running a palisade across the peninsula was no longer deferred. Dr. John Potts blazed the way by obtaining on July 12, 1632, a patent for at the head of Archer's Hope Creek, midway between Chiskiack and the James River. On September 4, 1632, the General Assembly directed that land should be offered to all persons settling between Queen's Creek and Archer's Hope Creek, as it had been offered two years before to inhabitants at Chiskiack.In February, 1633, the Assembly enacted that a fortieth part of the men in "the compasse of the forest" east of Archer's Hope and Queen's Creek to Chesapeake Bay should be present "before the first day of March next" at Dr. John Potts' plantation, "newlie built," to erect houses and secure the land in that quarter. Work on the palisade had commenced by March 1, 1633. With this labor, palisades, in length, were run from creek to creek, and, on the ridge between, a settlement to be called Middle Plantation was made. It represented the first major inland settlement for the colony.
A healthful site chosen for Middle Plantation
The doctor would have certainly recognized the sanitary advantages of the country around Middle Plantation. As the ridge between the creeks was remarkably well drained, there were few mosquitoes. The deep ravines penetrating from the north and south made the place of much strategic value. Also, the only practical road down the Peninsula was over this ridge, and this road was easily defended. At Middle Plantation, some years later, this road was later to be called Duke of Gloucester Street.1634: Palisade across the Peninsula completed
By 1634, the palisade was completed across the Virginia Peninsula, which was about wide at that point between Queen's Creek which fed into the York River and Archer's Hope Creek, which fed into the James River. The new palisade provided some security from attacks by the Native Americans for colonists' farming and fishing lower on the Peninsula.The palisade is partially described in the following extract from a letter written in 1634, from Jamestown, by Captain Thomas Yonge:
a strong palisade... upon a streight between both rivers and... a sufficient force of men to defence of the same, whereby all the lower part of Virginia have a range for their cattle, near fortie miles in length and in most places broade. The pallisades is very neare long, bounded in by two large Creekes.... in this manner to take also in all the grounde between those two Rivers, and so utterly excluded the Indians from thence; which work is conceived to be of extraordinary benefit to the country...
1635-1693: life at Middle Plantation
As Middle Plantation was developed midway between the heads of Queens Creek and Archer's Hope, settlers moved into the region in considerable numbers, establishing homesteads. Among these was Rich Neck Plantation. Not much is known of the early years of the settlement; the palisades made it a place of refuge from Indian attack.On April 27, 1644, the second major Indian massacre occurred in the Colony. At that time, the Chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, Opechancanough, was captured. Although this event was to represent the high-water mark of hostilities with the Natives, in 1646, Captain Robert Higginson was directed to run a new pale at Middle Plantation, as the old was out of repair.
By the 1650s, Middle Plantation began to look both populated and wealthy. Colonel John Page, a merchant who had emigrated from Middlesex, England with his wife Alice Lucken Page in 1650, was largely responsible for building Middle Plantation into a substantial town. In an era of wooden buildings, brick was a sign of both wealth and permanence. Page built a large, brick house in Middle Plantation and began encouraging the growth of the area. The Ludwell brothers also built a substantial brick home, even larger than that of Page. The houses which Page and the Ludwells built were among the finest in the colony. The Pages' eldest son, Francis built another brick house nearby. By the third quarter of the seventeenth century, Middle Plantation began to look like a place of importance.