would fall into ruin. In spite of the substantial condition of Jamestown in 1614, it had been reduced by the time of Argoll’s arrival, in 1617, to five or six buildings. The church had tumbled to the ground, the palisade had been broken, the bridge had gone to decay. One of the few structures remaining intact was the residence of the Governor.[1] Argoll took possession of this dwelling and afterwards enlarged it. A church fifty feet in length and twenty feet in breadth was built during the course of his brief administration, the inhabitants of Jamestown assuming the entire expense entailed by its erection.[2] No other house was constructed during the period of his control. The bounds of the corporation of Jamestown at this time, in addition to the whole of the island, included that part of the mainland situated on the east side of Argolltown, which probably lay opposite to Jamestown immediately on the back river; the neck of land on the north point, moreover, as far as the end of Archer’s Hope; Hog Island, and the country to the south as far as Tappahannock.[3]
When Yeardley arrived in Virginia in 1619, not only was Jamestown in a state of great decay, but Henrico also and the adjacent settlements. There were at Henrico a few houses, all of which had gone to ruin. The church was in the last stage of dilapidation. The condition of the dwellings at Coxendale and Arrahattock resembled that of the houses at Henrico and Jamestown. There were also six houses at Charles City in ruin.[4] The activity displayed by Yeardley under the guidance of the
- ↑ Works of Capt. John Smith, pp. 535, 536.
- ↑ Briefe Declaration of the Plantation of Virginia, Colonial Records of Virginia, State Senate Doct., Extra, p. 80.
- ↑ This was Tappahannock on the Powhatan; Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. II, p. 37.
- ↑ Briefe Declaration of the Plantation of Virginia, Colonial Records of Virginia, State Senate Doct., Extra, p. 80.
