JAMESTOWN CHURCH At ,

ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF VIRGINIA ANTIQUITIES rom the time and faith of an ancient church. plans were con- The first place of worship at James- ceived for the town was a simple shrine in the forest establishment of an English colony covered with a tattered sailcloth. in Virginia, it was intended that the Captain John Smith described tho settlement would be a full-fledged temporary structure:

Holy Communion Service at lamestown, lune 2l' 1607.

Parish of the Church of England, an "When I weat first to Virginia" I wcll rc- y6 hang (which overseas extension of the ancient Di- membcr did an awning to ocese of London. All vicars and is an old saile) to ttrree or four trees shadow us from thc Suane; our walles priests sent to Jamestown were of the were rales of wood, otrr seats unhewcd and tho Church of Anglican faith, trees till lve cut plankcs; our pulpit a England was the official church of bar of wood nailed to two neighbouring the colony for over a centurY and a trees. [n foule weather we shiftcd into half, from 1607 until the outbreak an old rotten tent; for we had fcw bct' of the American Revolution. ter, aod this came by way of adventure In their strong oak chests the set- for new. This wa.s our church." tlers brought to the Virginia wilder' This crude shelter was the frst An- ness the incomparable liturgy of the glican church in Virginia- Services Book of Common Prayer and the were conducted by the Rev. RoM Bible in the English language. At Hunt, who had been sent to Virginia Jamestown the indomitable settlers with the first settlers by the Bishop built a new natioo with the strength of l,ondon. ,}N ilhNN ,NN'

The first lrame church at lamestown, 1607-1608.

The timber church which the col- like a Canoa, with the two Bells at the onists started building shortly after West end." they arrived was located inside the palisaded fort. It appears to have In this primitive frame church, been completed by late summer or April, 1614, , daughter of early autumn. John Smith described Chief Powhatan, married . it as "a homely thing Iike a barne, In 1617, ten years after the plant- set upon cratchets, covered with rafts, ing of the colony, a frame church was sedge, and earthe; so was also the built outside the confnes of James walls." Fort. Erected during the administra- This rustic wood building served as tion of Deputy Governor Samuel Ar- a place of worship for only a few gall, it was a timber-framed structure weeks, as it accidently burned to the built on brick and cobblestone foun- ground in January, 1608. dations. These ancient foundations, After the January fre the colon- three and a half centuries old, may i.sts, with grim determinatioqr rebuilt be seen today inside the brick Me- James Fort during the early told and morial Church. Captain Argall wrote bitter months of 1608, including new that the new frame church was "5O houses and a new frame church. One foote in lengh by twenty foote in colonist described it as: breadth." The frame church built in 1617 is ".., a pretty Chappell ...It is in of great historical importance. With- length three-ecore foote, in breadth in its walls, in 1619, met the first rep- twenty foure, and shall have a Chancell resentative legislative assembly in in it of Cedar, and a Communion Table of the Blacke Walnut, and all the Pewes the New World. This meeting of of Cedar, with faire Broad windowes, to elected planters, held July 30 through sliut and open as the weather shall oc- August 4, set a pattern of self-gov- casion; of the same wood, a Pulpet of erDment for all the American col- &e same, with a Font hcwen hollow onies. The frame church erected at usually constructed the tower after Jamestown in 1617, where the Me- the church building itself had been morial Church stands today, served completed. The partially-ruined brick as a place of worship for the colon- tower is of great historical impor- ists until about 1639. At this time it tance: it is the only l7th-century appears to have been razed to make structure standing above ground at way for a new brick church. In Jan' Jamestown today; also it is one of the uary, 1639, Governor Sir John Har- oldest English-brtilt edifces standing vey wrote that he, members of his in the United States. The tower is ap- Council, certain ships' captains, and proximately 18 feet square, with walls a few planters "had largely contrib- 3 feet thick at the base. Originally uted to the building of a brick the tower was about 46 feet high, and church." in the 17fr century it had two upper While services probably were held floors. The floor levels are indicated in the new brick church as early as by the large beam niches observable 1639, the entire building was not in the inner walls. Six small ports completed by 1647, as a record dated or windows look out from the top that year mentions that settlers liv- story. These openings permitted some ing south of the James River (in light to enter the upper room and Southwark Parish) were being as- also let t}te sound of the bell (or sessed taxes "for and toward finishing bells) resound across the town site. and repairing the church at James The brick church served as a place Citty." of worship less than four decades, The brick church tower which for in 1676, during Bacon's Rebel- stands today belonged to the 1639 lion, it was set to the torch by Na- church, although it undoubtedly was thaniel Bacon and his rebel fsUowers. erected after 1647. In the lTth cen- PJter the collapse of Bacon's Re- tury builders of English churches bellion in October, 1676, the gutted

A new lrame church is built, early 1608.

.t\\r r\lf ,r ,, ,,,,. ,, .'\ r\\r ,\\\\ $\'-\,i1r1 iN ri,,..i, ,,,,f brick church was repaired and re- ing this span of time, when Williams- stored. The restoration work appears burg grew and prospered, the popu- to have been completed by late 1676 lation of "James Citty" dwindled and or during the early months of. 1677. the town activities almost came to The restored church was certainly a halt. being used as a place of worship by About 1758 services in the brick 1678. church were discontinued. The an- In October, 1698, a disastrous fire cient structure fell rapidly into ruins, destroyed the statehouse and many the roof and brick walls gradually private dwellings at Jamestown. On disappeared and vandals removed May 18, 1699, the House of Bur- dvery vestige from the sacred site, gesses initiated action that led to the including ornamental brasses from a removal of the seat of government knight's tomb inside the abandoned from Jamestown to Williamsburg. church. Before the 18th century

The first church built outside the confines of James Fort: A lrame structure built in 1617.

Thus the small but historic town bowed out, only the brick tower re- on the banks of the James, which had mained standing above ground, sil- played such an important part in the houetted against the blue skY as a religious, political, and social life of lone sentinel-defying time, vandals, the Virginia colony for almost a cen- and the elements. tury, was replaced as the capital of Saving the historic church tower England's first successful overseas and churchyard was the work of colony. many individuals and organizations. After the seat of government was Special mention should be made of moved to Williamsburg, the brick Mr. and Mrs. Edward E. BarneY church at Jamestown continued to be who, in 1893, donated the brick used as a house of worship for an- church tower and graveyard and other half-century or more. Dur- 22Yz aqes of land surrounding the The first brick church built at lamestown, 1639. early church sites to The Association At 8.45 feet from this was discovered for the Preservation of Virginia An- the east side of a tile pavement in front tiquities. of the minister's door, which entered At the invitation of the Jamestown through the south wall, into an aisle Committee, Association for the Pres- crossing the church in front of the chan- ervation of Virginia Antiquities, Mr. cel." John Tyler, Jr. excavated portions of The brick Memorial Church which the church foundations (which laY stands today east of the l7th-century east of the church tower) in MaY, brick church tower was erected in 1901. He reported: l9O7 by the National Society, Co- "I have found that there remains of the lonial Dames of America. Inside the original church all four walls, to a Memorial Church one may see (cov- height of from 6 inches to 3 feet above their foundations. Starting with exca- ered with plate glass) the brick and vations at the southeast corner, I car- cobblestone foundations of the 1617 ried the work along the south wall, frame church and the brick founda- keeping down to the top of the founda- tions of the 1639 brick church. tions, or beginning of the neat work. At Here where the Memorial Church feet 4 inches west of the southeast 3 stands most cherished corner, I struck the east side of a but- many of our tress, extending 3 feet I inch north aad traditions of freedom were planted south, by 2 feet 8 inches east and west. and took root.

THIS FOLDER IS PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF VIRGINIA ANTIQUITIES. TEXT BY J. PAUL HUDSON; ILLUSTRATIONS BY SIDNEY KING.