The Jamestown Riverfront 1630-1690

From 1630 to 1690, Jamestown’s riverfront was central to the colony’s life because it offered a deep-water port in a defensible location. As with other shoreline settlements and camps used by both colonists and Virginia Indians for transportation and food, the James River remained vital to Jamestown even after the town expanded beyond its small palisaded fort. Throughout the 17th century, the waterfront was busy with ships bringing imported goods, numerous wharves, and stevedores loading hogsheads of tobacco onto waiting vessels. At times, laws made Jamestown the colony’s exclusive port of entry, requiring ships arriving from England or elsewhere to sail to James Citty before unloading any goods, with violations punished by forfeiture of the goods or their value and one month’s imprisonment for the captain and master.

Virginia · United States