Wolstenholme Towne was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

settlement in the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

, east of the colonial capital, Jamestown. One of the earliest English settlements in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

, the town existed for roughly four years until its destruction in the

Indian massacre of 1622 The Indian massacre of 1622, popularly known as the Jamestown massacre, took place in the English Colony of Virginia, in what is now the United States, on 22 March 1622. John Smith, though he had not been in Virginia since 1609 and was not an ey ...

. The Wolstenholme Towne site was later built upon by the

Carter's Grove Carter's Grove, also known as Carter's Grove Plantation, is a plantation located on the north shore of the James River in the Grove Community of southeastern James City County in the Virginia Peninsula area of the Hampton Roads region of Vir ...

plantation in 1750, and is located within the present day community of Grove,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Establishment

Wolstenholme Towne was established around 1618 in

Martin's Hundred Martin's Hundred was an early 17th-century plantation located along about ten miles (16 km) of the north shore of the James River in the Virginia Colony east of Jamestown in the southeastern portion of present-day James City County, Virginia. ...

, a plantation organized into a

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

, beginning with a population of about 40 settlers of the

Virginia Company of London The London Company, officially known as the Virginia Company of London, was a division of the Virginia Company with responsibility for colonizing the east coast of North America between latitudes 34° and 41° N. History Origins The territor ...

. The settlement was named for Sir John Wolstenholme (1562-1639), one of its investors, and housing consisted of rough cabins of

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

woven on wooden posts thrust into the clay

subsoil Subsoil is the layer of soil under the topsoil on the surface of the ground. Like topsoil, it is composed of a variable mixture of small particles such as sand, silt and clay, but with a much lower percentage of organic matter and humus, and it ...

. William Harwood was governor of Wolstenholme Towne.

Destruction

On April 1, 1622 (March 22, 1622 in the

Julian calendar The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...

), the Native American

Powhatan The Powhatan people (; also spelled Powatan) may refer to any of the indigenous Algonquian people that are traditionally from eastern Virginia. All of the Powhatan groups descend from the Powhatan Confederacy. In some instances, The Powhatan ...

s launched what became known as the

. Modern scholarship has questioned this framing and suggested that the campaign was in retaliation for previous violent acts committed by the English. The Powhatan attacked settlements from the

fall line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is typically prominent where rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the coa ...

of the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...

, surprising the colonists in their homes and fields, burning and looting the settlements. This resulted in the killing of 347 of an estimated total of 1,200 colonists, a quarter of the population of Virginia. Martin's Hundred was the plantation hardest hit with more than 50 residents recorded as dead, with perhaps as many as 70 dying within the hundred. Wolstenholme Towne's death toll was not separated in the death rolls. Surviving settlers in Virginia were largely evacuated by governor's order to Jamestown, which had been spared due to a last minute warning. Wolstenholme Towne, like almost all English settlements in the region, was permanently abandoned.

Modern status

In the 20th century, separate groups of

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

s uncovered the sites of both Wolstenholme Towne and

Henricus The "Citie of Henricus"—also known as Henricopolis, Henrico Town or Henrico—was a settlement in Virginia founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestow ...

, another settlement founded by Sir

Thomas Dale Sir Thomas Dale ( 1570 − 19 August 1619) was an English naval commander and deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony in 1611 and from 1614 to 1616. Governor Dale is best remembered for the energy and the extreme rigour of his administration in ...

in 1611 also destroyed in the Indian massacre. Wolstenholme Towne is located on the grounds of the

plantation in the Grove community of southeastern

James City County James City County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,254. Although politically separate from the county, the county seat is the adjacent independent city of Williamsburg. Located ...

, and the findings were chronicled by author and historian

Ivor Noel Hume Ivor is an English masculine given name derived either directly from the Norse ''Ívarr'', or from Welsh (which spells it ''Ifor''), Irish (sometimes ''Ibar''), or Scottish, all of which likely derive it also from the original Norse form.The Oxford ...

. In December 2007, Carter's Grove was acquired from the

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has 7300 employees at this location and ...

CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...

founder

Halsey Minor Halsey McLean Minor Sr. is an American businessman who is known for founding CNET in 1993, the first comprehensive consumer-facing technology content publisher. He is also the founder or co-founder of the technology companies such as the virtual ...

for $15.3 million. Minor planned to use the mansion as a private residence and use the site as a center for a

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

horse breeding Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in ...

program. However, Minor who never lived in the mansion and made no changes or repairs to Carter's Grove, stopped making payments in 2010 announcing that he owed $12 million in debts. His Carter's Grove LLC went into

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

resulting in a federal judge turning the property over to a

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...

to run. The property was assessed by trustees in October 2011 to determine the actual extent of damage present. Repairs have been made to the

HVAC Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. HV ...

system, which has stabilized the temperature within the building and eliminated the damaging

mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal seco ...

previously noted. Repairs to the structure are ongoing with the goal of returning Carter's Grove to the condition when it had been sold to Minor.

References

External links

PreservationNation Blog
{{authority control Populated places in colonial Virginia Geography of James City County, Virginia History of the Thirteen Colonies Populated places established in 1618 1618 establishments in Virginia

Establishment

Destruction

Modern status

See also

Further reading

References

External links