Martin's Hundred was an early 17th-century
plantation
Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...
located along about of the north shore of the
James River
The James River is a river in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers in Botetourt County U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowli ...
in the
Virginia Colony
The Colony of Virginia was a British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776.
The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colony lasted for t ...
east of
Jamestown in the southeastern portion of present-day
James City County, Virginia
James City County is a county (United States), county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 78,254. Although politically separate from the county, the county seat is the ad ...
. The Martin's Hundred site is described in detail in the
eponymous
An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...
book of
Ivor Noel Hume first published in 1979.
History
Martin's Hundred was one of the subsidiary "particular" plantations of the joint-stock
Virginia Company
The Virginia Company was an English trading company chartered by King James I on 10 April 1606 with the objective of colonizing the eastern coast of America. The coast was named Virginia, after Elizabeth I, and it stretched from present-day ...
of London. It was owned by a group of investors known as The Society of Martin's Hundred, named for
Richard Martin, recorder of the City of London, (not to be confused with his near-contemporary
Richard Martin who was the father of Jamestown councilor
John Martin). Sir
John Wolstenholme was among its investors. William Harwood was governor of Martin's Hundred settlement.
The Society of Martin's Hundred obtained a grant for 80,000 acres from its parent company in 1618. In October of that year, about 250 settlers departed for the plantation, arriving in Virginia about January or March, 1619.
[Tyler, Lyon Gardiner (1906)]
''The Cradle of the Republic: Jamestown and James River''
p. 236. The Hermitage Press, Inc.
Like all of the land the English claimed along the river, the plantation's had been part of the domain of the
Powhatan
Powhatan people () are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands who belong to member tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, or Tsenacommacah. They are Algonquian peoples whose historic territories were in eastern Virginia.
Their Powh ...
s, an association of Native American Tidewater tribes formed at the end of the 16th century by the Indian
Chief Powhatan
Powhatan (), whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh (alternately spelled Wahunsenacah, Wahunsunacock, or Wahunsonacock), was the leader of the Powhatan, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Native Americans living in Tsenacommacah, in the Tidewat ...
. On March 22, 1622, the Powhatans rose to kill as many English as they could surprise in their homes and fields. From near modern
Richmond to
Newport News, the Powhatans burned and looted dwellings and desecrated corpses. Death counts vary, but about 400 English died. Martin's Hundred, the plantation hardest hit, lost more than 50, perhaps as many as 70.
The
Indian massacre of 1622
The Indian massacre of 1622 took place in the English Colony of Virginia on March 22, 1621/22 ( O.S./N.S.). The English explorer John Smith, though he was not an eyewitness, wrote in his ''History of Virginia'' that warriors of the Powhatan "cam ...
nearly accomplished its purpose. The English withdrew from their scattered settlements to the safety of Jamestown for a time.
Martin's Hundred was represented in the
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...
from 1619 until 1634, when Virginia's counties were formed.
[
]
Wolstenholme Towne
The administrative center of Martin's Hundred (hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101.
In mathematics
100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...
defined a subdivision of an English county) was Wolstenholme Towne, a fortified settlement of rough cabins. During the 1622 massacre, Wolstenholme Towne's death toll was not separated in the death rolls. Wolstenholme Towne was resettled a year or more later but abandoned sometime after 1645.
Carter's Grove Plantation
It may be that no trace of the town was apparent by the time planter Robert "King" Carter bought the land about 1709. It later became known as Carter's Grove Plantation and descended through multiple owners until 1964, when it was acquired by the Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in Williamsburg, Virginia. Its historic area includes several hundred restored or recreated buildings from the 18th century, wh ...
Foundation, which operates the many restored colonial-period capital city attractions in Williamsburg. In 1970 Ivor Noël Hume, Director, Department of Archaeology for The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, started excavating and found 23 grave sites dating from the second quarter of the 17th century.[National Geographic Magazine vol 155, No6, June 1979]
In 2007, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation sold Carter's Grove - with conservation easements designed to protect the house and most of the land – to Halsey Minor. After Minor's company filed for bankruptcy in 2011, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation took over the needed repairs and then put the house on the market. There were no offers, and in the spring of 2014, the Foundation won the property at auction.
In September 2014, the Foundation sold Carter's Grove to Samuel Mencoff for $7.5 million (~$ in ). Mencoff is known for preservation projects, and Colin Campbell, the president of the foundation, stated, "The property is in the hands of somebody who is going to preserve it, take care of it." Mencoff stated that he and his team would work closely with Colonial Williamsburg to preserve Carter's Grove.
Colonial Williamsburg
What remained of Wolstenholme Towne and its dead lay forgotten beneath the plantation's fields and woodlands until 1976, when archaeologists discovered the site. It and interpretive slave quarters from a later period were partially restored to represent their respective periods during the almost 400-year history of the property, greatly adding to the attraction's features for tourists.
However, the main house at Carter's Grove is furnished as it was in 1928, and therefore, while of increasing historic value, does not fit well into the earlier time eras which are the main focus of Colonial Williamsburg presentations.
During a period of declining attendance at Colonial Williamsburg attractions, the foundation determined the substantial distance from the main restored area (7 miles) to be an additional contributing factor to the need to reevaluate its role. On January 2, 2003, the site was closed to the public to save operating funds. Closer to the downtown Williamsburg area, Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in Williamsburg, Virginia. Its historic area includes several hundred restored or recreated buildings from the 18th century, wh ...
now operates the Great Hopes Plantation interpretive site which can easily be reached by the pedestrian traffic from the restored area, and continues the story of the lives of the slaves who played a vital role in building Colonial Virginia.
A future role of Carter's Grove as an attraction had not yet been determined as of October, 2006. Certain support functions of Colonial Williamsburg continue to operate on the Carter's Grove property, however, and the property is secured and maintained, even though not open to the public.
In early 2008 archaeologists from Colonial Williamsburg finished surveying and testing various areas across Carter's Grove. Colonial Williamsburg sold the Carter's Grove plantation, Martin's Hundred, and the museum to a private individual whose use of the property remains unknown. Colonial Williamsburg archival staff are still allowed within the museum since some artifacts still reside there and must be preserved.
Carter's Grove Country Road, a narrow but paved bucolic link to the Historic Area of Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in Williamsburg, Virginia. Its historic area includes several hundred restored or recreated buildings from the 18th century, wh ...
, was damaged during Hurricane Isabel
Hurricane Isabel was a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that struck the east coast of the United States in September 2003. The ninth named storm, fifth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the season, Isabel formed in the eastern Atlantic ...
in late 2003, and has been closed to traffic since then.
A substantial portion of Martin's Hundred land is now occupied by the community of Grove along U.S. Route 60 east of the Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park.
Notes
References
*
{{coord missing, Virginia
James River plantations
History of the Thirteen Colonies
James City County, Virginia
Plantation houses in Virginia
Slave cabins and quarters in the United States
Populated places established in 1618
1618 establishments in the Colony of Virginia