Jamestown Settlement

1860’s to 1900’s After the Jamestown settlers moved to the new capital of the Virginian government Williamsburg in 1699 CE, the settlement itself, became nothing more than farmland surrounded with a ruined church tower, and broken gravestones (Standard 1904:3). Only a few travelers visited Jamestown out of historical curiosity during the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century CE (Standard 1904:3). However, according to Mary Newton Standard’s 1904 archaeological document, Jamestown and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, the travelers believed the entire town was washed away by the river and only a few walls scattered throughout the Jamestown site remained intact. Interest in the Jamestown settlement as …show more content…
Similar to the Colorado Cliff Dwellers Association of Mesa Verde, Colorado, the APVA main objective was to restore and preserve the ancient historic buildings and tombs in the State of Virginia (Standard 1904:4). Jamestown, has always been one of the APVA’s chief interests because the association wanted to conduct research in the church tower and all of the land around it. However, the APVA needed to acquire the Jamestown property from the current owner the time Mr. Edward Barney, before they can conduct any research on the property (Standard 1904:4). Once the APVA acquired the 22 and a half acre property on May 3, 1893 CE, the association needed assistance from the United States government to protect Jamestown from further damage caused by the rising waters of the James River (Standard …show more content…
Army engineer Colonel Samuel H. Yonge to supervise the construction of concrete structure called a breakwater. Colonel Yonge built the breakwaters to prevent further erosion of the Jamestown site (Standard 1904:5). In May of 1901, n civil engineer working on the breakwater project named John Tyler, Jr. helped the APVA to conduct an excavation of in the Jamestown churchyard (Standard 1904:5). The Jamestown Memorial Church archaeological site consists of the original church built by the Jamestown settlers and the area containing the original cemetery and gravesites surrounding the church. With the help of several members from the APVA’s Jamestown Committee, Tyler discovered underneath the churchyard, the entire cobblestone foundation of the Jamestown Memorial Church (Standard 1904:6). The material remains discovered in the foundation are the floor, aisles, a chancel, and seven box shaped tombs with no indication of any inscriptions featured in the tombs. All of the material remains associated with the church foundation and the box tombs were well preserved because the remains have been buried in three feet of soil for the last 200 years even though there is a wall located across the foundation site (Standard 1904:6). In addition to the material discovered during the excavation, Tyler also measured the church's foundation