Existing comment:
Governor Yeardley's Lot 1620's
George Yeardley arrived in Jamestown in 1610, was appointed captain of the guard, and eventually lieutenant governor. Later knighted and appointed governor of Virginia in 1618, he issued the Great Charter in 1619, establishing the first representative government in Virginia.
In 1620, Yeardley acquired a seven-and-a-quarter-acre lot extending east from this location. A 1625 muster roll listed the members of Yeardley's large household: Yeardley; his wife Lady Temperance Yeardley; their three children; and 24 servants, including three African men and five African women (eight of the first nine Africans documented at Jamestown). The muster also lists 50 cattle, 40 swine, and 11 goats and kids on Yeardley's lot. In addition to three dwellings, Yeardley owned three boats –- a barque, four-ton shallop, and skiff.
At this location, archaeologists excavated the brick foundations of a structure that may have been Yeardley's. Scattered building materials along Black River suggest that two additional dwellings, perhaps for servants, may have been located at the eastern end of his lot.
" . . . for his conveniency and the more Commodity of his houses & dwellings"
- Yeardley's Land Patent |