Existing comment:
Storehouse & First Well
"We digged a faire Well of fresh water in the Fort of excellent, sweet water which till then was wanting."
-- John Smith
Here, at the center of the triangular James Fort, archaeologists found remains of a storehouse and the fort's first well. A rectangular pattern of large structural postholes marked the storehouse site and indicated that it was a substantial building supported by upright timbers firmly seated in the ground. An adjacent cellar structure with a barrel-lined well in the floor served concurrently, as a storage space and water supply. Sometime before 1611 the well and cellar were abandoned and then backfilled with rubbish containing several hundred thousand artifacts.
The storehouse continued to be used for many years, serving as a temporary place of worship in 1617 while a new church was constructed. Remnants of the 1617 church foundations are exhibited under the glass in the nearby 1907 Memorial Church. |