Wolstenholme Towne

Wolstenholme Towne was a fortified settlement in the Virginia Colony begun with a population of about 40 settlers of the Virginia Company of London which was located about 7 miles downstream from Jamestown. Named for Sir John Wolstenholme, one of the investors, it was established about 1618 on a plantation named Martin's Hundred. Housing in Wolstenholme Towne consisted of rough cabins of wattle and daub woven on wooden posts thrust into the clay subsoil.

On March 22, 1622, the Native American Powhatans rose to kill as many English settlers as could be surprised in their homes and fields. From the fall line of the James River to Hampton Roads, they burned and looted settlements, killing 347 of an estimated total of 1,200 colonists colony-wide.

Martin's Hundred, the plantation hardest hit, lost more than 50, perhaps as many as 70. Wolstenholme Towne's death toll was not separated in the death rolls. About 30 miles upriver on the north bank of the James, Sir Thomas Dale's new "citie" (sic) of Henricus and surrounding homesteads were largely evacuated to Jamestown by governor's order during what has come to be called the Indian Massacre of 1622.

In the 20th century, separate groups of archaeologists uncovered the sites of both Wolstenholme Towne and Henricus. The former is located on the grounds of Carter's Grove plantation in the Grove Community of southeastern James City County. The findings were chronicled by author and historian Ivor Noel Hume.

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