The First Seventeen Years: Virginia 1607-1624

ced the river and was in the south side (curtain) of the fort, although there were other openings, one at each "bulwarke," and each was protected by a piece of ordnance. The church, storehouse, and living quarters were flimsily built of perishable materials, within the walls of the palisaded fort, along fixed "streets" and around an open yard. For the first few years this fort was Jamestown.

Before the fort was completed the wheat had come up and was growing nicely, as George Percy wrote in what was probably the first essay on farming along the James River. About June 10, John Smith, partly through the intercession of Robert Hunt, was released and admitted to his seat on the Council. Relations with the Indians improved. On June 21, the third Sunday after Trinity, the first recorded Anglican communion was celebrated. "We had comunion. Captain Newport dined ashore with our diet, and invited many of us to supper as a farewell." The next day, Christopher Newport raised anchor and began the return trip to E