Storehouse & First Well

Storehouse and 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. , Captions: , Archaeologist examining the wooden barrel well liner, Artist’s partial reconstruction of the storehouse and attached cellar/well, Archaeologists discovered words and drawings on both sides of this slate tablet found in the well – on display in the Archaearium Museum. , Three timber support postholes from the storehouse’s western wall , Open cellar/well at the water table level