"The Bygone "Subberbs of James Cittie

In the seventeenth century the traveller, bound on his homeward way from Middle Plantation, which is now Williamsburg, to Jamestown, the capital city, by way of the oldest in Virginia, would come to Pasbyhayes, the English settlement built on elevated, healthy ground adjoining the paludal Jamestown Island. From this vantage point he could catch a glimpse in the distance of the quaint roofs of the palisaded city on the banks of the James. But today everything has changed. The country suburb of Pasbyhayes, as well as the little metropolis, has been almost completely wiped out, and the old Maine road to Jamestown has been changed in several places, and even cut in two. The bottle-neck or isthmus between the town and its suburb was severed by the tides of James River about the time of the American Revolution, and although a ferry service was established, the Maine road was soon given up as a through highway. The quiet suburb, then left to itself, dwindled almost to nothing. The story of has been too long hidden in obscurity, and consequently it is the purpose of this article to introduce the people of the suburb and lands and homes. Let us then in our mind's eye go down, to Jamestown and stand in that part of the city known as the Back Street and face northwestwardly up its extension, the Greate Road to and the mainland. While this highway has disappeared, old maps give its location almost exactly. No doubt it looked like a white dusty ribbon as it wound towards the pine forests of the suburb. In those times when there was a stir and bustle about the town, Jamestonions must have looked upon much as New Yorkers look at Flushing or Richmonders at Ashland. It was quite frankly a faubourg or suburbs to the metropolis. But before proceeding further with our projected visit to Pasbyhayes, it is well to warn that there are about fifty other ways of spelling the name of this settlement. No form is common; in the records the word Pasbyhayes occurs several times, and therefore is used here. When Edward-Maria Wingfield and his company anchored before the shore of Jamestown Island on May 13, 1607, they came to their seating place in Paspihas countrey

American Constitutional Law and Politics · American Environmental and Regional History · History

• Beginnings

  John L Cotter•Pioneers in Historical Archaeology•1994

  Add to list