The Baraboo news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1884-1911, 1907-07-17
JOURNEY To
OLD JAMESTOWN
500 YEARS SINCE JOHN SMITHS
TIME-PLACE COVERED WITH
VEGETATION.
THOUSANDS ARE BURIED THERE
Newspaper Men Attended Clam Bake
On The Virginia Beach-Negroes
Astonished at Amount They
THOUSANDS ARE BURIED THERE

Every Sauk county boy and girl has
been taught one date in history-1607
On May Is of that year, Captain John
Smith and his companions founded
Jamestown, Virginia, the first perma-
nent English settlement in America.
This was only q years before the first
white man, Jean Nicolet, came to Wis
consin, but over $50 years before Green
Bay, the oldest town in Wisconsin,
was settled. This is 800 years since
John Smith came and in order that all
of the John Smiths may have cele-
bration over the event, an exposition
has been opened at Norfolk, twenty
miles distant, and it is supposed they
will all go, likewise all the other
Smiths and so many people not named
Smith as can conveniently get away.
How the Island Looks.
The histories do not state how the
place looks and the purpose of this
article is to give partial pen picture
of the old town site. After the Eng
lish had lived there for almost one
hundred years they deserted the place
and moved to Williamsburg, about
eight miles away, where F. r. Wood
ruff and other Baraboo people now
have investments. The streets of old
jamestown, where tobacco was raised
in prosperous times, the old buildings,
church and cemetery were allowed to
go to rack and ruin. In time the old
brick buildings fell and the entire
place was covered with vegetation.
Until recently the place was a corn
field and all traces of most of the
buildings lost, just like the last rest
ing place of many Baraboo pioneers in
the Ruggle's field, where the first
cemetery for this city was established.
For seven miles the James river
comes down in a straight and strong
current against the upper end of the
island. The sandy point was being
gradually eaten away and one day as
an antiquarian was poking about he
discovered the remains of an old wall.
He became interested and continued
his investigations. More walls were
found and in time where ONE corn
grew, all was uncovered. A cellar of
one of the old houses was reeXcavated
and among the rubbish was a bottle,
empty to be sure. The walls have
been covered with cement, marked
with tablets and enclosed with a wire
fence. The walls uncovered are sup"
posed to be those of the old state house
and other buildings. Some of the
ancient ruins are at the bottom of the
river and are exposed at low tide. A
large cypress tree stands far out in the
stream and this was once in James
town. The government has built a
wall at this particular place to prevent
the further erosion Of the land.
In Several Wars.
There was a rebellion there some
years after the place was founded, two
actions were fought there in 1871 and
heavy Notifications were erected there
during the civil war. These earth
works are still there and stand between
the old church and ruins just des-
cribed.
Along the river bank about two city
blocks from where the state house
stood was built the old church. When
the colonists first landed services were
held under the trees, then log churches
were built and in 1888 brick building
was erected. This was 56 by % feet
and had tower Is feet square, The
church long since tumbled into decay
but the old tower still stands, pathetic
in it's desolation. Recently the church
was restored by usiug bricks made in
England (the same as in the original
church) taken from a building at
Williamsburg. Inside the church are
tablets to John Smith and others and
the graves with the slabs are undis~
turbed. In rebuilding the old English
structure the original design was
carried out.
One Honest Man
Around and about it lies the old
churchyard, which has suffered severe
ly from the ravages of time, neglect,