Martin's Hundred

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Martin's Hundred was an early 17th century plantation located along about ten miles of the north shore of the James River in the Virginia Colony east of Jamestown in the southeastern portion of present-day James City County, Virginia. The Martin's Hundred site is described in detail in the eponymous book of Ivor Noel Hume first published in 1979.

[edit] History

Martin's Hundred was one of the subsidiary "particular plantation" of the joint-stock Virginia Company of London. The Society of Martin's Hundred, named for Sir Richard Martin, recorder of the City of London, its owner and father of Jamestown councilor John Martin. Sir John Wolstenholme was among its investors. The administrative center of Martin's Hundred (hundred defined a subdivision of an English county) was Wolstenholme Towne, a fortified settlement of rough cabins.

Like all of the land the English claimed along the river, the plantation's 21,500 acres had been part of the domain of the Powhatans, an association of Native American Tidewater tribes formed at the end of the 16th century by the Indian chief Powhatan. On March 22, 1622, the Powhatans rose to kill as many English as they could surprise in their homes and fields. From near modern Richmond to Newport News, the Powhatans burned and looted dwellings and desecrated corpses. Death counts vary, but about 400 English died. 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.

The Indian Massacre of 1622 nearly accomplished its purpose. The English withdrew from their scattered settlements to the safety of Jamestown. Wolstenholme Towne was resettled a year or more later but abandoned sometime after 1645.

[edit] Carter's Grove Plantation

It may be that no trace of the town was apparent by the time planter Robert "King" Carter bought the land about 1709, and it later became Carter's Grove Plantation, and went through hundreds of years of multiple owners and generations of families. Finally, in 1964, it was acquired by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, which operates the many restored colonial-period capital city attractions in Williamsburg.

[edit] Colonial Williamsburg

What remained of Wolstenholme Towne and its dead lay forgotten beneath the plantation's fields and woodlands until 1976, when archaeologists discovered the site. It and interpretive slave quarters from a later period were partially restored to represent their respective periods during the almost 400 year history of the property, greatly adding to the attraction's features for tourists.

However, the main house at Carter's Grove is furnished as it was in 1928, and therefore, while of increasing historic value, does not fit well into the earlier time eras which are the main focus of Colonial Williamsburg presentations.

During a period of declining attendance at Colonial Williamsburg attractions, the foundation determined the substantial distance from the main restored area (7 miles) to be an additional contributing factor to the need to reevaluate its role. On January 2, 2003 the site was closed to the public to save operating funds. Closer to the downtown Williamsburg area, Colonial Williamsburg now operates the Great Hopes Plantation interpretive site which can easily be reached by the pedestrian traffic from the restored area, and continues the story of the lives of the slaves who played a vital role in building Colonial Virginia.

A future role of Carter's Grove as an attraction had not yet been determined as of October, 2006. Certain support functions of Colonial Williamsburg continue to operate on the Carter's Grove property, however, and the property is secured and maintained, even though not open to the public.

Carter's Grove Country Road, a narrow but paved bucolic link to the Historic Area of Colonial Williamsburg was damaged during Hurricane Isabel in late 2003, and has been closed to traffic since then.

A substantial portion of Martin's Hundred land is now occupied by the community of Grove along U.S. Route 60 east of the Busch Gardens Europe theme park.