Virginia: The Old Dominion

g the way. Upon coming out from Back River, we spent some time poking about in the water for the old-time isthmus. We were not successful at

ore pointed out that we had never seen Mrs. Cotton, and that we did not know whether she was a tall woman or a little dumpy woman; and so could not have the slightest idea of how far ten paces would carry her. On his part, he pinned his faith to the statement of Strachey, a man who had lived i

he soundings showed the isthmus to shelve off so gradually at the sides that we found we could put the stakes, marking its edges, almost any distance apart. So, the width across the isthmus c

ee," we enjoyed a striking object lesson on the effects of erosion. In several feet of water, and nearly three hundred feet from land, our houseboat was tied to a tree; tied to a tree that a hundred years before stood on the shore-a tree that likely, in the ear

we moved on along the shore. We were aware from our map of ancient holdings that we were ruthlessly cutting across lots over the colonial acres of one Cap

enable us to do some rough sort of triangulation with the compass, and finally dropped anchor, satisfied that we were at the historic spot, even though it was too wet to get out and look for the footprint

e water for miles and hurling it at Gadabout, our only consolation lay in knowing that it could not have done that if we had only got there two or three centuries earlier. At that time, the point, or headland, upon which the colonists landed reached out an

for her generous gift of the southwest corner of the island to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiqui

ost in the river. Mr. Yonge has shown that in fact but a small part of it is gone. He has even located on the island the exact sites of so many of the more

-house, a "country house," and three dwellings. The search was begun with a steel probe, which struck the hidden foundations within twenty-five feet of their

o the east of the church tower and outside of the A.P.V.A. grounds, the Daughter

ne could not be sure. There was no name on the door, nor indeed any door to put a name on, nor indeed any house to put a door on-just an ancient basement that t

ee my find,

ield, this young antiquarian had put men at work and was being rewarded by finding the ruins of some a

rs," said the proud

ow steps!" Nau

to make them wider," explained our hostess. "You ca

tten came springing over the mounds of excavated earth and began to prowl about the old fireplace. Except for a skittish pebble that she chased across the empty front, she found not

earthen pot sunk below the floor. We crouched about it with great interest, chiefly because we did not know what it was for. Perhaps

ughed, "that I had f

ad trod those paved floors? What had those walls seen and known of being and loving, of hopes

. Within the walls was usually a mass of debris to be thrown out-bricks of various sizes, shapes, and colours; cakes of the ancient shell lime; pieces of charred wood, and relics of all sorts. Some of the bricks were quite

eartily. "Dis hyer is a histoyacal ole place; an' I rathah

as an unquenchable hope of

ut now and then. No great finds were made, but the small ones did very well. There appeared an endless number of pieces o

ixed with bits of brass and iron and pottery that brought vividly to mind the scenes and the folk of that vanished village. Handful after handful of

r too-must have been people of "qualitye" here; a piece of a cream white cup that may have been a "lily pot" such as the colonist kept his pipe tobacco in; pieces and pieces of the blue dog, but never a bit of a head; a tiny red pipe and a piece of a white one-so that must have been a "lily pot";

time the summer was waning, and on up the river was much yet for Gadabout to see. It was a long visit that we had made at the island, yet one tha

y and of despair, that had marked the planting of our race in America. Now, on the last evening of our stay at the island, we walked again the familiar paths; looked for the hundredth time down the great brown river that had b