Glasshouse, Jamestown Original Site, James City County, Virginia

The Jamestown Glasshouse
In 1607, 104 settlers established Jamestown as the first permanent English settlement in the North America. One of their missions was to provide profits for the Virginia Company stockholders financing the venture. Settlers searched for valuable raw materials and experimented with early industries such as glassmaking.

Glassblowing was established in 1608 under the leadership of Captain John Smith. Raw materials for glass manufacture (sand, timber and oyster shells) abounded in the area, and glass was much in demand in 17th century England.

A Walk in the Woods
You are "neare a mile" from Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. The American Indians, who preceded the English, did not have a permanent village on the island, but they created this pathway for hunting expeditions.

Later the road trace followed the natural boundaries of the isthmus

from the fort along the riverbank to the mainland. The settlers called it "The Greate Road". Eventually all roads from the mainland converged at Glass House Point, the terminus of the Greate Road.

"...walking into the Woods...we espied a pathway...Wee traced along some foure miles,...the ground all flowing over with faire flowers of sundry colours and kindes, as though it had been in any Garden or Orchard in England."
Observations by George Percy in 1607

The Glasshouse Melting Pot
Glasshouse Point, now a peaceful woodland setting was once the site of one of America's first industries, bringing to Virginia's shores a variety of peoples from across the Atlantic.

For thousands of years before European settlement, American Indians hunted and fished here. Archeologists have uncovered pottery sherds, projectile points and fire-cracked rocks, indicating the presence of ancient Indian campsites.

The Virginia Company of London encouraged early manufacture and the search for valuable

raw materials. Captain John Smith recounted that, in 1608, the Company sent "eight Dutchman and Poles" to Virginia to manufacture pitch, tar, glass and soap ashes. William Strachey, another early settler, revealed that "A goodly howse... with all offices and furnaces thereto belonging" was erected. According to Smith, only one trial of glass was made, due to a lack of both supplies and basic survival skills.

By 1620, the colony was in better condition and glassmaking was attempted again. Captain William Norton, in his 1621 petition, asked leave to set up "a Glasse furnace and make all manner of Beads & Glasse." Italian craftsmen arrived to work at Glasshouse Point.

This second attempt fared as badly as the first. George Sandys, an early Jametown settler, listed many reasons for the "ill success of ye glasse works," including the Powhatan Indian Uprising of 1622, a furnace explosion, sickness among the craftsmen, and a tempest that blew down the Glasshouse.

Twentieth-century archeologists discovered evidence of this early industry, including the ruins of three furnaces, one kiln, cullet (broken glass), the sherds of melting pots, and drippings of green glass.

By 1624, glassblowing ceased at Jamestown, but not before bringing people from several countries to the colony. At Glasshouse Point, American Indians, English, Germans, Poles and Italians entered the American melting pot.

The Glasshouse
The Glass Packaging Institute contributed to the erection of this replica of the Glasshouse. The first exhibit structure constructed by the Jamestown Glasshouse Foundation was destroyed by fire in October 1974 and has been replaced by this building on May 8, 1976.
This marks the continuing effort of the Glass Packaging Institute to commemorate America's first industry. This tablet erected by the Institute. 1976