Wood or Brick

The development of Jamestown in Virginia during the second half of the seventeenth century was closely related to the making and use of bricks. There are several practical reasons why bricks became important to the colony. Although the forests could initially supply sufficient timber, the process of lumbering was extremely difficult; particularly because of the lack of roads. Later, when the timber on the peninsula had been depleted, wood had to be brought from some distance. Building stone was also in short supply. However, as clay was plentiful, it was inevitable that the colonists would turn to brick-making.

In addition to practical reasons for using brick as the principal construction material, there was also an ideological reason. Brick represented durability and permanence. The Virginia Company of London instructed the colonists to build hospitals and new residences out of brick. In 1662, the Town Act of the Virginia Assembly provided for the construction of thirty-two brick buildings and prohibited the use of wood as a construction material. Had this law ever been successfully enforced, Jamestown would have been a model city. Instead, the residents failed to comply fully with the law; and by 1699 Jamestown had collapsed into a pile of rubble with only three or four habitable houses.