A short-lived town was built in 1691 at the confluence of Potomac Creek
and the Potomac River on Potomac Neck. The town was abandoned by 1720, but
six years later became the abode of John Mercer, who developed a
plantation there. The site of his house was excavated by the Smithsonian
Institution in 1956. Two small sherds of North Devon gravel-tempered ware
were found there in a predominantly mid-18th-century deposit.
[Illustration: FIGURE 18.--Gravel-tempered pan (top) and cooking pot with
cover, all from Jamestown. The pan has a height of 4-1/2 inches and a
diameter of 15 inches. The pot is 6 inches high and 9-1/2 inches in
diameter; the diameter of its cover is 10 inches. Colonial National
Historical Park.]