A great deal has been written about the events that occurred during
the ninety-two years that elapsed, from the settlement of the colony
on Jamestown Island, and the change of capital site to Williamsburg.
Judging from the recorded observations of visitors during that
period, no great difference in the general appearance of the
landscape had taken place. It still looked very much like a
wilderness. Much forest land had been cleared, farmed for a few
years, and then turned back to nature. The mammoth trees with scanty
undergrowth, that the firstcomers found, had been replaced with a
luxuriant second or third growth. If the top-soil is not eroded away
a new forest can be produced in Virginia in thirty or forty years.
One of the most noticeable improvements was in the dwelling houses.
Substantial brick and frame buildings had replaced the hurriedly
constructed shacks of the early days.
The accumulated wealth from the surplus products resulting from their
farming activities was reflected in their flocks and herds of horses,
cattle, sheep, goats, swine, and poultry. Dire famine no longer
stared them in face. Through insistence that only the best quality
products should be shipped abroad, favorable trade relations had been
established in the commerce of the world.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of all was the creation of the farm
home where a family could own, in fee simple, the land they tilled,
live in peace, and enjoy the fruits of their own labor.