Bermuda Hundred, Virginia

Bermuda Hundred was the first incorporated town in the English colony of Virginia. It was founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1613, six years after Jamestown. At the southwestern edge of the confluence of the Appomattox and James Rivers opposite City Point, Bermuda Hundred was a port town for many years. The terminology "Bermuda Hundred" also included a large area adjacent to the town itself. In the colonial era, "hundreds" were large developments of many acres, arising from the English term to define an area which would support one hundred heads of household. The port at the town of Bermuda Hundred was intended to serve other "hundreds" in addition to Bermuda Hundred.

The area of the peninsula between the James and Appomattox rivers on which Bermuda Hundred is located was part of the Bermuda Hundred Campaign during the American Civil War (1861-1865).

In modern times, it is no longer a shipping port, but remains as a small community in the southeastern portion of Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States.

Establishment

The town of Bermuda Hundred was settled in 1613 by Sir Thomas Dale, and was incorporated the following year. The town, described as a fishing village, was situated "on the peninsula at the confluence of the Appomattox and James rivers, southeast of Richmond, and northeast of Petersburg."

Sir Thomas Dale, who served as Governor of Virginia for about three months in 1611, and from 1614-1616, had hopes of establishing replacement settlement for Jamestown in a more suitable location a few miles from the town of Bermuda Hundred at Henricus.

Governor Dale was also apparently also fond of the name "Bermuda", as he initially named the location across the Appomattox River from the town of Bermuda Hundred as "Bermuda Cittie" (sic). The latter was later renamed Charles City Point, and eventually just City Point, before it was annexed by the independent city of Hopewell in 1923. There are also some sources which indicate that Dale called the entire region "New Bermuda".

ource of name

Bermuda Hundred was named for Bermuda, which became part of the Virginia Colony for a few years after the shipwreck of the ill-starred "Sea Venture", the new flagship of the Virginia Company of London. With most of the leaders and supplies aboard , the "Sea Venture" was leading the Third Supply mission from England to Jamestown in 1609 when the eight ships ran into a major storm, thought to have been a hurricane, which separated them. The new caulking on the "Sea Venture" caused it to take on water. After the crew fought the storm and bailed water from the holds for three days, the Admiral of the fleet, Sir George Somers, drove the foundering ship onto a reef of the uninhabited archipelago which became known as Bermuda, saving the 150 passengers and crew (and one dog) aboard. Among these were the newly-appointed Governor, Sir Thomas Gates, Vice-Admiral Christopher Newport, and future authors William Strachey and Samuel Jordan.

The fate of the "Sea Venture" was unknown until the following year. The rest of the fleet sailed on to Jamestown, delivering hundred of additional colonists, but little in the way of food, supplies, or leaders, all of which had been principally carried on the "Sea Venture". Samuel Argall, the Captain of one of the other ships, delivered his passengers and what supplies he had, and hurried back to England to advise of the dire situation at Jamestown.

The lack of food and supplies combined with additional colonists, weak leadership, and several other factors to cause over 80% of the 500 colonists at Jamestown to perish during what came to be called the "starving time" between the fall of 1609 and the spring of 1610.

Meanwhile, on Bermuda, using salvaged parts of the shipwreck and native materials, the survivors built two new, smaller ships, the "Deliverance" and "Patience", and most of them set sail for Jamestown ten months later, leaving several men to establish possession of Bermuda. It would remain permanently settled, and Virginia's boundaries would be extended far enough out to sea in 1612 to include Bermuda, which continues to be part of the United Kingdom almost 400 years later.

John Rolfe and tobacco

Among the colonists who survived the shipwreck of the "Sea Venture" at Bermuda and traveled on to Virginia was John Rolfe. At Bermuda Hundred, he cultivated and exported several non-native strains of tobacco, providing the proprietary Colony with a crucial cash crop to export. Bermuda Hundred became a major shipping point for hogshead of tobacco grown on plantations nearby.

Rolfe became wealthy, and lived at Bermuda Hundred for a time. He is believed to have been living at plantation at or near Bermuda Hundred at the time of the Indian Massacre of 1622 which destroyed Henricus and the Falling Creek Ironworks upstream on the James River. Although records indicate that he died in 1622, it is not known if he was a victim of the widespread coordinated attacks of the Powhatan Confederacy, which killed one third of the colonists.

Civil War campaign

The Bermuda Hundred Campaign was a series of battles fought in the vicinity of the town during May 1864, in the American Civil War. Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler, commanding the Army of the James, threatened Richmond from the east, but was stopped by Confederate forces under Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard.

Post-bellum era, modern times

After the American Civil War, a narrow gauge railroad, the Farmville and Powhatan Railroad, later renamed the Tidewater and Western Railroad, was built from the headwaters of the Appomattox River at the town of Farmville, Virginia through Cumberland County, Powhatan County, and Chesterfield County to reach Bermuda Hundred.

The narrow gauge railroad did not generate sufficient traffic, and like another about 15 miles downstream at Claremont, Virginia, the railroad and the port facilities were largely abandoned by the Great Depression.

In modern times, Bermuda Hundred is settled by approximately four families: the McWilliams, the Hewletts, the Johnsons, and a Gray.

The historic First Baptist Church Bermuda Hundred

Established circa 1850 the church was built in the Greek Revival style with a symmetrical three bay, gable-front facade on land that served as the market square of the town. The land on which the church sits was the southside chapel of the 17th century Varina Parish and the main church of Bristol Parish. Originally established as a church for Whites, with Black worshiping in the balcony, a sharp schism left the church in the capable hands of Black congregants who developed a thriving worshiping community which gave birth to several black baptist congregations in the County, while the Whites went on to form what is presently known as Enon Baptist Church. Several well-known ministers have emerged from First Baptist, among them The Rev. Dr. Curtis Harris of Hopewell, Virginia, The Rev. Dr. Stephen L. Hewlett of Richmond, Virginia, and The Rev. J. Lee Hill, Jr. of The Riverside Church, New York.

External links

* [http://www.rootsweb.com/~vabhcdar/index.htm Daughters of the American Revolution: Bermuda Hundred Chapter]
* [http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/us/A0807212.html Info Please: Bermuda Hundred]
* [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/timesdispatch/access/1042804071.html?dids=1042804071:1042804071&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+26%2C+2006&author=Michael+Paul+Williams&pub=Richmond+Times+-+Dispatch&edition=&startpage=B.1&desc=Virginia%27s+roots+reach+to+Bermuda Richmond Times Dispatch: "Virginia's roots reach to Bermuda"]