The University of Virginia Press is distributing a new book by Martha W. McCartney (who spoke to us on October 23. 2010): Jordan’s Point, Virginia; Archaeology in Perspective, Prehistoric to Modern Times. Any of our members who had ancestors living at Jordan’s Point during the 1620’s as well as Bland descendants should have a keen interest in it.
The distributor tells us: “Jordan’s Point, a nearly triangular promontory in the James River, is situated in Prince George County, just east of the confluence of the James and Appomattox Rivers. In 1607, when the first European colonists saw it, the area was home to natives they would call the Weyanoke.”
The author tells us: “…emphasis is placed on that area’s early 17th century occupants…Also, many of the original Berkeley Hundred settlers withdrew to Jordan’s Journey after the 1622 Indian attack and stayed on. Extensive archaeological investigations were undertaken at Jordan’s Point before a housing development was built there. Numerous early 17th century sites were fully excavated, so there are site plans showing the layout of the early house sites and numerous artifact photos. Also, a beautiful color rendering of Captain John Smith’s map (I found it at Oxford) is splayed across two adjoining pages. So — much emphasis on the early 17th!”
The distributor goes on to say: “By 1660, Jordan’s Point had come into the possession of the Blands, one of England’s most important mercantile families; they gradually developed Jordan’s Point into a family seat and working plantation, which they retained until after the Civil War. Featuring more than one hundred photos and illustrations, most in color, and intended for a general reader, this book tells the story that spans thousands of years, through the cultural features that archaeologists have unearthed at Jordan’s Point.”
McCartney is a former historian for the Virginia Research Center for Archaeology, and the author of six books, including Jamestown: An American Legacy. She joined us in October 2010 in Los Angeles, where she discussed another of her books, Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary (see our posts of October 27 and following.) She is reportedly close to publication of its companion, a biographical dictionary for 1636-99.
You might consider this a Christmas gift to yourself; it’s that time again.
Distributed by The University of Virginia Press for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
You can order it from (click on for link):
Amazon (shows as a prepublication order). Barnes & Noble
