Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Brick Houses

Governor Berkeley arrived in the Virginia colony in 1642. The seventeenth clause of his instructions (as Governor) conferred upon him and his Council the power to lay off the site of Jamestown in such a manner as should appear to them most advisable. Every person to whom a lot was granted was required to construct a resident of brick sixtgeen feet in breadth and twenty-four feet in length, with a cellar under each house. At the time there still remained many lots unused as building sites. It was provided by law that whoever should erect a residence on one of those lots should be protected in his occupation whether his title to the ground was valid or not, the only condition being that he should pay the regular quit-rent. Source:Instructions to Berkeley, 1641, 17, McDonald Papers, Vol. 1, p. 382, Virginia State Library.

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