Silk Worn and Silk Spun
England – and Jamestown – imported silk from the Mediterranean and the Orient. In 1619 the Colony Secretary bragged that the cow keeper and the collier’s wife had suits of “fresh flaming silk.”
Spinning fibers from the silkworm cocoon was a lengthy, smelly chore. Despite orders from the Virginia Company to produce silk as a staple commodity, the colonists preferred to raise tobacco.
Jamestown silk, like Jamestown wine, was not the hoped-for New World treasure.
Marker is on Loop Drive, on the left when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
