A nexus of history -Archaeologists have traced the history of the site from its early Colonial glory to the disastrous Civil War fire. BY MARK ST. JOHN ERICKSON 247-4783 Published October 16, 2004 HAMPTON -- Four feet down and 137 years back in time, archaeologists are probing through the remains of one of the most catastrophic chapters in this old Virginia town's long history. Bent over on their hands and knees, they scrape at the soil relentlessly with their trowels, uncovering molten chunks of glass, scorched stone thresholds and charred expanses of brick. On Aug. 7, 1861, Confederate soldiers set more than 100 houses and 30 businesses ablaze in order to keep the picturesque town of Hampton from falling into the hands of the Union forces at nearby Fort Monroe. But much of what they destroyed in this self-inflicted inferno had roots that went back far deeper than the Civil War. Monday night at the Hampton History Museum, archaeologists, who began digging in mid-August, will give an informal public presentation about what they've found. In two months, they have discovered the largely intact basement of an 18th-century structure that once fronted a prime part of South King Street. Around and beneath this feature lie the remains of even earlier buildings that may date back as far as the mid-1600s. Evidence of late-19th- and early-20th-century structures cut across the site, too, testifying to the dense, unusually rich history of a town that postdates the founding of Jamestown by only three years - and which has survived more than three centuries longer. "It's the kind of complexity that you'd expect in an urban area as old as Hampton," said Hank Lutton, project archaeologist for the James River Institute for Archaeology. "You get tantalizing portions of features from many different time periods - all cutting through one another. "But what we're so surprised by is the degree of preservation that we're finding as we work through these features. In many ways, a site this well-preserved is an anomaly." So unspoiled is the state of the archaeological evidence here that the scientists discovered the basement steps late last spring after digging a test trench less than a foot below the surface. Soon the size and potential of the 18-foot-deep building made it the primary focus of the excavation, Lutton said. Among the most unusual objects archaeologists found is an 18th-century ceramic pipe bowl formed in the shape of a monkey's head. They have also recovered a trio of mid-19th-century children's marbles and an 18th-century shell-edge serving platter. Numerous brass uniform buttons have emerged from the rubble, too, underscoring the importance of the town to troops on both sides of the Civil War. Still more evocative than the emblems from New York, Massachusetts and Georgia, however, is a pair of rare examples embossed with the image of the Hampton Military Academy. "They drilled right over there where the Mill Point condos are," said curator Mike Cobb of the Hampton History Museum. "But very, very few of these buttons have ever been found in Hampton." Equally important is the light the Settlers Landing Road dig has shed on the way Hampton's landscape has evolved over the past 400 years. Though the rear of this 18th-century lot once backed onto an inlet from the Hampton River, subsequent years and nearly four feet of fill have left this former waterfront property completely landlocked for longer than anyone can remember. "People don't realize how dramatically the landscape here has changed," said Lutton, describing how the evidence unearthed at the Settlers Landing has linked with previous archaeological studies of the existing waterfront conducted during the 1980s. "The inlet that used to run across the back of this lot was filled in," he said. "The gradual slope down to the water was leveled as much as two to four feet. And we're finding evidence that King Street may have shifted to the west as much as five or six feet over the years." Back when the earliest structures were constructed on this site, he added, it may have been the leading edge of Hampton's high ground. That would have made it a prime piece of real estate between about 1690 and 1710 - the historic era of development that confirmed the town's pivotal role as colonial Virginia's most important port. "That period really hasn't been studied the way that it should," Lutton said, "and it's one of the things that makes this site so exciting. This was the time when places like Williamsburg, Yorktown and Hampton really began to change from loosely settled areas into towns with well-defined grids - and it had a tremendous impact on the landscape. It would have been a fascinating time in the lives of the people here." ------------------------------------------ Goodbye, 'New World' BY MIKE HOLTZCLAW 928-6479 October 16, 2004 "The New World" won't be with us much longer. Writer-director Terrence Malick has been filming his historical epic (about the founding of Jamestown) in the Williamsburg area since mid-summer, but his cast and crew will be done with their work here by sometime next week. With that in mind, here's one last look at Our Summer of Colin Farrell: When will they be done here? Michael Singer, the on-set publicist, says Malick expects to be finished here by the early or middle part of next week. The crew arrived early in the summer to begin preparing the set, and filming began in July. After Malick and the actors move on, many crew members will remain behind for a few weeks to take down the set and tie up any loose ends. When they are done here, Malick and his troupe will head across the ocean for a short period of filming in England. Then it will be on to post-production - the elaborate editing process and the work combining the film's various visual and sound elements. The film is not expected to hit theaters until the 2005 holiday season. Has the local shoot gone as planned? It seems so. There have been no stories popping up in the Hollywood press suggesting that the film is either behind schedule or over budget. The Jamestown set was shut off to the public, and though the James River remained mostly open to boaters, Singer said the crew had little problem with gawkers in canoes. Singer also said the cast and crew spoke highly of the hospitality shown to them by everyone they encountered in the area. Did the stars mingle much with local folks? Quite a bit, actually. The biggest star, of course, is Colin Farrell. Fans, mostly female, were always on the lookout for him and he was apparently very willing to oblige them. Therefore, seemingly dozens of photos are circulating through the area by e-mail showing Farrell - with long hair, shaggy beard and open shirt - posing with a woman on each arm. Farrell and co-stars such as Christopher Plummer and Christian Bale were frequent customers at establishments such as Pints and Pipes, a Scottish-style pub on Richmond Road where they tipped back Guinness and ate shepherd's pie. They also ate regularly at J.M. Randall's on Longhill Road, Cornerstone Grill & Bar on Richmond Road, and the Fat Canary at Merchants Square. Many local eateries (and drinkeries) saw a noticeable increase in business as fans hung out waiting to see if the movie stars showed up. One day, the folks at AMC Hampton Towne Centre 24 got a treat when several members of the cast and crew used that theater to view their "dailies" - the first look at the raw footage shot that day. Malick and his camera crew generally used a rented projector for that task, but one day they were not satisfied with the image quality and they arranged to use the Hampton theater. How many local people ended up in the movie? We won't know for sure until the film actually comes out, because scenes can be shortened or cut altogether. But dozens of local residents were cast as extras in the film. They are not allowed to discuss specific details of their experience, but many of them have spoken in general terms about having fun being part of a big Hollywood production. George Fenigsohn of Poquoson and his son Ben spent a week in August as extras aboard a tall ship. "We were impressed by the professionalism and friendliness of everyone we met," George Fenigsohn said. "The makeup and costume people were very thorough, and Terrence Malick is both demanding and intent on perfection." Will there be other local touches in the film? Sure. And not just the Jamestown locale, either. A lot of local people and businesses that deal in antiques and furniture ended up loaning or renting props to the production. A lot of the "period" furniture and equipment in the film was procured in that way, as Malick and his set designers strove for as much accuracy as possible The filmmakers also struck a deal with the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation to use three replica ships - the Godspeed, the Discovery and the Susan Constant. They used the ships on a staggered schedule so that one or more of the replica ships would always remain available to visitors at the Jamestown Settlement. The film crew paid an estimated $177,000 for the use of the ships; they painted the ships to give them a more weathered appearance, and promised to return them to their original condition when filming was done. ---------------------------- Godspeed copy to cost $2.64M -A bigger and lower-maintenance replica should set sail in 2006 in Jamestown Settlement. BY APRIL TAYLOR 223-5685 Published October 16, 2004 JAMES CITY -- The Godspeed replica ship at Jamestown Settlement is 20 years old and, apparently, has passed its prime. The replica ship has become so expensive to maintain, according to officials at the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, that they've hired a company in Rockport, Maine, to build a new one for $2.64 million. The Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation is a state-run agency that operates Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Battlefield. Replicas of the three ships that brought English settlers to Virginia in 1607 - the Godspeed, the Susan Constant and the Discovery - are popular with the half-million visitors who trek to the historic site annually. "We looked at the remaining service life of the vessel," said Eric Speth, maritime program manager for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. "We determined that it would be more cost beneficial for us to replace it rather than continue to repair it." The new three-masted wooden sailing ship will be delivered to Jamestown Settlement by mid-April 2006, in time for the ship to sail along the East Coast to kick off the Jamestown 2007 commemoration. Officials have had to replace much of the planking on the Godspeed as well as the Discovery replica ship in recent years. A new replica of the Discovery, the smallest of the Jamestown ships, is set for 2007. The Susan Constant, which was commissioned in 1991, will not be replaced, officials say. Look for the new version of the Godspeed to be larger than the existing one: Historians have discovered that the current size of the Godspeed is too small. The only information historians had to go on came from explorer John Smith, whose writings indicated a 40-ton cargo capacity for the original Godspeed. The cargo-carrying capacity of the ship relates directly to the size of the ship, Speth said. Now, "we have the benefit of more information on ship design from treatises that were not available to the designers in the 1950s," Speth said. "It's this advance in historical research that allows us to create a much more accurate version." The overall length of the new replica will be 88 feet, compared with 68 feet for the current Godspeed ship. The ship's beam, or width, will be 17 feet, about two feet wider than the existing vessel. The mainmast will be 14 feet taller than the current one. "The profile of the vessel will look different, longer and leaner than the formal versions, and the interior will have a larger cargo hold space," Speth said. The latest version of the Godspeed is the third replica since 1957, when Jamestown Settlement opened as Jamestown Festival Park (the name changed to Jamestown Settlement in 1990). The second replica was designed in 1984, by Tri-Coastal Marine of Richmond, Calif. The cost of the new ship was first estimated at $1.6 million - as opposed to $2.64 million - before the research on the size and design of the ship had been complete. Gifts, grants and state funds are paying for most of the project. The new Godspeed will be built using hardwoods instead of softwoods. Bronze fasteners and modern sealants and coatings will be used to ensure a longer service life and lower maintenance costs, officials say."We believe that this new ship will be more durable and require less cost over time for its maintenance," Speth said.