opular sport. As soon as a horse was
caught and accustomed to a rider the most natural thing was to try it
for speed.

Horse-racing began with local contests but developed into a major
sport. King Charles II is credited with having imported Turk and
Arabian horses to England. Some of this blooded stock may have been
shipped to Jamestown. At any rate Virginia saddle-horses at an early
date began to attract attention because of their speed.

Two other colonies, Rhode Island and New York were famous for their
fast horses. Racing became an inter-colonial sport. The first regular
race course was the New Market on Hempstead Plains, Long Island.
There the fleetest horses of Long Island were brought together to
settle all arguments by actual trial. This famous race course was
described in 1670 by a contemporary, Daniel Denton: "Toward the
middle of Long Island lyeth a plain sixteen miles long and four
broad, upon which plain grows very fine grass, that makes exceeding
good hay, and is very good pasture for sheep or other cattel; where
you shall find neither stick nor stone to hinder the horse heels or
endanger them in their races, and once a year the best horses in the
island are brought hither to try their swiftness, and the swiftest
rewarded with a silver cup, two being annually procured for that
purpose."

Horse-racing became of economic importance to these colonies. The
sugar planters, in the Caribbean region, also became interested in
this "sport of kings" and sent agents to buy the fastest horses they
could find. High prices were sometimes paid for prize winning
animals.

Governor Francis Nicholson in 1690, "gave prizes to those that should
excell in riding, running, wrestling and cudgeling." Of these sports,
riding became by far the most popular. Interest in horse-racing,
fox-chasing, steeple-chasing, and riding tournaments has never
entirely died out in Virginia.

CONCLUSION

A great deal has been written about the events that occurred during
the ninety-two years that elapsed, from the settlement of the colony
on Jamestown Island, and the change of capital site to Williamsburg.
Judging from the recorded observations of visitors during that
period, no great difference in the general appearance of the
landscape had taken place. It still looked very much like a
wilderness. Much forest land had been cleared, farmed for a few
years, and then turned back to nature. The mammoth trees with scanty
undergrowth, that t