ntities of corn,
barley and wheat were grown to supply year-around needs. Very soon the
Englishmen abandoned the Indian method of pounding grain into meal for
bread-making and established mills on the fresh-water courses and on
tidal waters where the dammed streams and the tide furnished
water-power. Mill stones were among early shipments to the colony and
locations of some of these seventeenth-century mills remain landmarks in
Virginia today. Denbigh, on Waters Creek in Warwick County, Chuckatuck
in Nansemond, and the headwaters of the Poquoson in York County are
among the sites of early mills. John Bates of Skimeno in Upper York
County, a large land owner, operated two mills, one on his plantation
called "Pease Hill creek mill" and the other, "Okenneck," a
water-grist-mill.

Brandy for family use often was distilled on the plantation. While
Philip Fisher of the Eastern Shore bequeathed both his mill and his
still to his son Thomas, he directed that his son John should have the
use of both, the mill to grind his corn and the still "to still his own
drink." Beer was made from malt, and cider was produced from apples
grown on the plantations.

The remains of an icehouse uncovered during excavations at Jamestown,
and dated about the middle of the seventeenth century, is evidence that
the colonists cut ice from the ponds nearby, during a freeze, and stored
it for use in summer. These cylindrical structures, usually of brick,
erected in a shady spot and reinforced at the base with the cooling
earth, were packed ten, fifteen or more feet deep with ice, depending on
the supply available. In between the layers, straw and reeds were laid,
and the arrangement in general preserved the ice even into the very warm
months.

Thomas Cocke, of "Pickthorn Farm" and "Malvern Hill," carried on
enterprises established by his father, operating at the latter a flour
mill, tanneries and looms for making both woolens and linen. For a
specimen of linen five ells in length and three-fourths of a yard wide
of the first quality, he received an award, in 1695, of 800 pounds of
tobacco, offered by the Assembly in 1692. Both Virginia-made stockings
and Virginia-made cloth are listed in the Bridger inventory of 1686.

A pottery kiln, uncovered at "Greenspring," and in operation prior to
1675, shows the interest of the Virginia Governor in having earthenware
fashioned in the colony for domestic uses. Morgan Jones of Westmoreland
County is mentione