Jamestown Glass

I think it is interesting that one of the first business ventures was glassmaking and not for the new world but to send back to England. I grew up in Virginia and did not learn this, but it is true. The glassmaking venture was not very successful.  It makes a lot of sense because unlike in New England, Jamestown was settled to make a profit. England was burning up their forests and to make glass you need to fuel the furnace. It made sense to bring the glass industry to a land of virgin forests. There were problems though. Glassmaking was a skilled job English glassmakers did not want to go to the wilderness. Why should they? So the company had to bring glassmakers from Germany and Poland. Later they brought Italian glassmakers. Sickness, dissent, death and Native American attacks were also problems. A final problem is the fact that the sand was not good for glassmaking, they even thought about bringing sand to Jamestown. These factors led to the end of glassmaking in Jamestown. Though not successful Glassmaking was one of our first industries. You can visit Jamestown to see glass house ruins. Jamestowns website http://www.nps.gov/jame/index.htm