Jamestown Glass House

Nice Little Bike Trip

One recent afternoon I took a pleasant bike ride with my granddaughter, Sophie. We rode along wonderful local bike trails towards the original historic Jamestown site. In 1608, just one year after the Jamestown colony was established, glass workers, some from Poland, set up a primitive glass making factory on the bank of the James River near Jamestown. Archeologists have uncovered ruins of this more than 400 year-old enterprise. The remnants of the furnace and kiln are now preserved within the dim interior of a wooden shelter. We parked our bikes outside.

Inside, ruins are surrounded by glass walls. It's hard to get pictures without also capturing reflections from the protective glass barriers.

I'm sure the riverbank has changed over the past 400 years. Now, in 2019, the original glasshouse is only several feet away from the James River. Sophie walked over to the tiny beach and dodged small waves lapping the shore. The Jamestown River Ferry can be seen in the background.

About 30 yards away from the historic glass-making ruins there is a working modern glasshouse where expert reenactors make glassware in front of spectators. I think this is one of the best attractions in the Williamsburg area! The natural gas powered furnace is impressive. We were told the sandy mixture, which eventually becomes molten glass, is heated to 2400 F degrees. Yellow blackbody radiation streams from the incandescent furnace interior.

There's access to more molten glass on the other side of the furnace.

Sophie listened to a kind gentleman who explained the process.

At the time of our visit they were making green colored glass into old fashioned wine bottles like this one.

Notice the seal imprinted on the bottom bulge and the lip around the top of the neck.

The wine bottle begins as a bit of molten glass drawn from the furnace on the end of a long metal rod.

The glass worker rolls the glass glob into a cylinder.

Then he blows into the hollow metal rod to begin opening the interior of the bottle.

Eventually, he steps up and blows out the bulge shape of the bottle's bottom.

The hot bottle is then carried over to a place where a bit of molten glass is dropped onto the bulge and pressed into the side by a seal stamp. In the next picture you can see the glowing yellow glass blob that will be mashed down by the stamp.

After the seal is in place, the lip around the bottle's thin neck is produced. A seated glass worker rotates the bottle while a hanging string of molten glass wraps around the neck. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good still shot of this step, so I had to grab the low quality individual video frame shown next.

The wine bottle is only one member of a large variety of glassware available in the accompanying gift shop. A small sample of many other items produced by glasshouse craftsmen can be seen behind Sophie.

After our glasshouse visit we took a longer, different bike route home. We saw a doe and fawn near a beaver dam along the way. I'm looking forward to more bike rides with Sophie!