I sit here in awe of this place where I will make my new home and my fortune. I want to write my thoughts down before I forget my first reaction to this land. It is much different than I believed it would be. The weather is damp and cool and the days short, much like England. I have seen no evidence of the savages may cousin had written to me in England about, not even in the higher lands. People say that forests are put up at [the edge of our settled area] to keep the savages out. Only the peaceful are allowed in to trade. All the space is occupied by Englishmen or forest. The land here is divided strangely. The shape of the plots is not square or rectangular, but is irregular [shapes] that include or avoid the things on he land that the settlers like or dislike. Most of the plots are found on the banks of the James River. Here is where I will begin my own plot in Charles City [corporation]. The territory on the river is split into corporations, for example, Charles City. Each cooperation has its own [small] courthouse that serves the inhabitants of that corporation.
You can see most of the farms plainly as you travel up and down the James River; though some of them are hidden by trees. (The river is the only means of transportation because there are no roads. It seems to me that everything is focused on the waterway.) The houses do not look to be very sturdy. They seem to be made out of sticks and a clay-like material. Some are painted white. My uncle says that the houses are made like this because they are temporary. After the land is used up, the people will move. I do not know where the people will move to, though. The riverbanks seem to be getting filled up. The homesteads are [dispersed and usually be a mile or more apart]. The farms are surrounded by forests. This is so the settlers will have firewood and building material. The forests are mostly high canopied trees and have very little undergrowth. Every farm has its own wharf, and as we travel down the river, I can see the farmers selling their tobacco to men in [ocean-going ships]. Tobacco is the largest crop. Actually, I see very little else being grown. Some farms have fields for. . .maize. These fields are different from the tobacco fields. I can see that the fields are not as well groomed as they are in England. The farmers, instead of grazing animals on the old fields, abandon the fields. Nothing really grows in these abandoned patches but weeds and grasses. It will take me a long time to get used to these methods of farming.