The Williamsburg Winery

Our 300 acre farm, known as Wessex Hundred, is home to The Williamsburg Winery. The use of “Hundred” to name a property dates to the Colonial era and describes parcels of land sufficient to support a hundred families regardless of actual acreage.

 In 1606, the newly-formed Virginia Company sent three ships westward to the New World to settle a permanent English colony. Led by Bartholomew Gosnold, with Gabriel Archer second in command, the expedition sailed up the James River and came upon a point of land on a protected tributary. The ground was high, easily defended, and the soil was excellent – which foretold of the land’s later usage. Archer insisted that the expedition look no further, but he was outvoted despite his considerable experience in such matters. The expedition continued on the James River and moved on to a less hospitable spot the following day, May 13, 1607. The place was Jamestown and became the first permanent English settlement in the New World.