canal behind reconstructed Governor's Palace in Williamsburg
Virginia was integrated into the international economy from the very beginning. Early explorers sailed into the Chesapeake looking for the Northwest Passage to China and the spice trade of Indonesia. When Virginia became a destination rather than an obstacle, it was still dependent upon Europe for essential goods - even food, until 1611. Settlers in Jamestown relied upon "resupply" shipments financed by the Virginia Company, until the tobacco trade created an economic foundation for the new colony and strong leaders (using the powers of martial law) ensured sufficient food was grown to meet local requirements.
Transatlantic shipping was colonial Virginia's primary means of transporting farm products, animal skins, lumber, and other goods. In the mercantile economy of the 1600's and 1700's, little was manufactured in the colony - farm tools, glasses, rugs, books, wine, even the cloth used for slave clothing was shipped from overseas. Bulky raw goods were sent from the colony and high-value manufactured goods were provided in return. Almost everything traveled by ship, and plantation wharves (and the docks in "tobacco towns" after 1730) were the economic centers of the colony.
To facilitate shipping, even before settlement extended far past the natural barrier of the Fall Line, there was a proposal for a canal in Virginia. It was designed to make Williamsburg a port city. The colonial capital after 1699 was on a ridgeline, the divide separating the James and the York rivers. That moved it away from the threat of Dutch, French, or Spanish attack, and closer to the inland settlements. The new location was also away from swamps and the brackish water of Jamestown, with the diseases that they brought.
However, moving away from the swamps meant wagons and horses had to carry goods and people from the riverbank to the town. The road to Hampton followed the high point of land that drained quickest after a rain, but the "improved" roads around Williamsburg were still dirt roads full of mudholes and ruts. Transshipping items from ships into wagons added substantially to the cost of supplying the capital. If only boats could float all the way to Williamsburg...
Lord Dunmore announced in 1771 that a canal would be constructed to connect Williamsburg with both the York and James rivers. It would run from the headwaters of Archer's Creek on the James River to the headwaters of Queen's Creek on the York River. The canal was not completed, so the Peninsula was never converted to an island and no transatlantic ships sailed to the back of the Governor's Palace - but you can still see remnants of the project behind the gardens.
