I should have mentioned that the Virginia Customs Districts were set up 
after one of the Navigation Acts, maybe the Act of 1696? (I writing this 
from memory and it has been a long time ago!) The Virginia Tobacco ports 
acts were something else altogether and for the most part were failures. 
After 1732 when the Tobacco Act was passed, tobacco could be loaded at the 
inspection warehouses but the ships had to enter and clear in the *Port* of 
each district. The port for the lower James was at Hampton, York Port was at 
Yorktown, Rappahannock River Port was at Urbanna, and the South Potomac was 
wherever the Naval Officer lived. North Potomac was in Maryland.
HBG
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Kiracofe" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 4:40 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Was Williamsburg ever "quite a port"?


>I don't have the sources at hand (Hening's Statutes at Large)  but I
> seem to recall that the status of ports-of-entry in the colonial period
> was dictated by law.  They should not be confused with landings.   A
> 1680 statute designated four tobacco ports from which tobacco could be
> shipped, and I'm guessing a subsequent act either extended that list to
> include Williamsburg or Williamsburg replaced a James City as one of the
> tobacco ports.
>
> David Kiracofe
>
>
>
> David Kiracofe
> History
> Tidewater Community College
> Chesapeake Campus
> 1428 Cedar Road
> Chesapeake, Virginia 23322
> 757-822-5136
>
>
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