37°13′23″N 76°41′38″W / 37.22306°N 76.69389°W / 37.22306; -76.69389

College Creek (formerly named Archer's Hope Creek) is located in James City County in the Virginia Peninsula area of the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States. From a point of origin near the independent city of Williamsburg, it is a tributary of the James River.

The College Creek watershed of James City County includes the residential subdivisions of Kingsmill, Kingspoint, James Terrace, and the Vineyards. The watershed also contains Kingsmill Pond, Busch Corporate Center and the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.

As Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia was first settled by English colonists beginning in 1607, a nearby tributary of the James River was named Archer's Hope Creek. It took its name from a point of land near the mouth named Archer's Hope after Gabriel Archer. Captain Archer was particularly impressed with this location and urged that it be the point of settlement. The soil seemed good, timber and wildlife were abundant, and it appeared adaptable for defensive measures if these should become necessary. It was not possible, however, to bring the ships close to the shore, and consequently Archer's Hope was rejected. From this site the ships moved directly to Jamestown, where they arrived May 13. The present-day National Park Service's Colonial Parkway has a scenic turnout at Archer's Hope. Archer's Hope Creek drained the southern half of the nearby section of the Virginia Peninsula, with a watershed extending to a high point ridge near the center.

The idea of a palisade or fortification across the peninsula was discussed as early as 1611. But, during the era of the marriage of colonist John Rolfe and Pocahontas, daughter of the Powhatan chief, who were wed in 1614, there was a period of peaceful relations with the Natives, and nothing was immediately done in furtherance of the suggestion. The idea of building a palisade was renewed around 1623, following the Indian massacre of 1622. At that time, of the settlers in Martin's Hundred at Wolstenholme Towne, situated on the James about 6 miles (9.7 km) below Jamestown, seventy-three were slain, and the survivors were so alarmed and weakened that the settlement was temporarily abandoned. Governor Francis Wyatt and his Council wrote to the Earl of Southampton that they had under consideration a plan of "winning the forest" by running a pale between the James and York.

Dr. John Potts blazed the way by obtaining on July 12, 1632, a patent for 1,200 acres (4.9 km²) at the head of Archer's Hope Creek, midway between the James River at Archer's Hope and the former Native American village of Chiskiack near the York River. On September 4, 1632, the General Assembly directed that the encouragement of land offered two years before to inhabitants at Chiskiack, should also be granted to all persons settling between Queen's Creek and Archer's Hope Creek.

In February, 1633, it was enacted that a fortieth part of the men in "the compasse of the forest" east of Archer's Hope and Queen's Creek to Chesapeake Bay (essentially all of the lower peninsula) should be present "before the first day of March next" at Dr. John Potts' plantation, "newlie built," to erect houses and secure the land in that quarter. Work on the palisade commenced by March 1, 1633.

With this labor, palisades, six miles (9.7 km) in length, were run from creek to creek, as the palisade continued to reach Queen's Creek, which drained the northern half of the nearby section of the Peninsula, with a watershed leading to the York River. The two creeks and the palisade in between created a barrier from river to river. At the high ridge at the midpoint, a settlement to be called Middle Plantation was made.