Historic Jamestowne
5.7.17
This is what we all learned about in history, right? The triangle fort.
Ellie remembers making a triangle fort out of pretzel sticks.
Well, this day, the triangle fort took on new dimensions!
The visitor center started us off with some Jamestowne history...
Jamestown in the 1630's
Jamestown in the 1660s - A Bustling Port
"As the capitol and primary port city of the Virginia colony, Jamestown witnessed a great building boom in the 1660s. There were numerous taverns... row houses... and warehouses....
To support the expanding tobacco industry, enslaved Africans and indentured servants from England arrived to begin their new lives in the burgeoning colony..."
Jamestown in the 1690s
"Three cultures...came together at Jamestown... the Nottoway tribe paid its annual tribute to the Royal Governor of Virginia... They passed the stately home of William Sherwood (in the painting above) and enslaved Africans on their way to work in the fields."
We then set off to explore the actual site of the first English colony in the Americas!
Frogs and fish and huge turtles entertained us as we crossed over this marshy area to the fort.
Can you see it in the background?
Before our tour of the fort itself, we explored the area around it,
New Towne,
where Jamestown expanded outside of the fort.
The beautiful James River
Archaeologists found bricks from the foundations of early Jamestown homes.
They re-covered the bricks to prevent their decay and built these walls over top
of them to indicate what they had discovered underneath.
of them to indicate what they had discovered underneath.
The sign reads, "The Ambler House was built by the Ambler family in the 1750s
as the centerpiece of a fine plantation estate. A refined Georgian-style home,
it was comparable to the elegant George Wythe House in Williamsburg.
The house was burned in two wars, and after a third fire in 1895, was abandoned.
The tour of the 1607 James Fort...
This gentleman is a passionate archaeologist and very informative tour guide.
He explained that until 1994, it was thought that the original site of the fort was now under water beneath the James River. He remembered being told that on a school field trip here.
Dr. William Kelso didn't believe that, and he theorized that the site was still there on the land.
In 1994, he and his associates launched the "Jamestown Rediscovery Project,"
seeking to find the remains of the original James Fort on dry land.
Our guide explained the clues they had to work with and what soil stains are...
and how and when they discovered the actual location of the fort and principal buildings.
Here is a link to an interactive dig map,
where you can click on a location to see what archaeologists have discovered there:
Our tour guide explained how archaeological findings
have helped to determine what kind of leader John Smith was.
He designed buildings to provide efficient heating and promoted trade with native tribes.
When the colony was aristocrat-heavy, with too many men who refused to actually work,
we learn that he said this...
Our guide explained that in quoting this Scripture,
John Smith was challenging the British societal structure, the Church of England,
and even the Queen herself! A common man would not quote sacred Scripture.
Jamestown was a merchant venture, and Plymouth was a religious venture.
(John Smith may have been more at home in the relative societal equality of Plymouth.)
His "accidental gunpowder burn" was actually an attempt on his life.
The religious and societal divisions were very serious, and his leadership was resented by some.
Our guide believes that the divisions between North and South
were begun here in the differences between Jamestown and Plymouth.
1907 Memorial Church
Jamestown was the location of the first representative legislative assembly in America.
The Archaeology Museum houses the artifacts that are being discovered right there on the site!
We visited the glasshouse, where they still use colonial glass blowing techniques.
We had a beautiful day digging into our country's past.
