Exploring the Two Jamestowns

First-time explorers of Virginia's Historic Triangle may be surprised to discover that there are actually two Jamestown locations. At one location visitors can see what the first permanent English colony may have looked like with the help of historical reconstructions known as Jamestown Settlement. While a little further down the Colonial Parkway lies the original location of what is known as Historic Jamestowne, purposely spelled in the style of the period. Both Jamestowns are important for the visitor to understand just what happened here in the 17^th Century, as what is discovered underground in one location is applied to the reconstructed Jamestown Settlement in the other. Due to the continuing excavations, repeat visitors will still have much to explore and discover on their next trip. After all, historical discovery is an on-going event in this swampy little area by the James River and what was thought correct on one visit might be proven wrong by your next.

The reconstructed Jamestown colony, known as Jamestown Settlement is dedicated to living history much like Colonial Williamsburg, but represents the original Jamestown Fort and a neighboring Powhatan Indian village of the 17^th Century. As you can imagine this place is a huge hit with kids and so expect a dozen school busses unloading if you go during the week. Off-season or not Jamestown Settlement has three things that children love: Indian items, weapons and armor and of course, big wooden sailing ships. Keep this in mind and expect to have a fair share of fourth-graders running about.

Inside the Powhatan Indian Village you will find several "wigwam" style buildings that are full of animal furs, sleeping pallets, weapons and everyday items. There are also tools and work stations you can try as well - I will never forget watching my vegetarian wife scrape an animal hide at the Tanning Frame. Costumed reenactors explain Powhatan life and culture, while performing everyday tasks such as grinding corn or flint knapping, the art of creating extremely sharp stone tools. We both really enjoyed exploring the Powhatan Village, but so did the Fourth Grade and so we moved on to the river, site of three recreated sailing ships.

The Riverfront Discovery Area and the three ships were of special interest to me since my family has a fishing background and I used to sail a bit as a teenager. My wife is not a fan of ships, but it is not everyday you get to explore recreations of three 16-17^th Century Merchantmen and besides, the river was calm and the ships were barely moving at the dock. Actually there are four wooden sailing vessels at the Jamestown Settlement: Susan Constant being the largest, Discovery the smallest and to our surprise there are two Godspeeds. Due to further research on ship designs of the period, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation built a larger and more accurate replica of the Godspeed. The Foundation renamed the older ship the Elizabeth, which now represents a smaller supply ship of the period. To my disappointment, the new Godspeed was being fitted out for a sail during our visit and could not be boarded. The Discovery and the Elizabeth are very small vessels and costumed crewmembers will be glad to tell you horrifying tales of the settlers' 144 day Atlantic voyage. The Susan Constant is much larger but no less cramped inside and everyone will love the gun deck. Kids love it because it looks like a pirate ship but the crew will explain to them that the cannons were to keep pirates and the Spanish away.

The recreated Jamestown Fort, complete with palisades, bulwarks and cannon is accurate enough for the visitor to get an idea of just what the first settlers had to deal with. The staff are great at answering questions and putting on displays of colonial weaponry such as firing matchlock muskets, and standing watch bedecked in 17^th Century style armor. My wife watched in amusement as I, wearing a steel helmet was picked to help explain the military formations uses during the time. I on the other hand was incredibly impressed with the staff's knowledge of period arms and armor. Every staff member we talked to was friendly, knowledgeable and willing to talk about anything including their jobs, which they all seem to love. By the end of our visit my wife and I were half-joking to the staff that we'll be dropping off our resumes on the way out. I cannot tell you how excited I would be to wear a breast-plate to work everyday or be able to sail on a period ship, but then again our next day visit to Historic Jamestowne showcased another dream job of mine: Historical Archeologist.

While still in school I made a decision to focus on living people and so pursued a degree in Cultural Anthropology and dropped my dreams of being Indiana Jones. However, Archaeology will always be close to my heart and if it were not for my hip problems I could see myself digging as a hobby. Even though I am reduced to basically an armchair Archaeologist, I still get excited when I get to visit a dig. So imagine how happy I was to discover that they were digging on the day my wife and I visited Historic Jamestowne.

Visiting Jamestown without a visit to the dig would be incomplete and while it may not be as exciting to the kids, this is where all that history you learned at the Jamestown Settlement actually happened. Historic Jamestowne, especially the original fort was thought to have mostly been lost to the river, that is until the late 1990's when Archeologist William Kelso and his team discovered the fort's remains. Since these discoveries were made, during my time studying the discipline, so much more has been unearthed, and continues to be. It was amazing to see with my own eyes the remains of post holes, layers of charred soil and the locations of so many discoveries that I had only read about up to this point. During our visit we watched as a very large brick fireplace was being excavated, first discovered last April and quite possibly the oldest brick fireplace ever discovered in America. The fireplace was quite puzzling to the Archaeologists that I talked to since they have never seen anything like it and most likely dates to a very early point in Jamestowne history. I hypothesized that it may be a multi-function fireplace, possibly used as a brick or ceramic kiln. However it is too early to tell and I will have to wait until more is discovered, but considering the amount of slag glass found on the site, it may have been used as the first glass blowing site in Jamestowne that Captain John Smith wrote about. Needless to say I will be monitoring their progress.

To see all of the interesting artifacts that the Archaeologists are finding in the soil of Jamestowne, visit the small but impressive Archaearium. Located upon the site of the Virginia Statehouse and 17^th Century graveyard, the Archaearium displays thousands of artifacts that have been found in the area including weapons, armor, coins, pipes, and possibly the bones Bartholomew Gosnold, Jamestowne's first leader. As Massachusetts natives, seeing this man's bones was significant for it was Gosnold who sailed the coast of New England and first named Cape Cod. During his brief time in Jamestowne, Gosnold may also have influenced the later voyages of Captain John Smith, who would map and name much of our native Cape Ann. However even without a quasi-historic connection to the bones in front of you, it is hard not to think about the men and women who died during the infamous "Starving Time" of 1609-1610 and were buried right under your feet.

All together the two of us spent two full days and one rainy morning exploring the two Jamestowns, November sunsets being one setback to off-season travel. However we still felt like there was much more to see, especially on Jamestown Island, where a wooded drive snakes along the outskirts of the old colony. One place not to miss before leaving is the Jamestown Glasshouse, where traditional glassware is blown on site. The Jamestown area is also the place to take the ferry over to Surry, Virginia, but on this trip we still had too much to do in the Historic Triangle. Besides, you always have to leave enough for the return trip.