Visiting Jamestown

Visiting Jamestown has been on our VA Bucket list since the first week we got here. We even bought the movie Pocahontas for the kids to watch on the drive here. Even though I know the movie is historically inaccurate, I wanted them to at least know who the characters were. It worked. Visiting Jamestown was so much fun because when I said things like "Pocahontas walked on this same ground" or "This is where John Smith landed", the kids knew how cool that was. We had so much fun exploring Jamestown. We spent all day there and the kids were sad when it was time to leave. 

We first went to "Historic Jamestowne" to see where the original settlement was. It was pretty cool. 

Tanner asked to pose for this picture. He cracks me up. 

Jamestowne was settled in 1607. Not much of the original settlement has survived but the site is there and one towel along with the original stone foundation of the first church built there. 

When you first walk into the historic settlement, you see a statue of Pocahontas. The kids were anxious to hold her hands. We learned about how the settlers actually kidnapped Pocahontas. She was held in captivity for a year before she announced to her father, the Powhatan chief, her conversion to Christianity and her desire to convert to Christianity and her desire to marry the tobacco farmer, John Rolfe. We actually got to see where Pocahontas and John Rolfe were married. The park guide told us they were actually married three times because there were so many people who wanted to witness the ceremony, so they performed it multiple times

Then we talked to one of the park guides about the oldest known structure in America's history. This tower is located right next to the church. The church burned down multiple times but this tower survived. This brick church towel is the last surviving above-ground structure from the days of Jamestown. It survived fires, the civil war and decades during which it was left to decay in the thick woods surrounding the colony.  

These stones are from the original foundation of the church. 

Here is the reconstructed church. I think this is the fourth church build on the site of the original foundation. 

 

The settlers spent the first few weeks in Jamestown working to build a wooden fort. The walls formed a triangle around a storehouse, church and a number of houses. Platforms for cannons were also built at all three corners to defend against the possible Spanish attacks. As it turned out, the native Powhatan Indians proved to be more of a threat than the Spanish. 

Here we are taking in the view from Jamestown. It's strange to think about the ships that landed here hundreds of years ago. 

Right on the edge of the shore is a statue of John Smith. Tanner and Bailey were a little sad it didn't look more like the "John Smith" from the movie. It was interesting to learn about John Smith. John Smith was particularly good at his trade. He was able to make a fragile peace with the Powhatan Indians, but his strict leadership made enemies within and outside the fort. Then in 1609, a mysterious gun powder explosion injured Captain Smith and he was sent back to England. After John Smith left the colony suffered severely. This time is known as the "starving time". About 300 settlers crowded into the fort when the Indians set up a siege and after the winter of 1609-1610 only about 60 settlers survived. 

We had so much fun learning about the original settlement. So much history. In 1994 the "Jamestown Rediscovery" project began excavating the site and discovered many native artifacts. It's pretty awesome. 

Bailey's favorite artifact that was recovered were a pair of Pocahontas' earrings. They were made out of mussel shells and they really are gorgeous. They had been handed down through the Rolfe family until the were donated to the APVA Preservation Virginia in 1941. 

She was quite enthralled with these earrings. 

 In 1699 the Colony's capital was moved to Williamsburg. When the general assembly met, they agreed to move the capitol to Williamsburg.  The reason were plenty including the fact that the drinking water in Jamestown was contaminated by seepage of saltwater and the dirty living conditions were causing disease.  Jamestown had been plagued by malaria due to the mosquitoes that infested the swamplands of Jamestown. Also, Williamsburg was situated at a higher elevation than Jamestown. All-in-all, Williamsburg was much better suited to be the capitol. After the capitol moved, most of Jamestown was used as farm land for tobacco and eventually part of the settlement was used in a confederate defense during the civil war. 

After we finished exploring "Historic Jamestowne" we drove a couple minutes down the road to "Jamestown Settlement".  We ate a delicious lunch at the cafe at the museum. Then we explored the museum. First we watched a really cool movie about Jamestown and then we did a scavenger hunt with the kids. We had to find answers to questions and when we answered them all using the clues in the museum, we were given a small cotton bag. We were told if we took the bag to the Powhatan Indian village and showed them the peace emblem we had made, they would give us some corn. 

This was so adorable. Tanner loved it so much.
So we left the museum and walked down to the reconstruction of the Powhatan village. These reenactors were dressed to the T and it was so cool. 

Tanner showed his peace emblem and was given corn to put inside his bag. The Indian man told him he could trade the corn at Jamestown for other goods. It was a cool way to show the cooperation between the settlers and Indians. Relations weren't always good between the two people, but many times they were able to trade for the things they needed. 

Here is Tanner with his peace emblem and bag of corn.

After we got some corn to go in the bag, we explored more of the village. 

The huts were awesome. The kids loved running in and out of them and checking out all the different items stored inside. 

        

We helped make cornmeal by grounding corn inside these logs. Bailey and Tucker loved this. 

We watched them make a canoe and string up a pelt to dry. So cool!

After exploring the Indian village, we walked down to the docks and boarded the "Susan Constant". This ship was the largest of the three that landed in Jamestown. The Susan Constant held 71 passengers. It was so cool to see the cabins and the areas where people slept and worked. 

Tucker exploring the deck. 

Bailey aiming the cannon off the ship. 

Then we explored the ship known as "Discovery". This was a smaller ship and originally carried only 21 passengers to the new world. 

After we finished with the ships, we walked to the reconstruction of Jamestown.
This was probably the biggest hit with the kids.
They tried on armor, chased around the chickens, explored the homes and we were able to trade our corn for three bracelets with jade beads. (Blue was the most rare color at the time) 

Chris' favorite stop was the armory. He loved looking at all the weapons. 

We also got to watch one of the reenactors fire a musket. Chris was basically drooling over this cool gun and even got to hold it after the demonstration. 

At this point, the park was closing so we had to leave. But we had an amazing time and learned so much. I highly recommend visiting Jamestown if you get the chance. We loved it!