Historic Jamestown and Williamsburg

Historic Jamestowne was settled on Jamestown Island.  The reason for the settlement was money and power.  A coalition of businessmen financed the venture to make money.  The queen added her share for financial and political reasons.  The British weren't doing so well in claiming the New World.  Spain and France had claimed most of the explored land.  What was left was a strip up the coast which would become known as New England.  The queen wanted to claim what she could and at the same time infuse some much needed cash into the royal coffers.  She decided that the unclaimed coast would offer a jumping off place for privateers (legal pirates) could blitz the Spanish and French fleets returning with riches to their own countries.  The Charter for the new venture contained several caveats.  One was that they had to establish the settlement  inland at least 50 miles.  This was the distance a ship could sail in a day.  The settlement had to be invisible to the enemy fleets.  Another was that they shouldn't upset the Natives by camping on their land.  The only land not occupied by the Powhatan coalitions was the island.  The reason they didn't live there was because it was a bug infested swamp!  It was, however, their favorite hunting spot.

Our very good guide.  He is a story teller and made the dry facts very fun and interesting.  The island is a National Historic Site, but is partially operated by a private contractor, so with our parks pass it cost us $5 each, 3x that without the pass.  Jamestowne did not prosper at first.  They traded with the Natives at first because it was in the Powhatan's best interest to obtain the metal objects the invaders had available.  After that they wanted the whites off their hunting grounds.  Unknown to everyone, they were in the middle of a drought of several years, so the food ran out.  The Natives staged a siege to starve them out.  Worked, too, but just as they were sailing down the river the relief ships arrived.  Back they went.  This happened several times.  Finally, after several ;years, the backers brought enough people and materials to make the Natives move.  The settlers founded New Town not too far from the Fort.  It remained the capital of the settlements until it was moved to Williamsburg.  Our tour guide was a Park Ranger with a talent for story-telling.  He turned the settlers turn into real people and the historical facts into a story of sorrow, deprivation, and despair followed by hope unlooked for.  

The church and the fort palisade have been reconstructed, but some of the buildings are represented by  foundations of new bricks laid carefully over the buried original foundations.  The entire island is an archaeological site with active digging going on, so the original sites are left buried to preserve them.

View of the James River

Site of several houses at the end of New Town.

These earthworks served as fencing to delineate property lines and to keep livestock from wandering on the neighbors' property.  

Fort in its original location and dimensions. The current archaeological dig is in progress behind the far right end of the palisade.  (There is a separate archaeological tour available also.)

View of the original fort with canon bulwarks and buildings.

Hand forged ironwork appreciated by Duane the blacksmith

Modern museum and gift shop set atop some of the original foundations of the State House.  Several parts of the floor (including one in the gift shop) are open to reveal the brick foundations but covered with strong Plexiglas to withstand the foot traffic. The Museum of course has several artifacts from the original settlers.

Since the Jamestown Island is pretty small, we finished our tour with time to spare for a return visit to Colonial Williamsburg.  We hopped the shuttle at the Visitors' Center and hopped off at the State House.  Just down the street is the Kings Arms where we ate lunch--modern dishes with colonial names.  For example Salamagundi is Chef's Salad, which is spelled salat.  Chopped beef dinner was hamburger and fries etc.  We had to wait for about 20 min. so we sat on a bench and listened to the commotion up the street.  Seems the town gathered for the reading of the first draft of the new constitutional rights being demanded of the Crown.

After our lunch in the wine cellar by candle light, we strolled back to the State House for a lead tour.  The crowd had gathered at the left side of the main entrance, just around the right corner of the picture above.

On the right is the Common rooms where the house of burgess' meet.  The left part are the Kings rooms where he vetoes whatever the colonial government wants. This building also housed the Court room.  House of Burgesses.

Our tour guide.  Very well informed and very in character and entertaining.

Interesting map of the 13 colonies.  Note the straight lines.

The Kings room--the first Oval Office

One of the many (rebuilt) historical buildings throughout the town.  This one housed the shop of the furniture maker. 

The governor's palace and green. 

Two gentlemen talking politics

Our guide for the first floor of the Palace was this parlor maid.  All of the guides were very well informed and were able to answer all our questions and keep interested. 

Our guide for the rest of the Palace.  This room is a dining room.  Note the green color, the same as the dining room at Mt. Vernon.  Green was considered  good for the digestion.

Part of the gardens behind the Palace.  Between the gardens and the Palace were the out buildings for washing, kitchen, store house, stable, etc.

Hand forged and painted garden gate

Back door of the palace.  The green dining room/ball room is just the other side of the door.  Click on the pic for a closer view of the gold leafed motif above the door.

Side view of Palace

Since this was our second visit to Williamsburg, we considered our tour complete. There were a couple of other buildings we could have walked through, but they were closed for the day so we said enough, hopped the bus back to the Visitors' Center, suited up and pointed the bike for home.

Stay tuned for Yorktown,

Louise and Duane