Jamestown. This is where it all began. On this strip of land along the river, English settlers planted roots so deep they would never be torn up. Surviving hardship, famine, war and disease, this is where the American dream got its start.
In 1607 -- a date hammered into the heads of elementary school kids everywhere -- three English ships sailed into the lower Chesapeake Bay and up what they called the James River (James I was King of England, after all) in search of a place to call home. Since its discovery in 1492 and further exploration throughout the 1500s, the New World had tantalized the old with a promise of endless possibilities. But cashing in on that potential, as is often the case, proved much harder than it sounded.Jamestown was not the first attempt to settle the area; a colony planted farther down the coast at Roanoke in the 1580s had mysteriously disappeared by 1590. So, presumably, the Virginia Company of London knew something of the risks. But the hope for riches outweighed them. And it wasn't like the life the colonists were leaving behind was all that great. Most of them had little hope for economic or social advancement because of the rigid rules of English society, where wealth and status were tied to land ownership and land ownership was pretty much tied to inheritance. If you didn't have it, you couldn't get it. But all this land across the sea was seemingly up for grabs.
The Virginia Company was granted a charter by the king that gave it exclusive rights to trade and invest in North America. In December 1606, 105 men and boys set sail aboard the Discovery, the Godspeed and the Susan Constant. Nearly five months later, they arrived in the New World. After exploring up and down the river, they chose a peninsula that offered deep anchorage for the ships and went ashore. Jamestown was born.
Whether it would survive, however, was still a question.
The settlers soon learned that this tidewater area of Virginia was not quite the paradise it first seemed. For one thing, it was already occupied -- by an Algonquian-speaking confederation of about 32 tribes ruled by a chief named Powhatan. At times friendly, at times threatening, the Powhatans were a constant factor to be reckoned with.
Also a problem was the fact that the first colonists were, for the most part, "gentlemen" unused to physical labor. What did jewelers and tailors and silversmiths know about taming the wilderness? Not until later were recruits drawn from the working class to provide needed carpenters and masons and such.
Even more devastating were the effects of climate and weather. Hot, muggy summers speeded the spoiling of provisions; swampy drinking water and disease-carrying insects added to the woes. Typhoid, dysentery and malaria all took a horrific toll. So bad was it that more than half of the first settlers had died before the second wave of colonists and supplies arrived.
Even with reinforcements, life was iffy for the settlement. The winter of 1609-10 was especially harsh; during those brief months the struggling colony was decimated. From a population of 500, only 60 were still alive when supply ships arrived in the spring of 1610. And so discouraged were they that Thomas Gates, captain of the new fleet, ordered the settlement abandoned and prepared to take everyone back to England.
That might have been the end of Jamestown had it not been for one of those accidents of history.
Before Gates could leave the harbor, he met another supply ship commanded by Lord Thomas De La Warr, a member of the king's council for Virginia, who ordered everyone back to Virginia. The colony would survive. It would even -- after John Rolfe began growing tobacco in 1613 -- thrive.
Today, nearly 400 years later, it is possible to construct a chain that stretches from that moment to this. More colonies, cash crops, pilgrims, slaves, cowboys, separation, new forms of self-government, growth, New World vision, New World life. Maybe it would have all happened without Jamestown -- but maybe not.
Today's visitors to this quiet, peaceful place so long since moved from center stage can't help but wonder. Nor can they leave without offering a silent tribute of thanksgiving to the brave colonists who started it all.
Jamestown is considered part of the "Historic Triangle" of Virginia, sharing honors with Colonial Williamsburg, which took over as the capital of Virginia in 1699, and Yorktown, site of another pivotal event in American history: the final battle and surrender of English forces ending the Revolutionary War. Colonial Williamsburg has been restored and is operated by a private, nonprofit foundation. Jamestown and Yorktown, separated by about 20 miles but connected by the Colonial Parkway, are part of Colonial National Park, set aside in 1936 as the country's first national park devoted to historical interpretation rather than natural beauty.
The Jamestown experience is divided into two parts: the Original Site, where the first colonists landed and lived, and Jamestown Settlement, which features a re-creation of that first permanent establishment.
The original site
In the end, the thing that almost destroyed Jamestown was what preserved it for posterity: the unhealthy climate. As more and more colonists arrived, they spread farther inland to find the land needed for growing tobacco and discovered far better places to live than swampy, insect-infested Jamestown.
That first settlement remained the capital of the Virginia Colony by royal decree. But after a fire in 1698 destroyed much of what was by then a small village, the capital was moved to Williamsburg. Jamestown, which still afforded the best crossing of the lower James River, became a small ferry landing and agricultural outpost. Mostly, it was left to dwindle into obscurity. Which meant when time came to preserve it, no shopping centers or supermarkets were in the way.
Preservation talk began as early as 1807, when festivities at nearby College of William and Mary noted the bicentennial of the settlement. In 1857, the country noted the 250th anniversary with a speech by former President John Tyler recognizing the significance: "The first impress of the Anglo-Saxon was made on this beach." By then, the only thing remaining from the 17th century was a brick church tower built in 1639. There were also ruins of the impressive Ambler mansion, built in the early 18th century. And the peninsula was threatened by erosion from the sea.
The Association of the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities was formed in 1899, and it obtained some 23 acres surrounding the church site. Shortly after, a seawall was built to protect the site from further erosion. To mark the 300th anniversary, Congress appropriated $50,000 for a monument. A 9,000-acre national monument was created in the early 1930s, and with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the parkway connecting Jamestown and Yorktown was built. The Jamestown Archaeological Project began to uncover foundations and plans of the original settlement.
Today, a visitor's center provides an introduction to the story of Jamestown, and gentle paths wander past the foundations and ruins that have been uncovered; past the memorial church built over the original foundation by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America Daughters of the American Revolution; past statues honoring Captain John Smith and Pocahontas, whose stories are so much a part of the history here; past the little graveyard. Poplars and oaks, mixed with dogwoods and crape myrtles line the paths. The feeling is one of peace and reverence.
Jamestown settlement
The original site provides a good look at the whats and wheres of Jamestown, but the story of the hows -- day-to-day life of those early colonists -- is best told at the re-created settlement.
First opened in 1957, in honor of the 350th anniversary, this site was expanded and updated in the early 1990s. It features an indoor museum with galleries devoted to the background of English settlement in the New World, the journey to Virginia, the American Indians encountered by the English, and the development of the Virginia colony to 1699. Outdoors, there's a living history museum, complete with costumed interpreters, that showcases 17th century life in the New World.
A small Powhatan village presents the life of these indigenous people. When the colonists arrived, most of the Powhatans lived in small hamlets of less than 10 structures, including homes and storage places. Homes, called "yehakins," were about 12 feet wide by 16 feet long and were made by bending young saplings and covering them with bark or mats woven from reeds. Activities in the village centered around daily existence: growing crops such as corn, beans, squash and sunflowers; hunting or fishing; making clothing or blankets from animal skins. Only in villages where chiefs lived were there buildings and activities for ceremonial purposes.
The three ships anchored along the river at the settlement are faithful reproductions of the Discovery, the Godspeed and the Susan Constant that brought those first Englishmen to Virginia. They, and the volunteers who man them, reveal what life at sea was like in those days. Small and cramped, these merchant ships carried crews ranging from nine to 17, with passengers numbering from 12 to 54. The Susan Constant was the largest of the three. Rigging, cooking and maintenance work on the ship and its armament would have occupied the sailors' time; passengers would have spent their days with gambling games such as dice or dominoes, storytelling or playing musical instruments. Religious services were also held regularly. Sailing was a risky venture; those on board had to cope with storms or an equally devastating lack of winds, in addition to diseases caused by overcrowding and poor nutrition.
The triangular James Fort is a reproduction of the 1610 fort described by an early English colonist. The first fort, built soon after the colonists landed, was destroyed by fire in January 1608, and fire was a constant threat in the mostly wooden structure. The earliest homes were built of wattle and daub: wooden frames packed with a mixture of clay, sand and straw. Inside the fort, there was also a crude blacksmith shop, an Anglican church and a parade ground where military drills were held. Defense depended on cannons and matchlock muskets.
Even without threat of Indian attack and the hazards of disease, life for these first colonists must have seemed so different from what they left behind. Did these settlers ever wonder what they were setting in motion or where this path would lead? Or were they so caught up in survival that tomorrow's world was beyond contemplation? Today, nearly 400 years later, modern visitors to this tiny settlement can't help but marvel at what happened here. Nor can they fail to appreciate what these colonists did. In Jamestown, where it all began.