Historic Jamestowne

Historic Jamestowne is the site of the first permanent English settlement in the New World. Three ships with 104 men and 39 crew sailed from England in late 1606. Sailing by way of Puerto Rico, the convoy reached Virginia in late April, 1607. Sealed orders from the Virginia Company of London named the men who would form the governing council and also specified that a defensible inland location be chosen as the site for the colony which was founded on May 14, 1607. The colonists lacked many of the skills required to be self-sustaining in the wilderness of Virginia. As a result, two-thirds of the men died before the First Supply mission arrived. The Second Supply mission also arrived in 1608, but both missions brought more settlers than much needed supplies. The Second Supply also brought the first two European women to the colony. Additional colonists arrived with the Third Supply mission, although most of the supplies were shipwrecked in Bermuda for several months. Due to a local drought and lack of English supplies, the winter of 1609-1610 has been called the Starving Time. Of the 500 colonists in autumn 1609, only 60 remained when the ships from Bermuda arrived in the spring. On June 7, 1610 the colony was abandoned as the survivors boarded ships to sail for England. However, they met yet another supply mission on the lower James River on June 9 and were forced to return to Jamestowne. Without the timely arrival of these supplies and a newly appointed governor, Thomas West, Baron De La Warr, Jamestown would have failed like the Roanoke and Popham Colonies.

While an estimated 14,000 people of the Powhatan Confederacy were already living in the James River area in 1607, the tribes were nearly eliminated by 1646 due to war and disease. The first black slaves were brought to Jamestowne on a Portuguese slave ship that had been captured by the English. Interpretive signs attempt to weave the narratives of all of these people into a coherent history for the visitor.

Historic Jamestowne is managed by a public/private partnership between the National Park Service and Preservation Virginia. Preservation Virginia owns 22.5 acres including the site of the original James Fort and Old Towne while the NPS owns New Towne and the remaining 1178 acres of Jamestown Island. A modern visitor center includes a fee station, information desk, orientation film, museum, gift shop and restrooms. In addition to the 1607 James Fort, Old Towne and New Towne, the site has a five mile one-way Island Loop Drive which we chose to bicycle. The Preservation Virginia Dale House Café in Old Towne sells sandwiches and drinks. We visited Historic Jamestowne in late October 2014.

Visitor Center

Rear of Visitor Center

Boardwalk leads across the Pitch and Tar Swamp to the colony

Swamp and forest from the boardwalk

Monument commemorating 300th anniversary of Jamestown

Memorial Church built in 1907

Tower of 1690 church

Model of James Fort on top of current river bank

Archaeological digs continue to produce new artifacts and information

Site of several graves inside the fort

Captain John Smith, Governor of Virginia 1608

Location of additional graves near the eroded side of the fort

Foundations of the largest building in the fort

Reconstruction of a building frame

Dale House Café

River side of Dale House Café

View upstream of the James River

View downstream of the James River

Nathalie P. and Alan M. Voorhees Archaearium

The Archaearium is built over part of the foundations the 1665 first statehouse

Foundations of an expanded building for the General Assembly

Reconstructed foundations in New Towne

More foundations and fence rows

Reconstructed ruins of a building built for Ann Talbott around 1660

Typical lane with ditch and berm

Row houses from the 1650s

Site of the home of William May in the 1660s

This was an upper-class neighborhood on Backstreete from the 1630s

Ruins of the Ambler House built in the 1750s and burned in two wars

The Ambler House was "the centerpiece of a fine plantation estate"

Modern bracing and brick caps have been added to preserve the ruins

View of the James River from Backstreete

Another lane with ditches and berms

Foundations of the 1668 row house on Backstreete

Swann's Tavern 1670s

Back River from the Island Loop Drive

Another view of Back River

Passmore Creek and the James River

Kingsmill Creek

Entrance to Historic Jamestowne is $14 per person for seven consecutive days and includes entrance to Yorktown Battlefield. Visitors with Interagency Access, Golden Access or Interagency Military passes are admitted for free. Entrance for holders of all other NPS passes is $5 per person to cover the Preservation Virginia entrance fee. Preservation Virginia members must pay a $5 per person adult NPS fee.

The Preservation Virginia website is http://preservationvirginia.org/.
The park website is http://www.nps.gov/jame/index.htm.