5/22/07 - Site of the Original Jamestown Colony

Today we visited Jamestown, which was the first permanent English colony in the Americas.  The colonists arrived in May 1607, 400 years ago this month.  History of Jamestown

 

The sign in this picture shows what the fort is thought to have looked like, based on archeological evidence.

Archeologists have been exploring the Jamestown site for a number of years and the digs are ongoing.

Note the remains of a brick and stone foundation in this picture.  The lines in the surface indicate the edges of disturbed soil or structures.

View of another dig site.  The crosses in the foreground mark the locations of burials that were discovered during an earlier dig.  The statue on the pedestal in the distance is Captain John Smith.

A section of the reconstructed palisade that was built following the methods used by the colonists.

 

 During the Civil War these earthworks were constructed by the Confederate forces to defend the James River and their capital, Richmond, VA which lies upstream.  At that time the exact location of the Jamestown colony had been lost to history, so the soldiers didn't realize that they were building on the site of the original colony.

We drove home the next day, after staying the night at a campground in Williamsburg.