Legacies and Ferry Boats

In 1607, three ships carrying 104 men and boys anchored in the James River, some thirty miles north of what is now Chesapeake Bay, and established the first English colony in America thirteen years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. Today that site is preserved as a National Monument, and along with the Preservation Virginia organization, maintains, excavates, and studies the landing site.

On Thursday, we decided to visit Jamestown, and soak in a bit more history. We started our journey at the Tercentenary Monument, placed at the 300th anniversary of the landing.

And soon joined a tour led by Ranger Jerome, who was a well-spoken, knowledgeable man with a great grasp of the areas history.

We learned that after investigating six other possible landing sites along the James River, the expedition chose to land at this spot. Within two weeks, the Indians had attacked and killed a few of the settlers, so in nineteen days, a fort was constructed out of wooden poles sunk into a four foot deep trench which was then filled in with dirt. The site of the fort has been discovered, and recreated.

Life in the settlement was not easy. The expedition had been organized by the Virginia Company of London, but most of the first colonists were of the aristocracy, and expected to have their needs met by the remaining people. Not a good idea in a harsh environment. The expeditions mission was two-fold: to counter a Spanish claim of the entire New World, and prevent further Spanish encroachment from the south, and also to find and send back to England as much gold and silver as ships could carry. Well, the second plan didn't work out so well. By 1609, 300 colonists lived in Jamestown, having been brought by ship from England, and the local Powhatan tribes saw a severe threat to their land. They laid siege to the town in late 1609, preventing colonists from accessing food or water. Reduced to drinking water from the James River and exhuming the dead for food, only 60 survived the "Starving Times".  Capt John Smith keeps his people together, but as they were abandoning the colony, ready to sail back to England, ships arrive with supplies and new settlers. The Powhatan tribes continued to wage sporadic attacks on settlers along the river, but the colonists were growing in number. John Smith returned to England, having befriended a ten-year-old Powhatan girl named Pocahontas. He was 29 at the time. Pocahontas was the favorite daughter of Chief Powhatan, and her capture and imprisonment by the English caused Chief Powhatan to sue for peace. Her real name was Matoaka, and Pocahontas was the nickname given to her by her father, meaning "spoiled daughter". Some years later, after she converted to Christianity, she married John Rolfe, a tobacco farmer, and had one son. She and John and their son went to England to meet Queen Anne, wife of James I, where she fell ill and died. She was buried at St. Georges church on March 21st, 1617.

Blissfully unaware of the future hardships, the colonists thought they had reached paradise!

The landing site is a beautiful place.

But now, we only have fragmentary knowledge of the town that once existed here. Excavation has been conducted to the point of identifying a number of building, and original brick foundations have been discovered. The original bricks have been buried to preserve them from the elements, and recreations have been set in the same locations.

With a nod to Capt John Smith,

And a wave to Pocahontas,

We left the site and drove to the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry, where we boarded the "Williamsburg" for a long voyage to Scotland.

As luck would have it, we weren't in THAT Scotland, but simply a quaint village just across the James River, where we turned around and boarded the "Pocahontas" for the return trip.

Guess who was waiting patiently for us to return?