Visiting Jamestown

Jamestown was established in Virginia in 1607 and became the first permanent English settlement in what would become the United States. More than 400 years later, it remains one of the most important historic sites in the country. Although little remains above ground from the earliest settlement, visitors can explore both the original historic site and nearby recreations of life in the early colony. Costumed historical interpreters, reconstructed buildings, ships, and demonstrations help show what life was like for the English settlers and the Native peoples who already inhabited the region.

There are actually two major attractions associated with Jamestown. Historic Jamestowne preserves the location of the original English settlement, where archaeologists have uncovered foundations, artifacts, and the remains of the early fort. Nearby Jamestown Settlement is a living-history museum with reconstructed buildings, a Powhatan village, and replicas of the ships that brought the first colonists across the Atlantic. Both are worth visiting, although the recreated settlement is particularly interesting if you want to see what life might have looked like rather than just read about it.

The original settlers crossed the Atlantic aboard three ships belonging to the Virginia Company of London: the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery. The expedition was commanded by Captain Christopher Newport and departed England in December 1606. After a voyage lasting more than four months, the ships reached the Chesapeake Bay in April 1607 before continuing up the James River and establishing Jamestown the following month. Above are replicas representing the ships that carried the first colonists to Virginia, giving visitors a much better idea of just how cramped and difficult such a long voyage must have been.

The largest of the three ships, the Susan Constant, was only about 116 feet (35 meters) long, while the Discovery was considerably smaller. It’s difficult to imagine spending months crossing an ocean in vessels this size, especially with so many people and supplies crowded aboard. The replicas allow visitors to walk around the decks and get a closer look at the sails, rigging, and wooden construction. Considering how little the sailors knew about the coastline and conditions awaiting them, the voyage was an impressive undertaking.

The English settlers arrived in a region already inhabited by numerous Native American communities belonging to the Powhatan chiefdom. Relations between the colonists and the Powhatan peoples shifted repeatedly between trade, cooperation, tension, and warfare as the English settlement expanded. The recreated Powhatan village at Jamestown helps show how the region’s Native inhabitants lived at the beginning of the 17th century. Above is a reconstructed dwelling, while the photo on the right shows animal hides being prepared.

The Powhatan peoples had been living in the Chesapeake region for generations before the English arrived. Their communities relied on agriculture, fishing, hunting, and trade, and they were already well adapted to the local environment. The reconstructed homes show how wooden frames could be covered with mats or bark, while canoes were essential for traveling along the region’s many rivers and waterways. In many ways, the Native inhabitants were much better prepared to survive here than the newly arrived Europeans.

One of the most famous figures associated with Jamestown is Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan leader Wahunsenacawh. Her story has become heavily romanticized over the centuries, particularly through movies, but the real history was far more complicated. She eventually married English colonist John Rolfe and traveled to England, where she died in 1617 at approximately 20 or 21 years old. Her life reflects just how dramatically the arrival of the English changed the region.

Life in early Jamestown was extremely difficult. Disease, food shortages, conflict, and the unfamiliar environment caused high death rates during the colony’s first years, and its survival was far from guaranteed. Over time, additional settlers and skilled workers arrived from England and elsewhere in Europe, while the growth of tobacco eventually gave the colony an important source of income. Reconstructed homes and demonstrations by historical interpreters show some of the building techniques and trades that were necessary for the settlement to survive and grow.

The reconstructed buildings also give visitors a look inside the homes of the early settlers. Furnishings were generally simple, and even basic comforts that we take for granted today could be difficult to obtain. During Jamestown’s first years, surviving the winter was a much greater concern than having a comfortable house. The winter of 1609–1610 became known as the Starving Time, when disease and severe food shortages killed most of the colonists remaining in the settlement. It’s remarkable that the colony survived at all.

The original settlers constructed a triangular wooden fort to help defend their small community. Its walls and cannons offered some protection, but they couldn’t prevent the diseases and food shortages that threatened the settlement. The English also depended heavily on trade with the Powhatan peoples, and when relations deteriorated, obtaining food became even more difficult. Although the fort looks fairly substantial in its reconstructed form, the early colonists were living in an extremely vulnerable position.

One of the more entertaining parts of visiting a living-history museum is being able to get a closer look at the equipment people used hundreds of years ago. Above is a photo of me wearing historical armor, which certainly isn’t something I get to do at most historic sites. Armor and weapons were important to the colonists, although the practical challenges of living in Virginia probably made farming tools and construction equipment just as valuable.

Jamestown is also a popular destination for school groups, families, and anyone interested in early American history. The living-history demonstrations make it considerably easier to imagine the settlement as a functioning community rather than simply a collection of dates and historical names. With so many historic places scattered across Virginia, it’s easy to overlook just how significant Jamestown was to the development of English colonial America.

Jamestown eventually expanded far beyond the struggling settlement established in 1607, becoming an important center of colonial Virginia before the capital was moved to Williamsburg in 1699. Today the area is especially interesting because you can see several sides of the story in one place, from the experiences of the English colonists to those of the Powhatan peoples whose homeland they entered. For such a small historic site, Jamestown represents the beginning of a major chapter in the history of Virginia and the United States.