10/10/2022
There is a “Jamestowne Historic Area” AND a separate “Jamestown Settlement”. The Jamestown Settlement is a re-creation of the settlement on a different site away from the original historic site. Our plan for today: Visit the Jamestowne Historic Area, ($15 each with our National Park Pass), then go to the Yorktown Battlefield (FREE with Nat. Park Pass). We figured it would only take 1-1.5 hr at the historic site, so this way we could visit two places today.
The “Jamestown Settlement” was created to be a living history museum. To go there it is $30 for each adult. Unlike Colonial Williamsburg, you must have a ticket to even walk the streets of the settlement. It might be a cool experience, but since it was all created, we decided to pass at this time. We wanted to see the authentic historic site – at least for this trip.
NOTE
If the Williamsburg area is your prime destination, and you plan to spend 3-7 days here, you may want to consider the 7-day Triangle Pass. It includes Colonial Williamsburg with all demonstrations, Historic Jamestown, Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown Battlefields, and Yorktown American Revolution Museum. Price is $110 per adult. Looking at the website, the Jamestown Settlement seems to have more people dressed in period-attire walking about and interacting with folks, but I cannot attest to the reality of such.
Captain John Smith landed right here on the banks of the James River in May 1607, via the ships the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery. This peninsula is where they would make the first colonial settlement in America.
POCAHONTAS
Pocahontas was believed to be the favorite daughter of Chief Powhatan.
What was really cool about Historic Jamestown is that there were active archaeological sites throughout the area.
Historic Jamestown was amazing. While the triangular area of the original fort/settlement wasn’t that large, both within this triangular area and beyond those “walls” are multiple, active archaeological sites! This was really cool.
Wait! There’s more! A museum onsite has the artifacts excavated right here onsite!
We wandered the grounds further out.
Water Water Everywhere – but it was killing them!
May 1607 the snow melt made the river water taste good, but then summer arrived. George Percy reported, “our drink…was at a flood very salt, at a low tide full of slime and filth.” The problem of a drinkable water plagued the colonists. Shallow wells that they tried throughout the area were contaminated with surface pollution. When drought conditions occurred the water became even saltier. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the nearby swamp constantly added naturally occurring arsenic to the toxic water.
Oysters to make LIME! Hopefully, they first cooked the oysters and ate them and didn’t waste them.
We are so glad we came her today. After spending four enjoyable hours here, we decided we did not need to go to Yorktown to walk around a battlefield. We’re good to go home and get ready to leave in the morning for a welcomed “recovery” overnight in North Carolina.