Today has been a very interesting day. We visited the second of three areas in this Historic Triangle - Historic Jamestowne and the Jamestown Settlement. The third area is Yorktown, a living-history museum of the American Revolution and where the battle for American Independence was won. With only two full days in this area we only had the time to visit two of the three sites and Yorktown lost out! Another day here would have been good.
Whereas Colonial Williamsburg was very interesting and historic, Jamestown meant much more to me, as a Brit, as it was there on 14th May 1606 that 114 men and boys landed and set up the first English Colony in America - 13 years before the Pilgrim Fathers landed in New Plymouth.
There are two sites - Historic Jamestowne which is the archaeological site of the original Fort James, and Jamestown Settlement which is a ‘living museum’.
We took the shuttle bus from Williamsburg Visitors Centre and started, on what was to become yet another very hot day, in Historic Jamestowne and had a half-hour introductory talk by a very entertaining Park Ranger who gave us lots of background on the colony and information on such people as John Smith and Pocahontas. There are lots of archaeological works ongoing and many hundreds of artefacts have been found. These are displayed in a very well laid out ‘Archaearium’
Whereas Colonial Williamsburg was very interesting and historic, Jamestown meant much more to me, as a Brit, as it was there on 14th May 1606 that 114 men and boys landed and set up the first English Colony in America - 13 years before the Pilgrim Fathers landed in New Plymouth.
There are two sites - Historic Jamestowne which is the archaeological site of the original Fort James, and Jamestown Settlement which is a ‘living museum’.
We took the shuttle bus from Williamsburg Visitors Centre and started, on what was to become yet another very hot day, in Historic Jamestowne and had a half-hour introductory talk by a very entertaining Park Ranger who gave us lots of background on the colony and information on such people as John Smith and Pocahontas. There are lots of archaeological works ongoing and many hundreds of artefacts have been found. These are displayed in a very well laid out ‘Archaearium’
.JPG)
Model of Fort James with archaeologist working in the background
.JPG)
From there we re-boarded the shuttle for 5 minute ride to Jamestown Settlement. This is in the form of a living museum and includes a reconstructed Fort James, three life-size replica 1607 ships in a dock, replica Powhatan Indian Village and a huge gallery chronicling the nation‘s 17th century beginnings in Virginia. This was a great place to visit and made history really come alive and I certainly learned a lot there.
.JPG)
Part of the replica Fort
.JPG)
.JPG)
Replica Indian Powhatan village
We ended the day in the same Italian restaurant as last night - simply because it is located just next door and we were too tired to go further!
0 comments:
Post a Comment