This is the final post in a travel series. In this series, we are headed east starting in Wisconsin and going all the way to Virginia to see the home of George Washington and Colonial Williamsburg. To start at the beginning, go HERE where we stop in Indiana to celebrate Easter with my daughter, son-in-law, and our grandchildren.
After seeing the site of the original Jamestown Settlement the day before, the next morning we headed back to Jamestown to learn all about how the early colonists lived in Jamestown. The Jamestown Settlement is located just a short drive from the original site. This place is similar to Colonial Williamsburg: it's a living history museum with a reconstruction of Jamestown, a museum, and live people showing how the early colonists lived.
Outside of the living history museum is this Quadricentennial Plaza which has a sculpture of the three ships (Godspeed, Susan Constant, and Discovery) that arrived in Jamestown with the first colonists and the flags of all fifty U.S. State displayed in the order they were admitted to the Union.
After we paid our admission fee (just $20) we saw a short movie title "1607: A Nation Takes Root". This film traced the evolution of the Virginia Company that sponsored the Jamestown Colony and also looked at the relationship between the colonists and the Powhatan Indians.
Now, the smart thing to do would be to walk through the very large, and nice museum first, then explore the grounds. We did it the opposite; we decided to explore the grounds in the cool of the morning, and also while it was less crowded, and then tour in the museum in the heat of the afternoon.
Once outside the first thing we saw was this memorial. It was erected in 1957 to commemorate the settlement established in 1607.
Going outside first was a smart idea. We had the whole place to ourselves, if only for a short while, and got some great photos. Pictured below is the outside of the James Fort. It is surrounded on all sides by a tall picket fence.
There are cannons inside to protect the colonists from the Indians.
You could freely walk inside all the buildings and see how the soldiers/colonists lived. There was a lot of armor, and weapons displayed. They also had helmets and breast plates for small children or silly husbands to try on.
Some of the buildings had actors inside dressed in period costume demonstrating a skill of the early Colonists. You could talk to them and ask questions.
One of the buildings was a church but this public building was also used for legislative meetings as well. Those pews do not look very comfortable. I wonder how long the sermons were?😆
In addition to the Anglican Church, the re-created fort had a court of guard, a storehouse, and a governor's house all with thatched roofs.
Pictured below is the inside of the storehouse.
These employees were giving a cooking demonstration. They had live chickens running around.
I would imagine this more ornate bed was in the Governor's house as none of the other beds we saw looked like this.
This man was showing the tools he used in the practice of medicine.
And what is a living history museum without a blacksmith?
When we were done touring all the buildings inside the James Fort, we saw a Musket Demonstration!
When we exited the fort, we saw colonists working in the garden.
Our next stop was to head to the James River to see life-size replicas of two of the three ships that brought the Colonists to the New World.
You could walk onto the ship and go below deck!
I had to ask the employees if these were really life size replicas because they seemed so small. It was hard to believe that they held all the colonists, the crew, plus their supplies, but he assured me they were accurate.
It is really fun and exciting to get on these ships and just imagine what the journey must have been like for the early colonists. I can't even fathom how difficult it must have been. We get upset today is our two hour plane ride has a layover.
After touring the ships and soaking in the James River views, we then headed over to the Paspahegh Town. the Paspahegh were one of 30-plus Algonquian-speaking tribal groups that belonged to the Powhatan paramount chiefdom. The re-creation of their town was based on archaeological findings along the James River, oral tradition from Virginia's tribes, and descriptions of illustrations recorded by English Colonists in the 17th century.
The town is located in a wooded clearing and has reed-covered houses with cooking areas, fields, and a ceremonial circle of carved wooden posts. Here guests learn about the traditional culture of these Indigenous people. Historical interpreters discuss and demonstrate traditional Powhatan cultural activities such as hunting, fishing gathering, preparing food, processing animal hides, crafting a dugout canoe, making pottery, and weaving.
It was really fun to be able to inside one of the huts and see and learn how the people kept warm with a fire. It was really smokey if you stood up, but if you were sitting or laying down it wasn't smokey at all.
Well, by now we explored all the outside grounds so we went back inside to enjoy the museum. It was a very nice, large museum with lots of great exhibits and movies. The museum features a collection of more than 500 period objects from Virginia, Europe, and Africa. Visitors can compare and contrast each of the three cultures and the impact of the 1619 historical events that shaped Virginia
My favorite part of the museum was the "Bacon's Rebellion" 4-D multi-sensory movie where we learned the story of a 1676 armed rebellion of Virginia colonists and how the town of Jamestown ceased to be. Such a sad story.
And that concludes my travel series to Colonial Williamsburg and the Historic Triangle. My next vacation will be to Door County, Wisconsin in August and after that we are going back to Branson, Missouri in the fall. In the meantime, I plan on showing you lots of staycations.
Have a Great Week! Amy
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For more information on the Historical Triangle, check out these posts:
