Jamestown Settlement

Reconstructed Jamestown Indian Village

Reconstructed English Colony Fort

Jamestown, our nation's birthplace, is nestled on the James River as one of the anchors of Virginia's Historic Triangle. Jamestown in all of its historical and cultural richness, is represented by two distinct, but complementary settings - Historic Jamestowne and Jamestown Settlement. In honor of Virginia's 400th anniversary and in anticipation of more than one million visitors to Virginia, both are making improvements to their individual sites while jointly planning complementary programs and events for 2007 that help emphasize and showcase the history and legacies of Jamestown – the birthplace of modern America.

Historic Jamestowne, jointly administered by the National Park Service and the APVA Preservation Virginia preserves features of 17th-century Jamestown, including a church tower, reconstructed foundations of buildings, ruins of the 1608 glass factory and a reconstructed operating glasshouse. Historic Jamestowne showcases our nation's birthplace through archaeological excavation sites and educational programs.

Replicas of ships that arrived at Jamestown

In 1607, some 13 years before the voyage of the Mayflower, an expedition sponsored by the Virginia Company of London established the first permanent English settlement in America.

The colony was located on the north bank of the James river estuary, and was named Jamestown in honour of king James the First. From the first the settlement seemed doomed to failure through bad planning. The original group of 104, all men and boys, were chosen from 'gentlemen' investors, unsuitable tradesmen and unskilled urban poor. They arrived ill equipped and unprepared for the rigours of life required to establish the settlement.With not a farmer amongst them, and with ongoing hostilities with the native Powhatan Indians, starvation was a constant in the early years. Even with the iron rule of Capt. John Smith, who established a 'no work - no food' policy, only 35 were to survive the first winter. The Virginia company, thinking only of profits, continued to send inadequate supplies of food, and colonists such as goldsmiths and glass blowers. Despite the disastrous "Starving Time" in 1609/10, when 330 of 390 died, the colony endured. Eventually the introduction of tobacco as a cash crop that ensured the life of the settlement. Jamestown was to remain the primary community in Virginia until the decision to move the state capital to Williamsburg in the early 1700's.

Commemoratives