This is the seventh 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 spending most of the day in Yorktown, we still had some time left over to check out Jamestown and see what was there and if we wanted to come back the next day to explore more. Jamestown, Yorktown, and Colonial Williamsburg are all part of what is known as The Historic Triangle and are located very close together. Our first stop was the Historic Jamestown Visitor Center which is part of our National Park System so if you have the America The Beautiful pass, you get in free, otherwise there is an admission price.
The Visitor Center was very nice and very informative. This wall shows all there is do and see at Historic Jamestown.
We first spent some time inside the Visitor Center reading everything we would need to know before exploring the historic settlement ruins.
As you can probably tell by the pictures, the Visitor Center is quite large and filled with great exhibits.
There is also a short movie about Historic Jamestown which we absolutely loved. It's shown in a "theatre in the round setting" There are two large screens; on opposite sides of each other, plus there are special projections onto the floor. It was a really cool experience.
After viewing the movie and seeing all the exhibits in the Visitor Center it was now time to venture outside and see the ruins of the very first Colonial Settlement in the New World.
First, we had to cross this bridge, that was an experience in itself because we saw so much wildlife underneath the bridge: lots of turtles and waterfowl.
Next to the Jamestown Settlement is another attraction called the "Jamestown Rediscovery" that is not connected with the National Parks so you have to pay an additional $15.00 to go inside. We didn't want to pay for it, but we enjoyed viewing it from the grounds of the National Historical Site. The next few photos show buildings on the "Jamestown Rediscovery" side of the National Historic Area.
Below is pictured the 1607 James Fort
The Jamestown (Memorial) Church was constructed in brick in 1639 and is one of the oldest surviving building remnants by Europeans.
Back in the National Historic Park we walked the path along the James River and viewed all the areas where the settlement once stood.
The Jamestown Tercentennial Monument was placed on the Jamestowne Island by the United States Government in 1907 for the 300th anniversary of the settlement. It stands 104 feet tall (one foot for each of the first settlers) and is made of New Hampshire granite.
The path to see all the ruins of the Jamestown Settlement runs along the James River so you always have beautiful, peaceful views.
To my surprise, I discovered that even though Jamestown was America's first town, no town exists on that island today. It had a long history of fires, starvation, disease, rebellion, and Indian attacks resulting in its ceasing to be a town in 1699. Today, it is a historic site, though there is still a private residence on the island.
These bricks are all that remain of the town today.
As a woman, I was really interested in how important women were to the survival of the new settlement. So much so, that in 1619 about 90 women were recruited and shipped over to become wives and start families in Virginia.
The next day, we went back to Jamestown to spend the day at The Jamestown Settlement. I will share more about Jamestown and it's incredible people in next week's Travel Post! See you then!
Have a Great Week! Amy
Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!
For more information on the Historical Triangle, check out these posts:
Oh very amazing darling
ReplyDeleteYour outfit is really cute!
Thank you so much!
DeleteThat is very interesting!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely!
DeleteYour dress is so pretty! This would be neat to see. So much history!
ReplyDeleteCarrie
curlycraftymom.com
It's actually my daughters. These type of dresses are totally her style. I borrowed three of them to wear in the Williamsburg area. Yes, so much history in the area.
DeleteSo pretty and interesting, specially about the women. Love that the path runs along the river.
ReplyDelete-Soma
It really is. The women were so courageous to leave their families and travel so far.
DeleteYour travel posts are always filled with so many nuggets of interesting info. I find history and learning more about how people once lived so fascinating, I didn't realize, but I guess I'm not surprised, that women were recruited to come to Virginia and it's quite humbling to only see the stones remain from a community that once lived there.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. I'm so glad you enjoy them.
DeleteI really enjoyed your post, Amy, as we visited Jamestown last summer while on an east coast cruise. We had once visited many years ago before the archeology digs were done and before the museum, and we were amazed at how wonderfully the Jamestown story is now shown.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Wow. I can't even imagine seeing the place without the museum/archeology. It would be hard to know what even happened here. I'm glad they invested in that.
DeleteHow cool to be traveling to all these historical places, I love visiting historical areas and landmarks. I love all your photos. There is place by me called Old Bethpage that is like this. I hope to get there during the holidays.
ReplyDeleteAllie of
www.allienyc.com
It is cool to visit someplace fun yet educational. Thanks so much. I hope you get to Old Bethpage.
DeleteAmy this sounds like a wonderful place to visit. Our intentions are to start doing more vacations in the United States. We have never been to Wisconsin. I enjoyed your photos and this post.
ReplyDeleteIt sure is. I hope you can do more vacations in the US, there are so many great places to visit.
DeleteThe visitors center looks like a great starting point with so much information. And the area is so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYes, it really was.
DeleteHow do you find all of these places to visit? Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteTake care and best wishes.
Pinterest or Google. I usually pick my destination first, then I google "things to do in..."
DeleteSo interesting.. looks like a lovely trip.
ReplyDeleteIt sure was.
DeleteThey certainly have updated this since we were there 30 some years ago. What a great way to experience history. Great photos, too! Sandi
ReplyDeleteThat's what another commenter said. Apparently, there wasn't much here before and the museums and visitor center are fairly new.
DeleteWomen shipped over to be wives? That sounds a bit off. Off to google the full history....#TravelTuesday
ReplyDeleteYup. They needed the women to both support the colony and produce children so that it grew. In the museum at The Jamestown Settlement there is a film with actresses reenacting letters the women wrote about why they were going to the colony or their lives there. It was the most fascinating exhibit to me.
DeleteAmy, I always love visiting your blog and seeing your newest adventure. It sounds like a wonderful place to visit. Featuring your post tomorrow at The Crazy Little Lovebirds link party. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. That is so nice to hear. That's great news about the feature too! I really appreciate it.
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