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Sunday, August 11, 2024

Norfolk, Virginia, and Historic Jamestown Rediscovery



Thank you to all who read my prior blog post about the wildfire that was in our community and expressed concern for the residents and firefighters. Thankfully, due to the extraordinary diligence and heroism of many local firefighter units, Specialty Wildfire"Hot Shot" crews, aerial support with helicopter and tanker planes dumping water, and our sheriff's department maintaining security in evacuated areas and keeping us informed with daily press conferences, the wildfire was brought under full containment by August 7th.  No loss of life or loss of structures occurred. We were all extremely grateful and relieved for all the efforts to keep us safe!

I'm continuing today on my blog to show another stop at our June Princess Cruise when we traveled from New York along the East Coast and back to New York.  We visited Peggy's Cove in Halifax, Nova Scotia, The John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, and our third stop was Norfolk, Virginia!



Norfolk, Virginia is home to the Naval Station Norfolk-- the world’s largest naval base!  There are many sites and museums dedicated to honoring the US military in the Norfork area, including the Nauticus and the USS Wisconsin. The USS Wisconsin is a battleship that participated in WWII, the Korean War, and the Gulf War.


We were fortunate to see many naval ships at the docks of the Naval Station Norfork as our cruise ship sailed toward the city port. 

 We chose to take a day excursion to visit historic Jamestown, the first colonial site of British America. 

On May 14, 1607, the Virginia Company settlers landed on Jamestown Island to establish an English colony 60 miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Discovery of the exact location of the first fort indicates its site was in a secure place, where Spanish ships could not fire point blank into the fort.

Please click on the photo to enlarge it to read the informational placard.

Our tour guide told us a brief history of Jamestown and encouraged us to first visit the Native Powhatan village re-enactment area. My husband and I visited Jamestown many decades ago and we were amazed by how much has been done in the later years to tell its story! Over 25 years of exploration have established the location of the fort and principal buildings and recovered more than three million artifacts. The archaeological site of the actual settlement is located one mile from the Jamestown Rediscovery Visitors Center.





A replica of a Powhatan Village.


 
A view inside of what a Powhatan home would look like in the 17th century.



Many re-enactors demonstrated the life skills of the Powhatan natives of the 17th century.



In June of 1606, King James I granted a charter to a group of London entrepreneurs, the Virginia Company, to establish an English settlement in the Chesapeake region of North America. In December of that year, 104 settlers sailed from London with Company instructions to build a secure settlement, find gold, and seek a water route to the Pacific. They sailed on three ships, replicas of which we were able to board during our tour.




A re-enactor described the Jamestown settlers' voyage west,




The Jamestown settlement has a stocked defense built around it for protection.



The replica Jamestown settlement had re-enactors that demonstrated everyday life during the early years.   To date, archaeologists have excavated approximately 80% of the original 1607 triangular fort and 50% of the expanded 5-sided 1608 fort, yielding some 3 million artifacts from the settlement’s early years, increasing knowledge about the site and the people that lived there.




We watched this re-enactor show us how a 17th-century musket was fired.  You can watch a YouTube of the process I filmed at this link.





After visiting the replica villages we entered the Jamestown Rediscovery Visitor's Center Museum to look at all the interesting exhibits.







Please click on the photo to enlarge it and read the museum's informational placards.



Please click on the photo collage to read the information about the early starvation the settlers faced and the story of Captain John Smith.


Jamestown is managed by two separate organizations, Jamestown Rediscovery (Preservation Virginia) and Colonial National Historical Park (National Park Service). Each location requires a fee to enter, so visitors should expect to buy both tickets to see the full site.

We spent two hours exploring Jamestown Rediscovery and could have spent even more time there, but we had a part two visit to our excursion which was visiting nearby Yorktown--the last battle of the American Revolutionary War.  That will be on my next post!


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20 comments:

  1. wow.....having to wear that heavy uniform and reload one by one....Michelle

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  2. Very nice, I was stationed at the Naval Base-Norfolk from August 1990 until January 1992. Looks like it has changed for the better

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  3. How wonderful that they have found so many artifacts and the village. It is unimaginable what the early settlers had to endure. Thanks for the tour.

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  4. Great post Pat! I enjoyed all the photos, I live not too far from these places but I have never visited. I will have to check them out.
    Take care, enjoy your day and have a great week!

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  5. How wonderful, Pat! You are in our neck of the woods and you described the area beautifully. I'm glad to see the detail you included in your informative post. Have a happy week!

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  6. That is very cool that they reenact the 17th century, I love that kind of stuff. There are lots over here in the UK covering the times from the Saxons around 1000 years ago. Best one I went to was a Saxon one near where I live, even got to swing a long sword

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  7. Great stops on that cruise. Looks like the Jamestown excursion was well worth it!

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  8. That is so wonderful to hear that the fire was contained without any loss of life or property! That sounds like such a fascinating day. It reminds me just of bit of some of the colonial places we have around here (mainly the Plymouth Plantation).

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  9. What a good post and so interesting too thanks for sharing :-)

    Have an historic week Pat 👍

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  10. I loved reading this! I just got back from vacation in Virginia Beach. I went to Jamestown and Williamsburg a few years ago and it is so educational and fascinating to learn all of this history again!

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  11. Wow... very, very interesting to read, Pat. I enjoyed your Post for Information, for Details.
    Thank you being part again at MM.
    Hugs by Heidrun

    PS: Thank you for your nice comment too

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  12. I'd love to explore the area you show where the Powatan settlement is reenacted. Looks fascinating!
    Thanks for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2024/08/a-few-more-details-inside-pennsylvania.html

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  13. thank you so much, it is great to hear what all has been done at Jamestown, and what is available tour wise. I need to add that to my list of things to see based on what I taught History wise, as a 5th grade teacher! thanks! Patty

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  14. Oh, I love Jamestown but I haven’t been in years. I need to go back.

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  15. This is all very interesting. I can tell that I am way behind on my history of Jamestown. I had no idea that so much research has been done.

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  16. I have nice memories of visiting both the Wisconsin and Jamestown and your photos bring back wonderful memories. I found both fascinating in very different ways. You certainly had a fabulous tour of Jamestown. I often thought if the guns we still had were muskets that were slow to load we wouldn't need to worry about gun control.

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  17. One of the places I want to see/visit is Norfolk to see the naval base. This post is making my desire greater! Thank you so much for sharing your images.
    Take care and best wishes.

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