Jamestown, VA–Recreated

In December 1606, chartered by King James I, and funded by the Virginia Company of London (who hoped to profit from the endeavor,) 3 ships and 105 brave adventures set sail for the new land.

They spent the first 6 weeks of the voyage at the precipice of the open ocean waiting for a series of bad weather storms to pass. (and we think waiting on the airport runway for more than 1/2 hour is inhumane!)

All three ships carried passengers and supplies while the Susan Constant, the largest of the ships, also carried livestock….yeah I don’t think I would want to be sailing on that ship, phew!

The passengers were not allowed on deck….yep you guessed it….4 months in small cramped quarters, sleeping on top of all of the supplies, no baths and lots of chamber pots. There were a few portholes allowing some fresh air and sunlight to filter in.

Though it may look spacious, fill it with tools, food and beer for the trip, some livestock and their food, plus a few personal items and you run out of room. The passengers had to live on top of their supplies.

Which turned the living area more into a crawl space. I just can’t imagine.

During bad weather the crew may not be able to check on the colonists for days, meaning those chamber pots didn’t get emptied and the corals the livestock were housed in didn’t get cleaned either. Surprisingly, only one colonist died on the trip.

Not everyone had it so rough. Though modest, the Captain’s quarters were private, well lit and ventilated.

The crew quarters were a series of bunk beds very much like the ones you might find on a submarine. They each had their own little space, with a comfy mattress….

The galley was a fairly large space comparatively, but the cook had a lot of mouths to feed. The fire pit was large and deep with a big opening for venting. An out of control fire on a wooden ship would be disastrous.

The settlers arrived at the coast of America late in April 1607, and after 2 weeks of exploring, decided to set up camp along the James River. It was a defensible position (against the Spaniards), and they could be easily re-supplied by ships coming from England.

Unfortunately for them, their selected sight was within the 14,000-strong, powerful Powhatan chiefdom. Relations were established as well as trading opportunities, but this was a tenuous arrangement.

Here is the recreation of the Powhatan Village.

Hey look!! A couple of squaws!

Another challenge facing the colonist was their unfamiliarity with the climate. They arrived too late to plant and harvest food for the winter. Their shaky relationship with the Powhatan, specifically Pocahontas, is what saved the few colonists who survived the first winter.

The original Jamestown settlement was established on the border of swamps and wetlands, which may be great for birds, fish and reptiles but not so much for people. Disease spread by mosquitos and brackish water added to the number deaths.

As the years went by the colony received much needed supplies from England and as additional colonist traveled to the new world, Jamestown began to grow.

With the abundance of wood and materials the land provided, houses and business were built.

In 1610 a second charter, issued by King James I, brought a governor and a group of advisors to Jamestown to establish a government with laws to bring order to the settlement. He even got his own “Governor’s mansion”

A church was built as well, especially now that women were arriving and they were fearing for the mortal souls of the men (I’m guessing.)

Talk about uncomfortable pews. I wonder if anyone could fall asleep during a sermon on one of these?

We saw some pretty interesting hardware around town so we ventured on over to the blacksmith to ask some questions.

We certainly got a lesson. According to our interpreter blacksmiths were fixers. You would by a chisel from a chisel maker, but if it broke you took it to a blacksmith to get it fixed. If you needed a lock you went to a locksmith. When it broke you took it to the blacksmith to get it fixed. Get the picture?

And if you need a gun you go to a gunsmith. A colonist from the army demonstrated a period gun for us. You can see holes in the fence behind him. These were used for defending the colony against Indians and Spaniards.