Visiting Jamestown

Many of you have visited Jamestown Settlement, but how many of you have been to the Historic Jamestowne? While both places are educational they are unique in how they teach the history of Virginia and the beginning of our great nation. As a long-time resident of Virginia, I recently learned that there were two different Jamestown sites. These locations are only a few miles apart but have key differences.

Jamestown Settlement is a replicated version of what the Jamestown fort might have looked like. Many local schools take field tips to Jamestown Settlement because it is more interactive. I went with my class one fall in elementary school. This site has replicas of what the fort probably looked like,

including colonists’ houses, slave quarters, and even the governor’s house. There were also replica Indian sites. It also has ships that look like the Godspeed, Susan Constant, and the Discovery that you can explore. This was probably my favorite part of this trip. Children learn different ways such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Jamestown Settlement gives students opportunities to learn using all of these methods. Students also remember things better when they have a physical thing to touch.

 Historic Jamestowne is the actual location where the fort once existed. This site may not be as interactive, but it is full of rich history.  It was amazing to stand there reading all the history markers and plaques thinking about what it must have been like when the colonists first arrived. Visitors can stand where buildings used to be, see the shore where the ships landed, and look at artifacts that were discovered on the site.  I stood exactly where the fort fence once stood and looked out over the James.  It was incredible to think that 410 years earlier, a settler stood in this exact spot overlooking the river.  America was only a dream at that time.  I loved experiencing the sights and sounds that these settlers experienced.   

The settling of Jamestown is very important to the history of Virginia and the United States of America. Jamestown is the first permanent English settlement in America and it happened in the state of Virginia. Many foundational events happened here including the creation of a government system, as the first capitol of Virginia and home of the longest continuously meeting legislative body in America!  I hope you enjoy your visit to one or both of these sites.