June 2

June 2. Well we’re here in Jamestown, Va. We decided to go over and spend the day touring the Jamestown settlement.

From our boat we could see the replicas of the 3 wooden ships that brought the colonists here to the new world. So we dinghied over to them to see if we could tie up there and enter the settlement. We pulled up along side the Susan Constant and hailed one of the tour guides on board to see about where to tie up. He was very nice but told us we would have to dinghy a couple of miles to a nearby marina and tie up there.



The ride took us through a winding creek that probably looked as it did 300 years ago. The marina can only accommodate small power boats as there is no water and the creek is spanned by a 12 foot fixed bridge. We find the dinghy dock and tie up and then set out on foot for the settlement.

The “settlement” was a thing to behold. It was just a short walk and we were at the beautiful, modern museum that is the gateway to the park. Inside there was room after room of artifacts that had been unearthed at the site of the original settlement. First there was an excellent 20 minute film to brush up on the history of the place.

You could easily spend hours inside the building. Outside the building there is an Indian village as it would have appeared at the time. Not many people realize that the Native Americans actually invented the baby stroller.



While we were walking through the Indian village we came upon a six foot snake just going about his business.



Then there also replicas of the 3 ships that first brought the people here and finally the wooden walled fort itself. Those people were either desperate or crazy as those ships weren’t as big as I though they would be.



Everything outside is a reproduction as everything was made of wood and has long ago rotted away. The fort, Indian village and boats were all staffed by people in period dress. The staffers did demonstrations from carpentry techniques used to black powder weapons being fired.



The place had a lot more to offer than I had expected and was a day well spent.