Jamestown, founded in 1607, is believed to be the first permanent English settlement in the New World--discovered 13 years before settlers landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Situated near Williamsburg and Yorktown in what has been labeled the Historic Triangle of Virginia, Jamestown is a Mecca for American history buffs. Its location along the James River also makes it an attractive spot for boating and fishing enthusiasts.
Historic Jamestowne
Run by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and the National Park Service, Historic Jamestowne is both an active archaeological dig site and a public museum, displaying freshly unearthed artifacts from the 400-year-old colony.
Admission includes access to the reconstructed 17th-century Jamestown Memorial Church and its original church tower. You can also get a tour of the dig, led by the director of the Jamestown Rediscovery Archaeological Project, as archaeologists uncover the lost James Fort.
Jamestown Settlement
Right next to Historic Jamestowne, the Jamestown Settlement museum provides a more interactive visitor experience, with replicas of the three ships that made the journey from England, a reconstructed fort and a recreation of a Powhatan Indian village.
Historical interpreters, including blacksmiths and tobacco growers, reenact the scenes of daily colonial life in the early 1600s. In the Powhatan village, interpreters make tools and pots, weave clothing and prepare animal hides.
Yorktown
Just down the road from Jamestown, the Yorktown Victory Center recreates a later historical moment: the Siege of Yorktown in 1781, a decisive battle that prompted British troops to surrender and effectively ended the Revolutionary War.
Here, historical interpreters recreate a Continental Army encampment and a 1780s farmhouse, illustrating how American soldiers and citizens lived near the end of the Revolutionary War period. In the Discovery Room, children can dress up in 18th-century regalia, from breeches to tricorn hats.
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is a major tourist draw for the area, with an entire city recreated as it would have been in the 1700s. The 301-acre historic acre includes dozens of original buildings and hundreds more reconstructed, including the entire workings of an 18th-century revolutionary city, from the church to the pub, weaver to shoemaker, courthouse to gallows and jail.
A legion of historical interpreters staff Colonial Williamsburg and stage period events, from fife-and-drum concerts to a reenacted witch trial.
Fishing and Boating
If you get tired of historical reenactment, Jamestown's rural setting offers chances to commune with nature as well, particularly along the riverfront.
Several outfits offer boat tours and chartered fishing along the James River as well as along the York River, a short distance across the peninsula from Jamestown.
In the summer months, you can sail from Yorktown on a 105-foot gaff-rigged schooner, the "Alliance." You can also rent a boat and set sail for your own tour of the peninsula or Chesapeake Bay.
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