TAHG Day 2

We woke up in Williamsburg, VA this morning, and I must come back to this town some day!  It looks amazing, but we headed straight for Jamestown.  We only visited the National Parks site, not the recreated, working village, but I want to visit there some day too.  Mom....girls' trip!

The actual site of Jamestown is incredible.  We crossed a beautiful swamp to the point where Jamestown is built.  The original settlement poked out about 500 feet further into the James River than what is left today.  Erosion is a powerful thing!

Back side of the fort.

Park Ranger Bill was our guide through the settlement, and he was an amazing teacher.  He held our attention captive at each stop, enthralling us with story after story about how the settlement was recreated with precise accuracy.  The archaeology that is taking place at Jamestown is fascinating.  It is still an active archaeology dig site, and several archaeologists were out digging today.  A few of the trash heaps the first settlers used have been uncovered, and the team said they typically uncover something every 10 minutes.  Today they found a bead while we were visiting with them.  So cool.

Natashia, Sandy, and me in the recreated barracks.

Recreation of the walls of the original barracks.

Archaeologists working

The bead

The fort has held three church as the first two were destroyed, and the remaining building is gorgeous.  A ranger docent was dressed as a pristine colonist, telling the true love story of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. Thank you Disney for ruining the story for my 6th graders, but you did give me a great tool to teach God, Gold, and Glory through the Virginia Company song, so I guess it balances.

 

Sandy, Natashia, Kim, and me in front of the church.

The settlement is 405 years old and is the confluence of Native American, European, and African cultures.  The stories that have unfolded on that piece of ground are incredible.  It was humbling to walk where John Smith, John Rolfe, Pocahontas, and so many others who shaped our country walked and worked and survived.  I have plenty of stories, but don't want to bore the world, so just ask for more.

Grave of Captain Bartholomew Gosnold

 

This 'Yames Towne' tag was flown on Atlantis with our friends Lee and Pat (not my grandparents!) in honor of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown.  Super cool!  NASA actually has a large presence at Jamestown.

After lunch we headed back up to Richmond for a tour of the Confederacy Museum and White House of the Confederacy tours.  I struggle with the Confederacy.  I appreciate trying to preserve one's culture, which was one of the South's main goals in the Civil War, but I don't appreciate the actual culture of the 1860s South.  I know, I know, I'm a Southern Belle and shouldn't think that way, but "Gone with the Wind" is not my ideal.  However, the South tells a courageous story of survival and fortitude lost to many modern Americans, and I will gladly celebrate the human spirit when the opportunity presents itself in a reasonable fashion.  And, I learned today that I want their curtains.  Really, really, want their curtains.  Winnie Davis knew how to decorate a home!  Sadly, cameras aren't allowed in the White House, so I'm left with only my memories.  Life shall go on, I'm sure.

Part 1 of Les Mis.  Owned by a Confederate soldier.  :)

Front door of the White House of the Confederacy.