People, Land & Water Special Issue

U.S. Department of the Interior

America’s 400th 

Anniversary

1607 - 2007

Historic Jamestowne 2007 Godspeed in New York
2 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007

On the Covers 

Our front cover photo shows an aerial view of Historic 

Jamestowne, part of Colonial National Historical Park. 

The monument rising 

through the trees was 

built for the 300th 

Anniversary in 1907. 

Photo copyright 2007 

by The Washington 

Post. Reprinted with 

permission. The 

inset photo on the 

front cover and the 

back cover show 

the Godspeed, a 

replica of one of the first ships that brought the settlers, passing by the Statue of Liberty in New York. 

Inset photo courtesy Jamestown 2007. Back cover 

photo by Barbara Lombardi courtesy The Colonial 

Williamsburg Foundation.

3 The Journey that Began at Jamestown: by 

the Honorable Dirk Kempthorne 

4 The Saga of Jamestown in Brief

5 Partnerships Preserve Jamestown and 

Commemorate “the Journey that Changed the 

World”: An overview of the Anniversary 

events, which will be capped by the World 

Forum on Democracy in September.

6 Colonial National Historical Park: 

Protecting the “Historic Triangle”: 

“America’s Birthplace” has 

recently been the birthplace 

of everything from bald eagle 

chicks to state-of-the-art 

historical, archeological and 

interpretive programs.

9 Partners Across Time: The 

executive director of APVA 

Preservation Virginia describes 

how her organization works 

with the National Park Service 

in the administration of the 

park.

10 The Native American Perspective 

on America’s 400th Anniversary: Chief Steve Adkins of the Chickahominy Tribe of 

Virginia, answers the question of “why” Indians would get involved in the commemoration of English settlement. Eight tribes are recognized by the State Of 

Virginia. 

12 Exploring the New Captain 

John Smith Chesapeake National 

Historic Trail: To inaugurate 

America’s newest national historic trail, a small band of 

modern-day explorers is 

retracing Smith’s travels. 

15 The Story of Pocahontas 

16 America’s 400th Anniversary 

Centerfold Poster

18 The African American 

Imprint on America: “One 

cannot legitimately 

discuss the history of 

Jamestown and its pivotal 

role in American history 

without talking about the 

black struggle in all its 

forms.” 

22 Anniversary Park—

Partnerships that Protect 

Land and History for 

People: The president 

of the Trust for Public Land describes how the group worked with partners on a 

$12.5 million project to preserve land, including the center stage for “America’s 

Anniversary Weekend.” 

23 Digging into the Mysteries 

of Jamestown: Archeologists 

Find Virtual “Time Capsules” in 

the Layers of Soil at Historic 

Jamestown. NPS and APVA 

archeologists have unearthed 

more than 3 million artifacts, with new discoveries 

virtually every day. 

28 Chesapeake Bay Gateways 

Network: The network 

includes more than 150 

parks, refuges, museums, 

historic communities and 

other “gateways” to the 

bay’s watershed. 

29 The Wildlife Legacy of Jamestown: A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge upstream 

from Jamestown was established to protect eagles and their habitat. FWS and 

USGS are also involved in 

trying to bring back the 

Atlantic sturgeon, a critical 

food source for 17th-century 

settlers.

30 A Parkway from Then 

to Now: The fascinating history of Colonial 

Parkway, which connects 

Jamestown, Yorktown and 

Williamsburg—America’s 

“Historic Triangle” 

August 2007

People, Land, & Water

This publication is the employee news magazine of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Its news content is developed by Interior bureaus and offices and coordinated by the Office of Communications 

(Office of the Secretary). Any opinions represent those of the authors. The magazine is distributed 

through the U.S. Postal Service. For subscriptions, editorial contributions, Letters to the Editor, and 

other information: 1849 C St. NW, ms6013-MIB, Washington, DC, 20240; (ph) 202-208-6416; (fax) 202-

208-7854; e-mail: PLW@ios.doi.gov 

Brian Waidmann, Publisher

Joan Moody, Editor of “America’s 400th Anniversary“ issue 

Donna Margelos, editor of www.peoplelandandwater.gov

Frank Quimby, Editor Emeritus

Teresa Rusnak, Budget Director Electronic Ink, Production & Graphics

 Brian Tsai, Editorial Assistant Caleb Weitz, Research Assistant

Tami A. Heilemann, Photography

T his issue of People Land and Water commemorates America’s 400th Anniversary 

and the prominent role of the U.S. Department of the Interior, its National Park 

Service and its partners in the anniversary events and in the preservation of 

America’s history. 

Special thanks to Superintendent Danny Smith, public affairs officer Mike Litterst 

and other staff at Colonial National Historical Park for their guidance and contributions 

to this issue. Thanks also to APVA Preservation Virginia, the Colonial Williamsburg 

Foundation and the Jamestown/Yorktown Foundation/Jamestown 2007. 

People Land and Water is the news magazine of the U.S. Department of the Interior. 

As reported in our Nov. 2006 edition, in general we have switched from a printed 

periodical edition of the magazine to an online, continously updated version at www.

peoplelandandwater.gov. Submissions can be made to online editor Donna Margelos 

at Donna_L_Margelos@ios.doi.gov. Frank Quimby, who was the long-time editor of the 

magazine, is enjoying challenging new assignments, such as homeland security, as a 

public affairs specialist in the Office of the Secretary. 

—Joan Moody, Editor, America’s 400th Anniversary issue

 Public Affairs Specialist, Office of the Secretary 

 Joan_Moody@ios.doi.gov 

About this Issue of People Land and Water 

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The monument rising 

through the trees was 

built for the 300th 

Anniversary in 1907. 

Photo copyright 2007 

The Washington 

. Reprinted with 

permission. The 

inset photo on the 

front cover and the 

back cover show 

, a 

Protecting the “Historic Triangle”: 

A MERICA’S 400th ANNIVERSARY commemorates the landing of three ships in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia, which would become the first permanent English settlement in America. The 

settlers’ historic passage is called “the Journey that Changed 

the World.” Historic Jamestowne is a unit of the National 

Park System that is part of Colonial National Historical Park. 

The park also includes Yorktown Battlefield and the Colonial 

Parkway linking Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg—

America’s Historic Triangle. 

From Jamestown’s humble beginnings as a colonial outpost, it established the foundation for what would become 

the United States of America. The independence declared on 

July 4, 1776, was secured just east of Jamestown at Yorktown, 

where General George Washington and Allied forces defeated General Lord Charles Cornwallis on October 19, 1781.

The National Park Service, one of the agencies of the Department of the Interior, protects America’s historical and cultural resources, such as Jamestown, as well as her beautiful 

landscapes. 

The 400th Anniversary Commemoration began in 

2006 with events including a sail of the Godspeed 

(left) up the East Coast, a visit of Virginia Indians to 

England, Native American and African American 

conferences, and the 225th anniversary of the Battle at Yorktown. 

The latter event featured U.S. and French officials including 

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne (left side—top right 

photo and second photo from bottom). PBS journalist Gwen 

Ifill hosted “Jamestown Live,” in which students from around the 

country participated in a televised forum on Jamestown’s legacies 

of democracy, diversity and exploration (bottom right).

 In May 2007 Queen Elizabeth II visited Jamestown. (She 

is shown receiving an NPS gift at middle left.) On May 11-13, 

“America’s Anniversary Weekend” featured President Bush (upper left) and other dignitaries as well as fireworks in Anniversary 

Park (upper right). At Historic Jamestowne, NPS Director Mary 

Bomar and dignitaries (bottom left) helped launch the journey of 

a small shallop (above) inaugurating the new Captain John Smith 

National Historic Trail. The 400th anniversary culminates with 

the World Forum on Democracy in September 2007.

Photos courtesy U.S. Department of the Interior, Jamestown 2007, the Jamestown 

federal commission and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

23 Digging into the Mysteries 

of Jamestown: Archeologists 

Find Virtual “Time Capsules”

the Layers of Soil at Historic 

Jamestown. NPS and APVA 

archeologists have unearthed 

food source for 17th-century 

Photo: Bill Haley, Haley Sharpe Design LTD
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 3

T

oday we commemorate the remarkable journey of 104 individuals who 

left behind all that was familiar and set sail to embrace an uncertain 

destiny. We remember their establishment of a colony 400 years ago 

that ultimately would be the first seed from which would emerge—nearly 200 

years later—the United States of America.

In this respect, when we commemorate their journey—a journey of faith 

and a journey of unimaginable resilience—we commemorate our own national 

journey, which too has 

been a journey of faith and 

of great resilience.

The other night, thanks 

to the gracious invitation 

of the President and the 

First Lady, I was among 

the invited guests to the 

official state dinner of the 

Queen of England and 

Prince Philip.

Following dinner was 

the wonderful music of 

both Isaac Perlman and 

the United States Army 

choir.

And it was in that setting, in the East Room of 

the White House, where 

I sat behind the queen, 

that I admit there were 

a few occasions when I 

admired the crown she 

wore as the Queen of 

England.

As I did so, it was 

also in my line of sight 

to admire the magnificent painting of another 

Virginian, General 

George Washington.

I was struck by the 

history and juxtaposition of that moment. Here was the Queen sitting beneath the portrait of the 

man who led our fight to challenge the crown. There the Queen was, having 

dinner and entertainment with her close friend and ally—the President of the 

United States.

This is another journey in faith and resilience.

The next day, her Majesty the Queen, came to the World War II Memorial in 

Washington, D.C. There she paid honor and respect to those who died in the 

effort to save England in her darkest hour.

She then shook hands with our American veterans who were there. In that 

gesture, she again honored America for its resilience.

My friends, Jamestown, The White House and the World War II Memorial 

were all places that Queen Elizabeth visited. They are also all national park 

sites.

As Secretary of the Interior, I have the honor of overseeing our nation’s 

391 national parks, battlefields, monuments and other historical and cultural 

sites that make up the National Park System. Together, they tell a story of 

America—our land, our culture, our heritage.

This week we are celebrating 400 years of history at a national park. To 

their great credit, the President and the First Lady are charting a course for 

the future of national parks by issuing a Centennial Challenge to Preserve 

National Parks for the next 100 years. 

But it all starts right here in Jamestown.

Let us commemorate this great beginning.

Let us admire the men and women who made the journey and bore the 

hardships.

And let us give thanks for the great nation that eventually grew from this 

special place that is Jamestown. 

May God Bless America the Beautiful.

The Journey that Began at Jamestown

and a journey of unimaginable resilience—we commemorate our own national 

journey, which too has 

been a journey of faith and 

of great resilience.

The other night, thanks 

to the gracious invitation 

of the President and the 

First Lady, I was among 

the invited guests to the 

official state dinner of the 

Queen of England and 

Prince Philip.

Following dinner was 

the wonderful music of 

both Isaac Perlman and 

the United States Army 

choir.

And it was in that setting, in the East Room of 

the White House, where 

I sat behind the queen, 

that I admit there were 

a few occasions when I 

admired the crown she 

wore as the Queen of 

England.

As I did so, it was 

also in my line of sight 

to admire the magnificent painting of another 

Virginian, General 

George Washington.

Excerpts from Remarks of Honorable Dirk Kempthorne

Secretary of the Interior

Jamestown 400th Anniversary Commemoration

Anniversary Park, Jamestown, Virginia

May 13, 2007

also in my line of sight 

cent painting of another 

dinner and entertainment with her close friend and ally—the President of the 

The next day, her Majesty the Queen, came to the World War II Memorial in

May God Bless America the Beautiful.

Secretary of the Interior Kempthorne addresses the crowd in Anniversary Park. 

Photo by Tami Heilmann, DOI. 

The monitor at Anniversary Park shows President 

Bush conducting the 400-member orchestra of musicians from around the nation as members of the 

1,607-voice choir (in blue shirts with singers from 

each state) watch. Photo by Joan Moody, DOI. 

that ultimately would be the first seed from which would emerge—nearly 200

and a journey of unimaginable resilience—we commemorate our own national 

been a journey of faith and 

The other night, thanks 

at Jamestown

Excerpts from Remarks of Honorable Dirk Kempthorne

Secretary of the Interior Kempthorne addresses the crowd in Anniversary Park. 

Photo by Tami Heilmann, DOI. 

Secretary of the Interior Kempthorne greets Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at the 

World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. Photo by Tami Heilmann, DOI. 
4 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007

The National Park Service

I

n the spring of 1607, three small English 

sailing ships — the Susan Constant, the 

Godspeed and the Discovery — captained by 

Christopher Newport, neared the coast of the 

New World after a long wintery voyage across 

the Atlantic. They had sailed from London on 

December 20, 1606, to find a safe port along 

the coast of Virginia.

A lookout spied land early in the morning 

of April 26, and later in the day a small party 

of men was sent ashore at what is now Cape 

Henry. They built a shallop, or small boat, and 

explored into the country for short distances. 

On April 29th, they set up a wooden cross on 

the sand dunes to mark their arrival. The next 

day, the three ships and the shallop entered 

Chesapeake Bay and landed across Hampton 

Roads at what is now Point Comfort.

For about two weeks, the settlers explored in 

the shallop along the banks of the James River 

below and above the present site of Jamestown. 

After considering numerous locations for the 

establishment of the colony — especially one 

at the mouth of Archer’s Hope — they picked 

the site of Jamestown, where they arrived 

on May 13th. The 104 settlers landed the 

next day and immediately started to construct 

James Fort. This fort was the beginning of 

Jamestown, which became the first permanent 

English settlement in the New World.

With the King’s approval, the colony was 

sponsored by the Virginia Company as a profitmaking venture. The governing body, appointed by company officials in London, was composed of a seven-man council whose membership was not known to the colonists until they 

landed. Edward Maria Wingfield was elected 

the first president; the other councilors were 

Bartholomew Gosnold, Christopher Newport, 

John Martin, John Ratcliffe, John Smith and 

George Kendall.

With the help of Captain Newport’s sailors, 

a fort was quickly constructed. By the end of 

June, when Newport set sail for England to 

obtain new supplies, the settlement appeared 

to be well founded, but within the next two 

months conditions at Jamestown changed drastically.

Supplies began to run low. Food spoiled, and 

with the coming of hot weather the brackish 

drinking water proved dangerous. Conditions 

worsened and men died daily. Hostility toward 

Wingfield developed, and the other council 

members elected to replace him with John 

Ratcliffe. By autumn, disease reduced the settlers to fewer than 50.

Internal changes in the organization of the 

Virginia Company in London led to greater freedom in the colony’s government. Sir George 

Yeardley arrived in April 1619 to become governor. He issued a call for the first representative 

legislative assembly, which met at Jamestown 

on July 30, 1619. This meeting was the beginning of America’s present system of representative government. It was an attempt to give 

Englishmen in America certain rights and privileges, common to citizens of the mother country, which had been guaranteed in the company 

charter; it was not intended to establish self 

government. The assembly remains significant, 

however, because it was the first freely elected 

body of representatives in the English settlement. This meeting was the beginning of the 

Virginia General Assembly and a forerunner of 

the Congress of the United States.

Also in 1619, the Virginia Company recruited 

maids to sail for Virginia to become wives 

of the settlers. These women arrived at 

Jamestown in 1620. Many women had arrived 

before this time and were already established 

with their families.

The third major event for Jamestown in 1619 

was the arrival of blacks in a Dutch warship. 

The blacks remained in Virginia, to be used as 

a source of labor in the tobacco fields. It was 

more than a generation before there was any 

mass importation of African natives and the 

development of the institution of slavery.

Strong efforts were made to develop 

new industries, particularly iron and glass. 

Immigration to the colony increased; measures were taken to meet the religious and 

educational needs of the settlers. During this 

period, Jamestown emerged as a town, for the 

settlement had outgrown the original fort. 

Many property owners, as listed by the 1625 

census, were yeomen, merchants, carpenters, 

hog-raisers, farmers, joiners, shopkeepers, as 

well as colonial officials.

Tragedy struck the colony in 1622 when an 

attack by Indians killed about 300 persons 

in Virginia. Jamestown was spared because 

the people had been forewarned by a friendly 

Indian youth, Chanco. The English retaliated, 

but the attack set back the advance of the settlers and ended good relations with the natives. 

The Indians attacked the colonists again in 

1644. The primary reason for these Indian 

attacks was the impact of English culture upon 

the Indian way of life.

In 1624, King James I dissolved the Virginia 

Company and proclaimed the settlement a 

royal colony, which it remained until the 

Revolution. This action did not alter operations considerably, but the company governor 

was replaced by the royal governor and the 

Assembly continued to meet.

In 1676, the normally loyal colony flared into 

rebellion under the leadership of Nathaniel 

Bacon, who objected to the stern rule of 

Governor Sir William Berkeley and his handling of the frontier Indians. Bacon’s troops 

attacked and burned Jamestown in September, 

but Berkeley escaped to the Eastern Shore. 

Bacon moved to Gloucester, where in October 

he became ill and died. The rebellion soon 

ended for lack of a leader. After this protest against tyrannical government, the colony 

remained loyal for another century.

In the fall of 1698, a fire destroyed the State 

House at Jamestown, although its records and 

papers were saved. The seat of Virginia government was moved in 1699 to Middle Plantation, 

later named Williamsburg, and Jamestown’s 

importance faded. It is not an active community today, but exists primarily as a historic site.

For more information, go to http://www.

nps.gov/jame/historyculture/. 

Paintings by Sidney King, Colonial National 

Historical Park.

The Saga of Jamestown in Brief

“On May 13, 1607, the first permanent English settlement in North America was established in Virginia at 

Jamestown. From the beginning, the fledgling colony’s 

future was uncertain, for the settlers struggled to adapt to 

an unfamiliar environment. . . .four hundred years later, 

Americans look to Jamestown as the birthplace of their 

great nation. Jamestown itself is an American legacy.” 

— Jamestown: An American Legacy, By Martha W. McCartney
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 5

By Joan Moody, Interior Office of Communications

July 4, 2007—The Jamestown journey continues. With every discovery in an archeologist’s shovel, history is still being written at 

Jamestown. Although “America’s 400th Anniversary” events featuring 

President Bush and Queen Elizabeth ended in May, other events commemorating the English settlement of Jamestown in 1607 continue 

around the nation this summer and fall. 

On the Mall in Washington, D.C., the 4th of July fireworks exploded 

over the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which features the roots of 

Virginia culture before and after 1607. 

During the folklife festival, delegations from Virginia’s eight 

Native American tribes, West Africa and Kent County, England, are 

representing the Native, African American, and English roots of 

Jamestown. It seemed a fitting 

time and setting, considering 

that Jamestown was the birthplace of what would become the 

nation we celebrate on July 4th.

A few days before Independence Day, twelve modern-day 

adventurers retracing Captain 

John Smith’s voyage in the 

Chesapeake hauled their small 

shallop from the Potomac River 

onto the Mall for the festival. 

Now they’ve returned to complete their four-month journey 

inaugurating the Captain John 

Smith National Historic Trail, 

one of the newest parts of the 

National Park System (Story, 

page 12). 

The Virginia tribes will continue on to a cultural festival 

with tribal groups from across 

the country in the Hampton 

Coliseum in Virginia (Story, 

page 10). In August 2007, the 

Black Expo in Hampton Roads 

will further explore the “African 

American Imprint on America” 

(Story, page 18).

At Historic Jamestowne, the 

National Park Service is preparing for “First Assembly Day” at 

the end of July. Living history 

programs will recount the development of Virginia government 

at Jamestown from the convening of the first representative 

assembly in 1619 to the relocation of the Virginia government to Williamsburg in 1699. 

Other programs are planned 

year-round.

Just about every day at 

Historic Jamestowne, students 

are helping archeologists from 

APVA Preservation Virginia dig 

up new discoveries. These finds 

give us more clarity on the history of Jamestown and make us 

all students of democracy. 

In fact, the culmination of 

“America’s Anniversary” will be 

the World Forum on the Future 

of Democracy, an international gathering of scholars and government leaders in Williamsburg and Jamestown on September 16-19, 2007. 

The honorary forum chairs are former Presidents George H.W. 

Bush and William J. Clinton and former British Prime Minister Lady 

Margaret Thatcher. The World Forum on the Future of Democracy 

caps a series of university-based conferences. 

It is being organized by the Jamestown 400th Commemoration 

Commission, called the federal commission. Congress formed this 

group to work with the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Jamestown 2007 

Steering Committee in “planning and executing an anniversary commemoration of national and international scope.” (Jamestown 2007 

was formed ten years ago by the Commonwealth to organize the 

signature anniversary events with support from a public-private 

partnership.) 

The federal commission is 

composed of members named 

by the Secretary of the Interior. 

“The mission is primarily an 

educational one,” commission 

president Frank B. Atkinson told 

the Richmond Times Dispatch. 

“Many Americans, young and 

old, lack an understanding of 

their nation’s journey. They take 

for granted freedoms that are 

strikingly exceptional in the 

long sweep of human history, 

and that have been gained and 

sustained only through centuries of struggle, sacrifice, and 

service.”

The brightest spotlight for 

America’s 400th anniversary 

has been on Colonial National 

Historical Park (Story, page 6) in 

the Tidewater region of Virginia. 

Colonial National Historical Park 

includes Historic Jamestowne, 

Yorktown Battlefield and 

Colonial Parkway. Together 

with Williamsburg, it forms 

“America’s Historic Triangle.”

The National Park Service 

manages Historic Jamestowne 

in cooperation with APVA 

Preservation Virginia (Story, 

page 9). “Partnerships are 

the lifeblood both of Colonial 

National Historical Park and 

of America’s 400th anniversary 

commemoration,” says Sandy 

Rives, Jamestown 400th NPS 

Project Director and a member 

of the federal commission. 

The National Park Service 

also works with the state of 

Virginia, Colonial Williamsburg 

Foundation, Indian tribes, 

African American groups and a 

number of nonprofit conservation organizations. Two of the 

latter—the Trust for Public 

Land and the Conservation 

Fund also are contributors to 

America’s 400th Anniversary Partnerships Preserve Jamestown; 

“The Journey that Changed the World” Continues

—The Jamestown journey continues. With every discovery in an archeologist’s shovel, history is still being written at

Anniversary” events featuring

President Bush and Queen Elizabeth ended in May, other events comof July fireworks exploded

over the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which features the roots of

of Democracy, an international gathering of scholars and government leaders in Williamsburg and Jamestown on September 16-19, 2007.

Bush and William J. Clinton and former British Prime Minister Lady

Margaret Thatcher. The World Forum on the Future of Democracy

group to work with the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Jamestown 2007

Steering Committee in “planning and executing an anniversary commemoration of national and international scope.” (Jamestown 2007

Photo, Malerie Giaimo, Smithsonian Institution

Participants in America’s 400th anniversary events have included (left to right) an NPS volunteer interpreter 

(page 19), a female member of the Colonial Williamsburg Drum and Fife Corps and a chief of a Virginia 

Indian tribe (page 10). The U.S. commemorative coin (above) features the convergence of three cultures 

at Jamestown. Unlike previous commemorations, the 400th gave prominent roles to voices from all three 

cultures. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall in Washington, D.C. in July focused on Jamestown 

and on all the cultures and traditions of Virginia. Below, historical interpreter Jack Oblein answers questions from young visitors about the pioneering lifestyle 400 years ago in Jamestown. The culmination of 

“America’s 400th” will be the World Forum on Democracy in Jamestown in September 2007. For more information on past and future anniversary events, see http://www.americas400thanniversary.com. For more 

information on Historic Jamestowne, see http://www.nps.gov/colo/. 

U.S. commemorative coin.

Continued on Page 20

Photo: Joan Moody, DOI 
6 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007

By Karen Rehm, Chief Historian, Colonial National Historical Park

As Colonial National Historical Park commemorates the 400th anniversary of 

the founding of Jamestown, it is a good time to take a look at the history 

behind the historical park itself.

From Jamestown’s humble beginnings as an outpost with a rudimentary fort, 

a new society took root that became the foundation for what would become the 

United States of America in 1776. The independence declared on July 4, 1776, 

was secured just 23 miles east of Jamestown by General George Washington and 

the Allied forces’ defeat of General Lord Charles Cornwallis on October 19, 1781, 

at Yorktown.

It was this ironic twist of fate that caught the attention of future Park Service 

Director Horace Albright on July 13, 1928 and led to the creation of Colonial 

National Monument in 1930, one of the first historical parks in the National Park 

System. However, the commemoration and preservation of these two landmarks in 

world history began many years before the park was established.

Jamestown served as the capital of the Virginia Colony until 1699, when the capital was moved to Middle Plantation or Williamsburg. As early as 1707, Virginians 

acknowledged Jamestown’s place in history. In 1807 and 1857, Jamestown was commemorated by picnics, speeches and celebrations at the historic site.

In 1889, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities was established as the first statewide preservation organization in America. The Association’s 

first mission was to preserve the old Church Tower at Jamestown. In 1893, it 

received 22.5 acres that included the Church Tower and the fort site. With the 

approach of the tercentennial in 1907, the federal government provided funding 

for the construction of a seawall by the United States Army Corps of Engineers to 

stop the erosion of the original site and constructed a 103-foot obelisk to honor 

Jamestown. Congress considered bills and resolutions to establish a park at 

Jamestown starting in 1902, but the measures languished. 

Similarly, although Congress authorized a monument at Yorktown shortly after 

the 1781 victory—the first monument ever authorized by Congress—it was not 

until 1881, the centennial of the victory, that the funds were made available for its 

construction. 

Legislation to establish Yorktown National Military Park also languished until the 

years approaching the 1931 sesquicentennial. Just as recommendations on the significance of battlefields were being considered, the “Colonial idea” was hatched at 

a meeting far away at Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

During the 1920s, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., began the restoration of Colonial 

Williamsburg, located between Jamestown and Yorktown. Kenneth Chorley, who 

worked for Rockefeller as head of the Williamsburg Holding Corporation, visited 

Horace Albright, then superintendent of Yellowstone, at the lodge on July 13, 1928. 

In that seminal meeting they discussed “the Jamestown, Williamsburg, Yorktown 

idea.” 

The idea was to establish a park or roadway to connect Jamestown—the beginning of British colonial America, Williamsburg—the scene of the political debates 

at the start of the American Revolution, and Yorktown—where America’s independence was won. By March 1929, Albright was the second Director of the National 

Park Service and received a similar proposal from William E. Carson, Chairman of 

the Virginia Commission on Conservation and Development. 

Albright, Chorley, and Carson enlisted Congressman Louis C. Cramton of 

Michigan to introduce legislation to establish Colonial National Monument. The 

bill passed on July 3, 1930, followed by a Presidential 

Proclamation on December 30, 1930. [It was redesignated 

Colonial National Historical Park in 1936.] 

Verne Chatelaine, the first chief historian for the 

National Park Service, stated that Colonial “is symbolic 

of the essential unity of these shrines—a recognition 

not only of their geographical proximity . . . but of their 

closely related significance in American history. Hence 

the idea of linking these three historic places under one 

administration and that, a federal one, and the idea of a 

great parkway to give that unity a physical reality—this is 

the essence of the Colonial Monument idea.” 

Although Williamsburg was included in the bill establishing the park, its operation under the auspice of the 

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation resulted in a cooperative relationship with the National Park Service rather 

than a unit of the park.

The vision of Horace Albright and Stephen Mather (first 

NPS director) to add historical areas of importance to the 

National Park System finally bore fruit.

The addition of George Washington Birthplace National 

Monument in January 1930 and Colonial National 

Monument in December 1930 moved the National Park 

Service into the field of historical preservation. The 

practices established at Colonial would set the standards 

not only for the National Park Service but for cultural 

resources management nationwide.

With the approach of the sesquicentennial of the 

Yorktown Victory in 1931, the park’s early focus was initiating park operations in Yorktown and preparing for the 

celebration of the event. Charles Peterson, a landscape 

Colonial National 

Historical Park:

An aerial view of Jamestown Island shows the national park with the 300th anniversary monument rising through the trees. Photo courtesy Colonial Williamsburg 

Foundation. 

The old church tower at Historic Jamestowne is the only surviving 17th century structure (circa 1680). Photo by 

Bill Haley, Haley Sharpe Design, LTD. 

Protecting the “Historic Triangle” 

Moves the NPS into Historic Preservation
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 7

architect with the National 

Park Service, was placed in 

charge of the construction 

and restoration projects. 

The Williamsburg restoration program greatly influenced the direction of park 

development. For Yorktown, 

recreating the scene of 1781 

was the primary vision. In 

order to accurately recreate 

this scene, it was understood 

that an extensive amount 

of historical research and 

archeological investigation 

were required. Elbert J. Cox 

was hired as the first park historian in the National Park 

Service. The research that he and other park historians 

conducted greatly assisted the projects to construct Swann 

Tavern, the Service’s first reconstruction, and the 1781 

siege works. 

Meanwhile, the Moore House, which was owned by 

Rockefeller’s Williamsburg Holding Company, was sold to 

the Service on July 1, 1931. Some of the restoration work 

was completed before the October 19 anniversary as part 

of the purchase price. Charles Peterson prepared a report 

on the Moore House that was the first historic structures 

report written. It set a standard that is still used for restoration and rehabilitation projects. 

Construction of the Colonial Parkway began in 1931 and 

was completed between 1953 and 1957. (See article on 

parkway on page 30.)

In 1934, the remaining 1500-acre parcel of Jamestown 

Island was purchased by the Service. The Association for 

the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities retained its 22.5 

acres and worked in partnership with the park staff in 

managing the site. Archeological investigations were critical to understanding Jamestown, as the only surviving seventeenth-century structure was the Church Tower. Under the direction of J.C. Harrington, an integrated 

approach of archeological excavations combined with historical research resulted 

in establishing the standards of historical archeology. (See the article beginning 

on page 23.)

In its first decade, Colonial was able to conduct archeological investigations, conserve artifacts, reconstruct earthworks, and construct support facilities with the 

assistance of the Civilian Conservation Corps. One of the few African American 

camps was set up in the park. World War II basically brought these construction 

efforts to a stop.

It was not until the onset of Mission 66 in 1955 that the park was able to move 

forward with its 1933 development plans. As the 350th anniversary of Jamestown 

approached in 1957, 

the park was able to 

construct new visitor centers, parking 

lots and tour roads 

at Jamestown and 

Yorktown, complete 

the parkway, add 

interpretive signage 

throughout the park, 

continue the reconstruction of earthworks at Yorktown 

and construct a 

building to protect 

the 1608 Glasshouse 

at Jamestown. 

Federal and state 

commissions were 

established to oversee plans for the 

350th anniversary. 

To accommodate 

the proposal to construct a replica of 

James Fort without 

compromising the archeological site, the National Park 

Service donated 10 acres of its right-of-way at Glasshouse 

Point to 25 acres already purchased by the state commission. It was here that Jamestown Festival Park (now 

Jamestown Settlement) was built and managed by the 

Commonwealth of Virginia. In addition to the fort, a 

replica Indian village, replicas of the three ships, and 

a visitor center were constructed. The 1957 Jamestown 

Famed attractions at the park are the statue of John Smith 

(above, by Bill Haley), 1907 Monument (center) and glasshouse 

(below, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation). The newest features are a new visitor’s center and the Archaearium (below, 

left building and page 9, courtesy APVA).
8 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007

Anniversary was an eightmonth event that included 

a visit by Queen Elizabeth 

of England and VicePresident Richard Nixon. 

During the nation’s 

Bicentennial, additional 

funding was provided to 

Colonial that enabled it 

to expand and redesign 

both visitor centers, continue the reconstruction 

of earthworks at Yorktown, 

construct the Surrender 

Field pavilion and restore 

the Nelson House. 

The Bicentennial of the 

Yorktown Victory in 1981 

was celebrated in a fourday event featuring tactical demonstrations by 

more than 6,000 reenactors, modern military 

demonstrations, a parade 

of tall ships and French 

and American battleships, 

and ceremonies attended by President Reagan 

and French President 

Mitterrand. The interludes between anniversaries enabled the park to focus on basic resource management and visitor services initiatives. 

In 1992, then Chief Historian for the park, James Haskett, saw the need to conduct major archeological investigations at Jamestown in preparation for the 400th

anniversary in 2007. (See archeology article, page 23). Fifty-eight new archeological 

sites were located on the island. Meanwhile, the Association for the Preservation of 

Virginia Antiquities undertook new archeological investigations in 1994 known as 

Jamestown Rediscovery, which resulted in locating the original fort site and greatly 

increasing interest in Jamestown.

In 1997, the association and Colonial staffs met to begin discussions on 2007 and 

the vision for Jamestown. It was agreed that a joint development plan was needed 

to determine what facilities should be built and how the sixty-year old partnership 

could be expanded to meet the missions of both organizations. A development 

concept plan addressed the need for new facilities, including a joint collections 

buildings and a new Visitor Center to replace the original one built in 1956 that 

intruded upon the historic landscape and was threatened due to its location near 

the Pitch and Tar Swamp.

It was also decided that 

a more complete history of 

Jamestown needed to be presented to the public based on 

recent archeological findings 

and historical research. The 

Park Service funded studies 

on the African Americans 

associated with Jamestown 

from 1619 to 1802 (conducted 

by the Colonial Williamsburg 

Foundation) and the Virginia 

Indians during that first 

century of contact (conducted by the American 

Indian Resource Center at 

the College of William and 

Mary). This research not 

only identified individuals of 

both cultures associated with 

specific Jamestown structures but greatly expanded 

understanding of the coming 

together of three cultures 

and the resulting legacies 

that are still with us today. 

Through a joint fundraising effort, the National Park 

Service and the association 

moved forward in creating a 

seamless experience for the visitor. The site became known as Historic Jamestowne 

to differentiate it from the Jamestown Settlement (formerly the Jamestown Festival 

Park) next door, which is administered by the State. By late 2006, the Historic 

Jamestowne Research Center (the joint collections building), the Archaearium (the 

association museum focusing on the archeology of the fort and the early years of 

Jamestown), and the new Visitor Center (featuring an expanded story on Jamestown 

that addressed the coming together of three cultures) were completed. The historic landscape was enhanced by new waysides and an improved plaza around the 

Tercentennial Monument.

Colonial National Historical Park today includes not only the “historic triangle” 

but also the Cape Henry Memorial—the site of the first landing of the Jamestown 

settlers, and Green Spring—home of Royal Governor Sir William Berkeley. 

Colonial National Historical Park was at the forefront of the National Park 

Service’s emergence in the field of cultural resources management and historic 

preservation more than seventy years ago. As it moves toward its centennial, let us 

hope that it will continue to lead the way for the Service and the nation. For more 

information, go to www.nps.gov/colo.

Colonial National Historical Park superintendent Dan 

Smith shows the new park visitor center (above) and the 

improved walkway to the 300th anniversary monument 

(right). Photos, Joan Moody, DOI.

Eagle Nest Provides Challenge, Opportunity at New Visitor Center

By Dorothy Geyer, Natural Resources Manager, Colonial 

National Historical Park and Mike Litterst, Public 

Affairs Officer, Colonial National Historical Park

A mong the many challenges faced by the National 

Park Service in opening the new Historic 

Jamestowne Visitor Center was the unexpected 

appearance in February 2001 of a pair of nesting 

bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Although the 

Colonial National Historical Park staff was certainly 

pleased to have the eagles, the presence of a protected species nonetheless created additional stress 

for a staff already working under a tight timeframe 

to complete the construction project in time for the 

400th anniversary events in May 2007.

The Environmental Impact Statement for the 

planned Visitor Center and other site improvements 

were already well underway when park officials 

received notification from the College of William 

and Mary’s Center for Conservation Biology about 

the presence of a new, active bald eagle nest site on 

Jamestown Island. The proposed building site was 

within 750 feet of the nest, making it subject to the 

strictest protection guidelines to protect the eagles. 

Park officials contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service and the two agencies cooperatively evaluated 

the level of human activity at the site, addressed their 

potential impacts on the eagles, and ultimately developed a construction timeline for the site improvements that would protect the nest and its occupants. 

For example, due to a prohibition on exterior construction during nesting season (November 15 – July 

15), NPS construction contracts were amended so 

that significant portions of the new building would 

be prefabricated away from Jamestown, then assembled on-site during the narrow, four-month period 

when construction was permitted. 

During the 400th anniversary events that took 

place May 11-13, 2007, more than 30,000 visitors 

passed through the new Historic Jamestowne Visitor 

Center, completed within budget and on time for the 

event. What very few of those visitors realized, however, was that just several hundred feet away, seemingly oblivious to the hoopla, two bald eagle chicks 

were quickly growing in a nest protected through the 

entire construction process by the cooperative efforts 

of a variety of federal and state agencies and organizations. A species that is America’s symbol is being 

preserved at America’s birthplace.
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 9

By Elizabeth S. Kostelny, Executive Director, APVA

T oday, guests from across the globe come to 

stand where the seeds of democracy first took 

root. Since 1934, Historic Jamestowne—

America’s Birthplace—has been preserved in partnership between the Association for the Preservation 

of Virginia Antiquities (APVA Preservation Virginia) 

and the National Park Service. Historic Jamestowne 

is one-third of the Historic Triangle, consisting 

of Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown, and 

a significant concentration of historic resources 

representing the founding years of this nation, the 

Revolutionary experience, and the victory for independence.

The site of the first permanent English settlement in North America is preserved today but it 

was all but lost in the 1880s. Little evidence of the 

17th-century settlement remained with the exception of the ruins of the circa 1680 church. Then 

in 1889 APVA Preservation Virginia formed as a 

statewide organization—the first of its kind. Initial 

successes included the preservation of Powhatan’s 

Chimney in Gloucester, the Powder Magazine in 

Williamsburg and the Mary Washington House in 

Fredericksburg. 

APVA founders soon began to negotiate for the 

core acres at Historic Jamestowne, including the 

church tower and Confederate Army earthworks also on the site. In 1893, a deed of 

gift was struck. APVA’s first action was to petition Congress to have the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers build a seawall to stabilize erosion by the James River.

In the 1930s, the remainder of the island, about 1,500 acres, was acquired by the 

National Park Service and designated as a national park. Immediately, an archeological survey of the newly acquired acres revealed that much of the mid-17th century 

town site remained uncovered. Synergy began to build between the two property 

owners, resulting in a collaborative effort. 

In 1940, Richmond’s The News Leader wrote an editorial that ended with the following, “A wise contract has been drawn. . . Instead of the familiar rivalries of historical 

organizations, Jamestown is to exemplify the largest outgrowth of the settlement—

unity.” By 1957, the NPS had built a causeway that linked 

motorists to the site just in time for the 350th anniversary.

Through much of the first fifty years of the partnership, collaboration was quiet and focused on the operations and preservation of a commemorative landscape. An expansion took place 

in the 1990s, and the results have been extraordinary. 

Beginning in the 1990s, archeological studies by both organizations—a reassessment of the previous archeological studies 

funded by NPS and administered by Colonial Williamsburg and 

the APVA’s remarkable search for and study of the remains of 

James Fort—led to a more fully developed picture of life at Jamestown in the early 

years. The studies, in particular the discovery of the location of the archeological 

remains of James Fort, prompted the need for a new interpretive plan, facilities and 

exhibits. 

Through a facilitated discussion, the leadership of both organizations determined 

that planning jointly served the shared mission of preserving and interpreting the 

Jamestown story. The new interpretive plan was to interpret history through the context of the archeological discoveries. Property ownership was a secondary story.

Together the APVA and the NPS hired Carlton Abbott and Partners, P. C., of 

Williamsburg, Virginia, and Haley Sharpe Design of Leicester, England, to help lead a 

Design Concept Plan and Environmental Impact Assessment. Through the process, 

representatives of the Virginia Indians; the African-American community; descendant groups; community associations; local, state, and federal agencies; historians 

and archeologists were consulted to determine themes and significant elements that 

should be considered in the new plan. Effective relationships were built and maintained with these groups through the concept and exhibit development and the implementation process. Our goal was to reflect the interest and investment that many 

groups had in this chapter of American history. The plan’s vision also was to complement the other historic attractions in the area, including Jamestown Settlement, 

Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown Battlefield and Yorktown Victory Center.

The spectacular results are a living legacy in commemoration of the 400th 

Anniversary. Improvements include an expanded research center, new visitor services 

and museum facilities, a new interpretive landscape and expanded coordination of 

educational and visitor programs. 

At the heart is the Historic Jamestowne Research Center—the brain of the site. 

Expanding on the 1907 caretaker’s house, the APVA already had constructed a stateof-the-art collection storage facility (2000) for its more than 1 million artifacts. In 

2002, it granted a deed of .75 acres, adjoining its research center, to the NPS to 

construct an addition to house its collection of more than 2 million artifacts. The 

completed building is both fireproof and flood-proof and includes staff offices and 

educational space. Equally important, researchers now can study the complete 

Jamestown collection—vitally important for encouraging future scholarship about 

this chapter of American history.

A new visitor center and Archaearium, an archeological museum, are the focus 

for the public’s experience at Historic Jamestowne. The 18,000-square-foot visitor 

center, opened in January 2007, provides an overview of the Jamestown story. The 

comprehensive exhibit begins with Virginia before the English arrival and follows the 

story through the preservation effort led by the APVA and the NPS at the site. 

Through archeological artifacts and the words of the people who lived through 

these events, the exhibit highlights the key moments of Jamestown’s history and 

places them in the context of world events. An immersion exhibit sets the stage for 

the visitor experience and provides the archeological context 

within which the story is told. 

From the visitor center, guests walk an elevated bridge over 

the Pitch and Tar Swamp. Linking the Center and the historic 

core, the bridge supports the health of the wetlands. Visitors 

slow down as they walk and observe turtles, deer, and other 

native flora and fauna. The vista opens up, highlighting the 

key landmarks of the site: the 17th-century church tower, the 

1607 James Fort site, the New Towne site, the 1907 Federal 

Monument and the statue of John Smith. Visitors learn through 

interpretive panels about the Virginia Indians, the English and the Africans whose 

sacrifices and persistence helped to found this nation. 

The most innovative structure is the Archaearium, opened in May 2006. Combining 

a museum and an archeological discovery center, the museum is already a model for 

the preservation and interpretation of archeological sites and combines green building elements with technology. The 7,500-square-foot facility houses state-of-the-art 

exhibits detailing the process and results of the twelve-year archeological study that 

has uncovered extraordinary details of the human stories of the English and Virginia 

Indians during the earliest years of the colony.

Architecturally, the Archaearium is designed to “float” above the remains of the 

1660s statehouse complex at the site while being able to withstand high winds and 

possible rise in water levels in this hurricane-susceptible region. The one-story building rests on a series of helical pull-down micropiles carefully sited to avoid disturbing 

any seventeenth-century archeological or structural artifacts. 

Copper sheathing clads the exterior of the building, enhancing its energy efficiency and acknowledging the important role that copper played between the Virginia 

Indians and early settlers. Large glass panels front the building and connect the 

interior exhibits to the landscape on which the archeological features and artifacts 

were unearthed. The innovative exhibits tell the compelling stories of the early years 

of the nation’s founding through the archeological features and research across many 

disciplines (archeology, cultural history, forensics science, geology, technology, ecology, economics, and genealogy). 

What has characterized the success of this program has been a willingness to test 

models, to analyze successes and to try solutions that might not be the norm for 

either organization. The public’s interaction with the site and the new awareness of 

Jamestown’s place in history measure the results. As the APVA and the NPS prepare 

for the next decade of partnership, a new spirit is in place to ensure “that the largest 

outgrowth of the settlement—unity” remains at the center of our work and helps to 

sustain and strengthen this corner of the Historic Triangle.

For more information, see www.apva.org.

The Archaearium, opened in May 2006, combines a museum and an archeological discovery center. The facility is 

already a model for the preservation and interpretation of archeological sites around the country. Photo courtesy APVA.

APVA and NPS:

Partners Across Time

within which the story is told.

the Pitch and Tar Swamp. Linking the Center and the historic

core, the bridge supports the health of the wetlands. Visitors

slow down as they walk and observe turtles, deer, and other

native flora and fauna. The vista opens up, highlighting the

key landmarks of the site: the 17th-century church tower, the

1607 James Fort site, the New Towne site, the 1907 Federal

Monument and the statue of John Smith. Visitors learn through
10 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007

By Chief Stephen R. 

Adkins, Chickahominy 

Indian Tribe

We are in the midst 

of many events 

in Virginia, the 

United Kingdom and across 

this nation commemorating the anniversary of the 

founding of the first permanent English Settlement 

in America in May 1607. 

The culturally diverse history of Virginia has been explored 

through a number of conferences under the auspices of the 

Jamestown 400th Anniversary Commemoration Commission 

on which I serve. 

During the 400th Anniversary Weekend in Jamestown, 

May 11-13, 2007, visitors from all over the world—including 

leaders representing the U.S. government, England, Native 

Americans and African Americans—gathered to commemorate the birth of this Great Republic, the United States of 

America, which blossomed at Jamestown. What does all this 

mean for Native Americans, especially Tidewater Virginia 

Indians?

After all, our troubles began with the landing of the first 

English settlers in Jamestown in 1607. A methodical process 

of securing land through the doctrine of discovery began 

almost immediately. (In fact, the English did not “discover” these lands because 

American Indians had inhabited and explored them for thousands of years.) 

Colonization sounded the death knell of a way of life for a group of people who 

had called this place home for several millennia. Our ranks were reduced by 90 

percent by the end of the 17th century. By 1610, the Paspehegh, on whose land 

Jamestown was founded, fell to the sword under the orders of Lord De La Warr and 

ceased to exist as a tribe. A whole nation was annihilated. This 

was the nation that befriended strangers and ultimately died at 

the hands of those same strangers. 

Some of the tribal members undoubtedly escaped and 

found safe haven with other tribes, including my tribe, the 

Chickahominy. But lands that had been home to native peoples 

for thousands of years suddenly became off limits. Linchpins 

of our culture such as religion and language were set aside. 

Marginalization of Indians continued well into the 20th century 

and even continues today. 

Against this backdrop, many Natives and non-Natives alike 

have questioned why any Virginia Indian—even a tribal chief such as myself—

would participate in a commemoration of the first permanent English Settlement 

in Virginia? After having lived on this land for 15,000 years, what is so significant 

about the last .266 percent of that time?

The answers are manifold. The fact that we have survived for the past 400 years 

is ample cause to celebrate. The fact 

that we have been able to pass along oral 

history and various components of our 

culture is worthy of celebration. But 

the single most important reason to be a 

part of this commemoration is because 

we are a part of America and this 

commemoration is all about America. 

The commemoration is about telling 

America’s story. In the past the stories 

of Native and African Americans have 

been left out, ignored or overlooked. 

How could we ignore this opportunity to 

tell our stories to a world audience?

The federal commission sought input 

from renowned scholars, tribal leaders, university professors and others 

to ensure the picture we painted of 

Jamestown was accurate. Some of the 

research revealed factual information 

that was “new” to all of us. The research showed very clearly how the interactions 

of the diverse cultures of the early 17th century contributed to the ultimate success of Jamestown.

I applaud the members of the federal commission for not veering away from the 

objective of commemorating the complete story of Jamestown. Some organizations 

and individuals challenged and criticized the commemoration activities. However, 

the Commission remained steadfast in its resolve to share and portray the history 

of Jamestown as honestly and accurately as possible.

From my personal experiences and those of my people, growing up as a member of an American Indian tribe meant living 

a life marginalized by almost 400 years of anti-Native politics 

and policies. 

I have been asked why I do not have a traditional Indian 

name. Quite simply: my parents, as did many other Native 

American parents, weighed the risks and decided it was not 

worth the risk of going to jail. An article by Peter Hardin in the 

Richmond Times Dispatch in 2000 describes the documentary 

genocide the Virginia Indians suffered at the hands of Walter 

Ashby Plecker, a white separatist who ruled over the Bureau of Vital Statistics in 

Virginia for 34 years, from 1912 to 1946.

Plecker led efforts to eradicate all references to Indians on Vital Records. The 

state’s legislature enacted the Racial Integrity Act in 1924, forcing all segments of 

the population to be registered at birth in one of two categories, white or colored. 

Doctors and midwives faced punishment 

if they assigned Indian as the racial 

classification for Native babies born in 

Virginia in the early to mid 20th century.

My father and mother traveled to 

Washington, D.C., in 1935 to be married because the Racial Integrity Act 

made it illegal to marry in Virginia with 

the racial designation Indian on your 

marriage license. Many Native people 

did not give their children Native names 

because that too was punishable by up 

to one year in jail. 

In public schools report cards for 

students were labeled white or colored. 

For Indian students, lines were drawn 

through the preprinted racial designations and Indian was penciled in.

The Virginia tribal delegation to England included (Back row left to right:) Warren Cook, Assistant Chief 

Pamunkey; Mark Custalow, Assistant Chief Mattaponi; Gene Adkins - Chief, Eastern Chickahominy; and Keith 

Smith - Nansemond Tribal Member; (Middle row left to right:) Stephen Adkins - Chief, Chickahominy; Ken 

Branham - Chief Monacan; (Front row left to right:) Anne Richardson - Chief, Rappahannock; and Ken Adams 

- Chief,Upper Mattaponi. 

The Native American Perspective The Native American Perspective

America’s 400th Anniversary

Chief Stephen R. Adkins

Virginia Indians Today

T

oday there are eight organized tribes in Virginia and two small reservations. There are 2,500 people on the tribal registers, and the census 

figures show another 15,000 people of Indian ancestry living across 

Virginia. Two tribes, the Pamunkey and the Mattaponi, have small reservations in King William County. Their state reservations date from the 1600s. 

Six other incorporated groups are officially recognized as Indian tribes by 

the Commonwealth of Virginia. They are the: Chickahominy Indian Tribe in 

Charles City County; Chickahominy Indian Tribe – Eastern Division in New 

Kent County; Monacan Indian Tribe in Amherst County; Nansemond Indian 

Tribal Association in the City of Chesapeake; Rappahannock Indian Tribe in 

Essex, Caroline, and King & Queen Counties; and the Upper Mattaponi Indian 

Tribe in King William County. 

Source: Virginia Council on Indians, Commonwealth of Virginia, 2003. For 

more information, see http://indians.vipnet.org/tribes.cfm.

I applaud the members of 

the federal commission for 

not veering away from the 

objective of commemorating the complete story of 

Jamestown.
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 11

On a trip to my brother’s high school commencement exercises at Bacone, Okla., 

in the mid 1950’s I recall stopping at a service station for gasoline. I was a youngster 

about 9 years old, and I had to go the restroom. I remember asking my dad, “Where 

do I go?” because the restrooms were labeled “white” and “black.” For me, that 

situation created a real dilemma.

One might ask, “Why would you go to Oklahoma to receive a high school education?” The answer is quite simple. There were no high schools in Virginia for native 

people then. In fact, Virginia provided a one-way ticket to Oklahoma and tuition to 

Bacone High School for Virginia Indians. 

Our anthropologist says there is no other state that attacked Indian identity as 

directly as the laws passed during that period of time in Virginia. No other ethnic 

community’s heritage was denied in this way. Our state, by law, declared there 

were no Indians in the state in 1924, and if you dared to say differently, you went 

to jail or worse. 

My father and his peers lived in the heart of the Plecker years and carried those 

scars to their graves. The Racial Integrity Act stayed in effect until 1967.

Between 1983 and 1989, eight tribes gained state recognition in the Commonwealth 

of Virginia. In addition to my tribe, the Chickahominy, these tribes included the Eastern Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Monacan. Nansemond, Pamunkey, 

Rappahannock and Upper Mattaponi Tribes. Ironically, while we commemorate 

the 400th anniversary of America from its beginnings in Virginia, to date no tribes 

in Virginia have obtained federal recognition.

In 1997 state legislation sponsored by Gov. George Allen acknowledged the state 

action that attacked our heritage. Although this legislation allows those of the living generations to correct birth records, the legislation or law has not and cannot 

undo the pain and humiliation suffered by my ancestors or the damage done to 

our documented history. In 1999, the 

tribes were advised 

that many of our 

people would not 

live long enough to 

see our petition go 

through the administrative process at 

the Bureau of Indian 

Affairs. We have 

buried three of our 

chiefs since then. 

Given this reality and the damage to our historical heritage suffered by Virginia 

Indian tribes, six of 

the tribes, with the 

support of current 

Governor Tim Kaine, 

are seeking recognition through the U.S. Congress rather than the BIA. 

We would be hampered in the BIA process by the fact that actions taken by the 

Commonwealth of Virginia during the 20th Century corrupted our written history 

by altering key documents, intimidated many people and in several other ways 

made the tribes fear that we would not fit into the petitioning process.

Against all odds, including a hostile political climate bent on erasing Native 

peoples from the landscape of Virginia, we, the Virginia Indian tribes, have maintained our cultures and have continued our oral histories. We have maintained 

an “underground school” that has been our means of teaching 

our children the history of Virginia Indians, part of our efforts 

to dispel the inaccuracies of those lessons learned in the public 

school classrooms of Virginia. 

Yet many publications continue to carry romanticized, inaccurate accounts of 17th century history. Sadly many misrepresentations—such as the “discovery”of the “new” world and the 

characterization of the English settlers as the “first families” of 

Virginia—go largely unnoticed by non-Native people and are, in 

fact, given credibility by textbooks used in classrooms throughout Virginia. Moreover, the textbooks have been sorely lacking 

in subject matter addressing the contributions Natives made to 

the tenuous beginnings of the “New World.” 

For example, to historians of the colonial era in the Old Dominion, it is accepted 

intelligence that the Natives could have killed the settlers at will during the first 

10 to 15 years of their occupation of these lands. However, even after the massacre 

of the Paspehegh in 1610 at the command of Lord De La Warr, the Natives chose 

not to get rid of the settlers.

Fast forward to the spring of 2006 and you see a scene replete with diverse participants watching the unfolding of their plan for a meaningful commemoration 

of the first permanent English Settlement at Jamestown. What distinguishes this 

commemoration from previous commemorations, aside from the careful use of the 

term “commemoration” rather than “celebration,” is the fact that there was an 

African American and a Native American presence at the table from the onset. 

To the person, every member of the Commission was determined to mine historical documents and consult subject matter experts including archeologists, anthropologists, historians, educators and renowned jurists within the United States, the 

United Kingdom, Africa and elsewhere to ensure the factual presentation of the 

events of the first three decades of English occupation of the “New World.”

In July 2006, a delegation of 54 tribal members, recognized by the Commonwealth 

of Virginia, had the opportunity to visit the United Kingdom as part of the U.K.’s 

2007 Commemoration Activities. For many of us, it was a first time visit to St. 

George’s Church at Gravesend, the final resting place of Pocahontas, the daughter 

of Paramount Chief Powhatan and the wife of John Rolfe. 

A plaque on the wall of St. Georges Church says:

This stone commemorates Princess Pocahontas or Metoak, daughter of the 

mighty American Indian Chief Powhatan. Gentle and humane, she was the 

friend of the earliest struggling English colonists whom she nobly rescued, 

protected, and helped. On her Conversion to Christianity in 1613, she received 

in Baptism the name Rebecca, and shortly afterwards became the wife of John 

Rolfe, a settler in Virginia. She visited England with her husband in 1616, was 

graciously received by Queen Ann, wife of James I. In the twenty-second year 

of her age she died at Gravesend preparing to revisit her native country and 

was buried near this spot on March 21st, 1617.

For us who have experienced and know so well what has happened to our people 

since the days of Pocahontas, the connection we felt to both the congregation and 

Pocahontas was palpable and real. This feeling of respect and honor in the church 

congregation suffused the entire Virginia Indian Delegation.

We saw Pocahantas 

as more than the legend we live behind. 

We saw her as the 

first to brave the new 

world that opened up 

with first contact by 

the English, a soul 

who today can still 

touch us and remind 

us of our proud heritage. She is not a 

myth, for she is still 

inside all of us, and 

her death and burial 

in England remind 

us of how far and 

challenging our path 

has been since she 

braved that voyage to 

England. 

Much has happened to the Virginia tribes since Pocahontas visited England and the Court of Queen 

Ann. The story of Chief Powhatan and his daughter Pocahontas is well known across 

this land. Her picture is in the U.S. Capitol with her English husband John Rolfe. 

But less known is the plight of Virginia Indians today and the fact that the United 

States has not formally recognized our contribution.

The 400th anniversary has given us a chance to tell our stories. During the past five 

years of my tenure on the Commission, I have seen the public visibility of Virginia 

Indians increase exponentially. I have often said that after 400 years we have grown 

to understand that if our stories are to be told, we must tell them. 

And tell them we have. From the state capitol in Richmond, to 

the halls of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., to Kent 

County, England, to the halls of Parliament in London, England, 

and to the shores of the Powhatan (aka James) River, we have told 

our stories. We have spoken to audiences who listened in rapt 

attention to our tale of endurance and survival and who yearn to 

hear more of the history of Virginia’s indigenous peoples.

As part of the 400th commemoration of Jamestown, the Virginia 

tribes will have a much deeper understanding of who we are. After 

400 years, we not only see the promised land; we also see a land of 

promise. We see a land of inclusion, where diversity of thoughts, 

ideas and contributions are more valuable than the thoughts, ideas and contributions 

of a single homogenous group. 

We hope that the government of the land that we love will embrace us in the same 

way as the people of England with whom our last treaty was signed in 1677. At the 

end of the day I am very proud and honored to be an American and hope that formal 

recognition of my people by the United States of America will soon be a reality.

Editor’s Note: At press time other events showcasing Virginia’s Indian heritage 

in the summer and fall of 2007 included the Virginia Indian Intertribal Festival—a 

Jamestown 2007 Signature event—and Virginia Indian Day at Jamestown Settlement. 

The author, Chief Steve Adkins, shakes hands with Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne at the Godspeed reception in 

Alexandria (left, photo by Tami Heilmann, DOI). In the righthand photo, taken in England in 2006, he shakes hands with Lord 

Lieutenant Allen Willet, the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, while Lord Latson looks on. 

We hope that the government of the land that we 

love will embrace us in 

the same way as the people of England with whom 

our last treaty was signed 

in 1677.
12 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007

By Patrick F. Noonan, Chairman Emeritus, The Conservation Fund

S usan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery—the three ships that brought the 

first Jamestown settlers to Virginia—are well known. They get the credit 

in the history books, along with Mayflower, Ark and Dove. But few remember a smaller vessel that had at least as great an impact on European settlement 

– Captain John Smith’s shallop. 

The shallop, built in England and cut in half to fit in storage in the hold of the 

Susan Constant, was a vessel so common it didn’t have a proper name, yet it carried Smith and a small crew of explorers on a series of daring explorations of the 

Chesapeake Bay between 1607 and 1609, with the longest during the summer of 

1608. During the three months of that voyage, Smith explored the Chesapeake and 

its major tributaries, gathering detailed information on the region and producing 

a careful map, loaded with cultural and navigational information. 

The map showed nearly all the bay’s major features as well as Indian towns, the 

names of tribes and the features he found in his personal exploration. Beyond that, 

Smith recorded rivers and mountains he credited to the accounts of the Indians 

he interviewed. The map and journals from the exploration opened the way for 

European settlement of the mid-Atlantic and have provided a wealth of information on the environment, historical settlements and culture of the Chesapeake Bay 

region. 

Because of the importance of Smith’s voyages of exploration to our nation, 

Congress established the new Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic 

Trail in late 2006. The newly authorized trail commemorates these voyages of 

exploration that opened trade between the region’s Indians and the Jamestown colonists and paved the way for further commerce and settlement. America’s newest 

national historic trail will, in the words of the National Park Service, “recognize the 

American Indian towns and culture of the 17th century, call attention to the historic and contemporary natural history of the bay, complement the Chesapeake Bay 

Gateways and Watertrails Network (page 28) and provide new opportunities for education, recreation and heritage tourism in the Chesapeake Bay region. Ultimately, 

by providing more opportunities for people to interact with the Chesapeake’s 

diverse histories, cultures and ecosystems, the trail will help facilitate protection of 

these resources and generate stronger stewardship of this national treasure.” 

In the interests it encompasses, the new trail reflects the broad reach and responsibilities of the Department of the Interior’s agencies, which manage our national 

cultural and historical sites, our natural resources and the federal government’s 

responsibilities to Native Americans. The trail has the support of the Virginia and 

Maryland Indians, who see it as an opportunity to present an accurate picture of 

their rich cultural history and the period of first contact with Europeans. The trail 

commemorates this history and it opens new ways to conserve the region’s natural 

resources. 

The new trail is the result of a broad partnership. It would not have happened 

without strong support from the dedicated career professionals in the National 

Park Service and the Department of Interior. Led by National Park Service Director 

Mary Bomar and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, the department 

provided leadership vital to the creation of the trail and was able to complete the 

congressionally authorized feasibility study in time for the Jamestown 2007 commemoration. 

In conjunction with the Jamestown anniversary, this exciting initiative has generated enthusiasm throughout the region. The region’s local, state and federal 

legislators; its business groups and nonprofit organizations and citizens across 

the Chesapeake Bay watershed found common ground around the idea of a new 

national historic trail to recognize the importance of Smith’s journeys to the region 

and the nation. 

Citizens and organizations, working with their elected officials, understood 

Exploring the New Captain John Smith 

Chesapeake National Historic Trail 

“Heaven and earth never 

agreed better to frame a 

place for man’s habitation...” 

– Captain John Smith, 1612

The new national historic trail begins at Jamestown, where a statue of Captain John 

Smith overlooks the James River (top of page, photo by Bill Haley, Haley Sharpe 

Design LTD). On America’s “Anniversary Weekend,” author Pat Noonan (at podium, 

above), NPS Director Mary Bomar (left) and PNC Bank Vice President Bonnie Stein ( far 

left) wished bon voyage to the crew (at right) of a small shallop. The crew is re-tracing 

Smith’s route to inaugurate the trail and is due back in Jamestown in September (See 

page 14). Photo by Joan Moody, DOI. 
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 13

how the trail couples the region’s deep history with its natural beauty to create a 

lasting legacy for the 400th anniversary commemoration of Jamestown. They saw 

opportunities for education, recreation and heritage tourism. Many recognized 

the potential of the trail to permanently recognize the Bay and its tributaries as a 

national treasure worthy of a unit of the National Trail System. 

Since its 1985 founding, The Conservation Fund has worked cooperatively with 

the Department of the Interior on many projects important to our national outdoor heritage. We are currently working to expand Mesa Verde National Park and 

complete the land acquisition program at the Lewis and Clark National Historical 

Park in Washington and Oregon.

 In addition, our work to assist the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset 

County, Pa., working with the Families of Flight 

93, Flight 93 Federal Advisory Commission, 

Flight 93 Memorial Task Force, the local community and National Park Service, has been 

particularly gratifying. The Conservation 

Fund has worked diligently with federal, state 

and local partners to acquire and protect lands 

around the crash site. 

Our newest national trail and the Flight 93 

National Memorial tell some of the oldest and 

the newest chapters of our history. Both introduce us to stories of heroism and tragedy and 

both are important to our nation’s history and 

its future.

The Captain John Smith Chesapeake 

National Historic Trail will open the way for 

modern-day explorers to follow Smith’s 2,000-

mile odyssey through the Chesapeake Bay and 

its tributaries in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, 

and the District of Columbia to the borders of 

Pennsylvania. 

Trail partners have begun developing exciting new maps, trail guides, exhibits, 

interactive games and digital media. Perhaps the most innovative idea is a system 

of “smart buoys” (see accompanying article). 

The trail will serve as a vital tool for restoration and conservation of the Bay 

and its tributaries. Its creation is recognition that the Bay is a national treasure. 

Introducing people to the Bay through the trail can help them understand the Bay’s 

complex system and the ongoing restoration efforts. 

The impetus for the trail grew from conversations with my colleagues Gilbert 

Grosvenor and William Baker at the National Geographic Society and the 

Chesapeake Bay Foundation, respectively. Together, we formed The Friends of 

the John Smith Trail. Others enthusiastically joined us. The Chesapeake Bay 

Commission, an influential body of legislators from Pennsylvania, Maryland and 

Virginia that coordinates the three states’ bay-related legislation, endorsed the 

idea and this led to the support of the Chesapeake Executive Council, the governing body of the Chesapeake Bay Program, the multi-state and federal effort to 

restore the Bay. Many groups joined in support, including among many others the 

National Parks and Conservation Association, the Garden Club of America and the 

Izaak Walton League as well as business groups, towns, county and state governments and nonprofit organizations.

Senator Paul Sarbanes, then Maryland’s 

senior senator, championed legislation that authorized the Department of 

Interior and the National Park Service to 

conduct a study to examine the feasibility of designating the course of Smith’s 

voyages a national historic trail. The 

year-long study found Smith’s voyages 

met all the criteria for designation as a 

national historic trail. 

Senator Sarbanes and Senator John 

Warner of Virginia, joined by Senator 

Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and other 

colleagues, introduced a bill authorizing establishment of the trail. In 

the U.S. House of Representatives, 

Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis introduced companion legislation. With the 

findings of the Park Service’s study in 

hand, the legislation passed in the last 

days of the congressional session. 

President George W. Bush signed the 

legislation on December 19, 2006. It was 

400 years from the date the Jamestown 

colonists set sail from England. 

Soon the National Park Service will 

develop its Comprehensive Management Plan through a process featuring extensive 

public involvement. In early 2007, Director Bomar named John Maounis superintendent of the new trail. He is also Director of National Park Service Chesapeake 

Bay Program Office (which includes the Chesapeake Gateways Program) as well as 

of the NPS Northeast Region Heritage Area Programs.

The Friends of the John Smith Trail provides a strong base of supporters and a 

newsletter and a website have kept them connected and informed. (See http://

friendsofthejohnsmithtrail.org).

Already, modern explorers are out on 

the trail. A full-scale replica of the John 

Smith’s shallop crewed by a young band 

of adventurers set out from Jamestown 

on May 12, 2007, during the Anniversary 

Weekend for Jamestown’s 400th. The 

trip, organized by Sultana Projects of 

Chestertown, Md., was the official inauguration of the new Captain John Smith 

Chesapeake National Historic Trail. The 

explorers planned to retrace Smith’s 

journey and stop at 28 festivals around 

the bay, including the 2007 Folklife 

Festival in Washington, D.C. 

Our trail system began almost 40 

years ago with the authorization of 

the Appalachian National Scenic 

Trail. In becoming the 25th unit of the 

National Trail System, the John Smith 

Chesapeake Trail joins a distinguished 

group. The national historic trails honor 

the lives of Americans who, with will 

and determination, left a legacy for 

those who will follow. 

Smart Buoys Provide “Museum 

Without Walls” Along Trail 

A n innovative system of smart buoys, called the Chesapeake Bay 

Interpretive Buoy System, provides visitors to the Captain John Smith 

Chesapeake National Historic Trail a new way to access historical and 

cultural information as well as current environmental conditions, creating a 

museum without walls experience for trail travelers. Akin to podcasts, these 

vignettes are available via a cellular phone or through the internet. 

Using the system, which has been developed by the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration and Verizon Wireless, a trail traveler can get 

weather information or a story about what John Smith saw when he explored 

this territory 400 years ago.

“This concept and technology could be extended to other national trails and 

parks,” said Mary Bomar, director of the National Park Service. “They give us 

a new way to access the interpretive information we want and a new way to 

experience our parks and trails.” 

The smart buoy project seeks to promote awareness of the Bay’s condition, 

and to support the stewardship efforts of educators, trail users, government, 

and civic organizations dedicated to the preservation of the Bay and its natural environment. 

View the system at www.buoybay.org or call 1-877-BUOYBAY. 

Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail Map

MD, VA, DE, and DC

Produced by NPS-CBPO May 2006

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

0 5 10 20 30 40

Miles

Voyage 1

Voyage 2

Dover

Annapolis

Richmond

Washington

Virginia

Maryland

Delaware

C h e s a p e a k e B a y

Nanticoke

River

Potomac

River

Patuxent

River

Rappahannock

River

James

River

Patapsco

River

Susquehanna

River

Pocomoke

River

Sassafras

River

Northeast

River

Elk River

Piankatank

River

Bush River

Nansemond

River

Elizabeth

River

York

River

Chickahominy

River

Pamunkey

River

Mattaponi

River

1607 Travels 1609 Travels

Captain John Smith
14 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007 , 1607-2007

Diary from the Smith Shallop

On the Upper Potomac

June 20, 2007

Accokeek, Maryland

By Andrew Bystrom

Back in the middle of the river, I’m amazed at the 

rolling shoreline, the Bald Eagles, and Osprey. We 

crawl into our tents at night alongside a nesting 

female Osprey as she tears apart a White Perch 

and places the shreds of meat into her chicks’ mouths. Early each 

morning, while we struggle to emerge from the zipper sealed nylon; 

she is already circling above the river, hunting for another meal. I 

expected to find a bustling metropolis flanking both shores, but I’ve 

been pleasantly surprised to find this image a ridiculous stereotype. 

A river that flows through the nation’s capital can transform its scenery 20 miles down stream from an urban setting to a natural one. 

Smith didn’t explore the Potomac alone. A Wiccocomico Indian 

named Mosco jumped on board near the river’s headwaters and 

stayed with the shallop up to the settlement of Patawomeck on the 

Potomac Creek. From this point Smith continued on, but he returned 

to this creek for an intriguing search for precious metals on his way 

back down river; but that story will have to wait until we come back 

down stream as well.

Now known as the crew that strays too far from Smith’s path, we 

spent the night on this creek in Judith, Ron, and Mike’s backyard. 

They have a 20 year old cat named Skeeter who awoke at 4:00 am to 

see us off on a 15-hour push to Accokeek, MD. Skeeter is almost old 

enough (in dog years) to have seen the original shallop, and Mosco 

too. In addition to old pets, Judith wired up a couple hundred dollars 

worth of fireworks for us, then sat back, flicked the infrared switch, 

and lit up the sky over their dock.

The 1608 Chesapeake Voyage

One year after the founding of Jamestown, Captain John Smith and 14 English settlers set out in a small open boat on one of the most important voyages of exploration 

in American history—three months exploring the Chesapeake. Beset by storms, 

heat, and sickness, the expedition nevertheless managed to map nearly every major 

tributary of the great estuary while traveling more than 2,500 miles. In the winter 

of 2006, a group of noted historians and scholars produced a concise account of 

John Smith’s 1608 Chesapeake voyages 

as part of the National Park Service’s 

Statement of Significance for the proposed Captain John Smith Chesapeake 

National Historic Water Trail. You can 

read the documents at http://www.nps.

gov/nero/josm/index.htm.

The 2007 Chesapeake 

Voyage

On May 12, 2007, a crew of modernday explorers, historians, naturalists and 

educators launched a journey to reenact Captain John Smith’s incredible 

1608 expedition. Traveling in a 28-foot 

reproduction of Smith’s shallop, and 

living much as Smith and his men did 

400 years ago, the shallop and her crew 

will spend 121-days voyaging to the 

headwaters of almost every tributary 

of the Chesapeake Bay. At more than 

20 points along the route, the shallop 

and her crew will stop for public exhibitions so that people from all around the 

region can learn about this important episode in the history of the Chesapeake.

Known as the Captain John Smith Four Hundred Project, this ambitious reenactment is being undertaken by Sultana Projects, a non-profit organization 

based in Chestertown, Md., in partnership with the Friends of the Captain John 

Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. As the John Smith shallop travels the 

Chesapeake, the crew records their adventures in detail with daily journals, photos 

and video. (See accompanying diary entry.) 

Visitors to www,johnsmith400.org can follow the progress of the voyage in real time.

Shown in the front row, the crew of the replica of Captain John Smith’s shallop left the shores of Historic Jamestowne on May 12, 2007 and were expected back in September. 

Dignitaries gathering for the sendoff included (back row, left to right:) Drew McMullen,President, Sultana Projects; Patrick F. Noonan, Chairman Emeritus, The Conservation 

Fund; Mary Bomar, Director of the National Park Service; Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA 

Administrator; Chief Stephen Adkins, Chickahominy Tribe of Virginia; Christopher Cerino, Vice President, Sultana; James W. Hubbard, Chairman, Chesapeake Bay Commission; 

Bonnie Stein, Senior Vice-President, PNC Bank; Gilbert M. Grosvenor, Chairman, National Geographic Society; William B. Kerkam, III, President, APVA-Preservation Virginia. 

Crew members in the front row, left to right, are: Ashley Maloney, Kelly Poole, Ian Bystrom, William Ryall, Forrest Richards, Leona Dalton, Austin Hall, Andrew Bystrom and 

Donald Dover. Photo by Joan Moody, DOI. 

The shallop departs from Jamestown on 

May 12 for a four-month journey. Photo 

by Joan Moody, DOI.
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 15

Pocahontas was an Indian princess, the daughter of Powhatan, the powerful chief of the Algonkian Indians in the Tidewater region of 

Virginia. She was born around 1595 and is best known 

as Pocahontas, which means “Little-wanton,” or playful, frolicsome little girl.

Pocahontas probably saw white men for the first 

time in May 1607 when the Englishmen landed at 

Jamestown. The first meeting of Pocahontas and 

Captain John Smith is a legendary story, romanticized by Smith. In December 1607 Indians took him 

captive and brought him to the official residence 

of Powhatan at Werowocomoco, which was 12 miles 

from Jamestown. According to Smith, the great chief 

first welcomed him and offered him a feast. Then the 

Indians grabbed him and stood over him with clubs 

as though ready to beat him to death if ordered. 

Suddenly a little Indian girl rushed in and took 

Smith’s “head in her arms and laid her owne upon his 

to save hime from death.” The girl, Pocahontas, then 

pulled him to his feet. Powhatan declared that they 

were now friends, and he adopted Smith as his son, 

or a subordinate chief. Actually, this mock “execution and salvation” ceremony was traditional with 

the Indians, and if Smith’s story is true, Pocahontas’ 

actions were probably one part of a ritual. 

Relations with the Indians continued to be generally 

friendly for the next year, and Pocahontas frequently 

visited Jamestown to deliver 

messages from her father and 

accompany Indians bringing 

food and furs to trade for 

hatchets and trinkets. Several 

years after their first meeting, Smith described her as 

“a child of tenne yeares old, 

which not only for feature, 

countenance, and proportion 

much exceedeth any of the 

rest of his [Powhatan’s] people 

but for wit and spirit [is] the 

only non-pareil of his countrie.”

Unfortunately, relations with the Powhatans worsened. In October 1609, a gunpowder explosion 

badly injured John Smith, forcing him to return to 

England. When Pocahontas next came to visit the 

fort, she was told that her friend Smith was dead.

In the spring of 1613, one of Captain Samuel 

Argall’s trading expeditions ended with the kidnapping of Pocahantas. After many back and forth 

negotiations between the English and Indians, a 

bargain was made that brought about an end to 

five years of vicious fighting. Both sides could now 

plant their corn, fish, hunt and live in peace. 

Over time, Pocahontas learned to speak English, 

converted to Christianity, married a colonist named 

John Rolfe and changed her name to Rebecca. 

When Sir Thomas Dale sailed back to London in 

the spring of 1616 to seek further financial support for the Virginia Company, he brought with 

him about a dozen Algonkian Indians, including Pocahontas. Her husband and their young 

son, Thomas, accompanied her. The arrival of 

Pocahontas in London was well publicized. She was 

presented to King James I, the royal family, and the 

best of London society. Also in London at the time 

was Captain John Smith, the old friend she had not seen for eight years and whom 

she believed was dead. 

In March 1617, the Rolfe family set sail to return to Virginia. It was soon apparent, however, that Pocahontas would not survive the passage. She was deathly ill 

from pneumonia or possibly tuberculosis. She was taken ashore, and, as she lay 

dying, she comforted her husband, saying, “all must die. ’Tis enough that the child 

liveth.” She was buried in a churchyard in Gravesend, England. She was 22 years 

old.

Pocahontas played a significant role in American history. As a compassionate 

little girl, she saw to it that the colonists received food from the Indians, so that 

Jamestown would not become another “Lost Colony.” In 1616 John Smith wrote 

that Pocahontas was “the instrument to pursurve this colonie from death, famine, 

and utter confusion.” Pocahontas not only served as a representative of the Virginia 

Indians, but also as a vital link between the Native Americans and the Englishmen. 

Whatever her contributions, the romantic aspects of her life will no doubt stand 

out forever.

The Story of 

Pocahontas

“The promise of prosperity that accompanied the first years of the 1620s 

did not last. Following the death of 

Pocahotas in 1617 and her father, 

Chief Powhatan, in 1618, local native 

leaders, particularly the charismatic 

paramount chief, Opechancanough, 

adopted a more militant attitude 

toward the Jamestown colonists.”

— Jamestown: An American Legacy, By 

Martha W. McCartney

Pocahontas was “the instrument to pursurve 

this colonie from death, famine, and utter 

confusion.”

 —Captain John Smith, 1616

The painting above was 

based on an engraving by 

Simon van de Passe published in London in 1616, 

a year before Pocahontas’ 

death. It is the only known 

likeness of her created 

during her lifetime. The 

photo above at right shows 

the statue of Pocahontas 

at Historic Jamestowne, 

while at bottom right is 

“Captain Smith Saved by 

Pocahontas” Discovering 

the New World, based on 

the works of 16th century 

engraver Theodore De Bry.

Photo by Joan Moody, DOI.

Courtesy, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
16 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007 Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 17

A MERICA’S 400th ANNIVERSARY commemorates the landing of three ships in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia, which would become the first permanent English settlement in America. The 

settlers’ historic passage is called “the Journey that Changed 

the World.” Historic Jamestowne is a unit of the National 

Park System that is part of Colonial National Historical Park. 

The park also includes Yorktown Battlefield and the Colonial 

Parkway linking Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg—

America’s Historic Triangle. 

From Jamestown’s humble beginnings as a colonial outpost, it established the foundation for what would become 

the United States of America. The independence declared on 

July 4, 1776, was secured just east of Jamestown at Yorktown, 

where General George Washington and Allied forces defeated General Lord Charles Cornwallis on October 19, 1781.

The National Park Service, one of the agencies of the Department of the Interior, protects America’s historical and cultural resources, such as Jamestown, as well as her beautiful 

landscapes. 

The 400th Anniversary Commemoration began in 

2006 with events including a sail of the Godspeed 

(left) up the East Coast, a visit of Virginia Indians to 

England, Native American and African American 

conferences, and the 225th anniversary of the Battle at Yorktown. 

The latter event featured U.S. and French officials including 

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne (left side—top right 

photo and second photo from bottom). PBS journalist Gwen 

Ifill hosted “Jamestown Live,” in which students from around the 

country participated in a televised forum on Jamestown’s legacies 

of democracy, diversity and exploration (bottom right).

 In May 2007 Queen Elizabeth II visited Jamestown. (She 

is shown receiving an NPS gift at middle left.) On May 11-13, 

“America’s Anniversary Weekend” featured President Bush (upper left) and other dignitaries as well as fireworks in Anniversary 

Park (upper right). At Historic Jamestowne, NPS Director Mary 

Bomar and dignitaries (bottom left) helped launch the journey of 

a small shallop (above) inaugurating the new Captain John Smith 

National Historic Trail. The 400th anniversary culminates with 

the World Forum on Democracy in September 2007.

Photos courtesy U.S. Department of the Interior, Jamestown 2007, the Jamestown 

federal commission and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
18 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007

By Dr. Rex Ellis and Dr. Belinda Anderson, Co-Chairs, Jamestown 

2007 African American Advisory Council

When asked why African Americans would consider commemorating the 400th Anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, America’s first permanent English 

settlement, our response as members of the Jamestown 2007 

African American Advisory Council (charged with helping with 

planning America’s 400th Anniversary) is “Why Not?”

Not only is it important to recognize that African Americans 

should be at the “table” when acknowledging America’s earliest 

beginnings, it is critical to understand that African Americans 

helped build the “table” by literally laying the foundation for 

what we now know as modern America. The influence of Africans 

and African-American contributions and accomplishments on 

American society permeates every facet of American life. 

Jamestown historians have consistently focused solely on the 

brave English explorers who sought to establish their fortune in 

a new world. But it is important to understand that Jamestown 

is more than simply that place where the quest for fame and fortune unwittingly became the catalyst for a new nation. Jamestown 

represents a milestone in America’s development as a nation, and 

2007 is a unique opportunity for the nation and the world to acknowledge and 

commemorate the significance of all of America’s cultures and more completely 

tell the story of her history to an international audience. It is a rare opportunity 

to showcase the journey of Africans to the New World to a worldwide audience. 

Long before the first documented “20 and odd Africans” arrived in 1619, 

African people were charting new courses around the world and African indentured servants and slaves were helping stabilize new world economies.

The African American Advisory 

Council sought to use this commemoration as both a marker, and 

an impetus for future education and 

change in a nation that continues 

to be challenged with the struggles 

of social, political, economic and 

cultural fusion. The story of how 

Africans and African Americans 

became an essential part of North 

America’s development despite their 

beginnings is a powerful, evocative 

and necessary story. 

One cannot legitimately discuss 

the history of Jamestown and its pivotal role in American history without 

talking about the black struggle in 

all its forms. One cannot ignore the 

horrors and holocaust of nations 

of African people being stripped 

from their families and homelands, 

enslaved and forced into new cultures and new ways of life.

Through the educational programs 

and events that were planned for 

the 18-month Jamestown commemoration, we have sought to ensure 

that the African story is told as 

accurately and honestly as possible. 

We felt strongly that honoring our 

African ancestors required showing 

the magnificent legacy left behind 

by a people whose spirit, endurance, 

perseverance, skill and knowledge 

survived to forge a new culture of 

people – African Americans – who 

by their forced labor created the 

backbone and very threads of the 

fabric that we now know as the United States of America. 

America’s commemoration of Jamestown has occurred every 50 years since 

1807. The planners of other commemorations, including the 1907 Jamestown 

Exposition, held at what is now known as the Norfolk Naval Base, chose to 

exclude the African-American story from the planning process. It was Booker 

T. Washington, the great educator of that time, who felt it was so important that 

African Americans showcase their achievements and contributions to American 

history that he lobbied Congress for 

a grant to create and fund a Negro 

Exposition. 

Giles Jackson oversaw the Negro 

Exposition Company with an initial grant from the U.S. government. 

The Exposition Company financed 

and built its own contribution to 

the exposition. The Negro Building 

housed more then 3,000 exhibitions, 

including dioramas sculpted by Meta 

Vaux Warwick Fuller that presented 

a chronology of the black experience 

in America. Historians wrote that 

the Negro Exposition was one of the 

most successful of its day. African 

Americans came from across the 

nation to view the exhibits and displays including a number who had 

not returned to Virginia since the 

Civil War. It created an atmosphere 

for family reunions that would not 

have been possible under other circumstances.

In 1957, the representation of 

African Americans was not quite as 

comprehensive, but the importance 

of showcasing an African-American 

presence was still relevant — recognition during the eight-month celebration was highlighted on “Negro 

Day.”

In 2007, the planners of America’s 

400th Anniversary thought it was an 

essential and necessary element to 

recognize the African-American contribution in every signature event 

and program that was planned. The 

America’s 400th Anniversary The African American Imprint on America

State of the Black Union, Panelists: L. Douglas Wilder, Stephanie Robinson, Rev. Jesse Jackson, 

Glenda Hatchett, and Rev. Dr. Otis Moss Jr. Courtesy of Jamestown 2007.

Continued on Next Page 

The 1907 Ter-Centennial Exposition

Held at what is now the Norfolk Naval Base, the exposition drew more 

than 1.2 million visitors and opened April 1907. The exposition showcased the history and culture of Virginia, and also the history and 

culture of 21 states that built state houses celebrating each state’s history. 

Several countries and naval fleets from around the world also took part 

in the exposition. President Theodore Roosevelt, author Mark Twain and 

Tuskegee Institute founder Booker T. Washington were featured speakers 

during the observance.

The Negro Building was known as one of the ‘most beautiful edifices’ on 

the exposition grounds in 1907. The building was designed by architect W. 

Sydney Pittman, the first African American to have a design accepted by the 

United States Government. Exhibited products showcased African-American 

culture, inventions and industry. African-American universities such as 

Hampton Normal Institute (later Hampton University), Virginia Union and 

Howard University all had exhibits in the building. 

Courtesy of Jamestown 2007.
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 19

African American Advisory Council took on that charge and picked up the 

‘baton’ that was left by our predecessors and planned events that would showcase the African American Imprint on America. We have attempted to carry 

that message through all of the African-American events for America’s 400th

Anniversary. 

Our grassroots organization, the Virginia African American Forum, helped 

highlight that theme and the legacy of our ancestors by previewing the new 

expanded galleries at Jamestown Settlement. The “Preview Gala” event took 

attendees on a journey through time exploring 17th century artifacts and history from the West Coast of Africa, including Angola and Benin.

In November 2006, school children across the nation tuned in for an international Web cast known as Jamestown Live! that focused on Jamestown’s legacies 

of free enterprise, cultural diversity, democracy and exploration. The onehour educational program dealt extensively with the three original cultures 

and explained history not only from the European perspective, but also from 

the African and Native American perspective.

In February 2007, we joined with Tavis Smiley Presents for two days of 

symposia. The first symposium focused on 400 Years In Retrospect: A CrossCultural Look at Jamestown. The symposium, or town hall conversation, was 

televised by C-Span and the History Channel. It brought together community 

leaders and scholars from the American Indian, Spanish, English and AfricanAmerican communities to discuss America’s earliest beginnings, the interaction of the original cultures and the significant impact every culture makes 

individually and collectively on America. The second symposium, the 2007 

State of the Black Union focused on the current state of African Americans. 

Also televised internationally by C-Span, it brought together African-American 

leaders from around the nation to discuss on a global platform the African 

American Imprint on America, the Covenant with Black America and African 

Americans as “agents of change.”

In addition to the national programming, each of Virginia’s Historically Black 

Colleges and Universities planned “imprint” events of their own. From art to 

history, from politics to religion, from music to business, each school showcased programming and events as a complement to the overarching African 

imprint theme.

In August 2007, we will join with Thomas McCants Media, for the Virginia 

Black Expo: A Cultural and Commerce Exposition. We will showcase AfricanAmerican entrepreneurs and businessmen in various facets of business and 

culture. The four-day event will also include a Black Family Reunion and will 

be held at the new Hampton Convention Center. 

As part of America’s 400th Anniversary, more than 170 of Virginia’s communities, and communities in Florida, Georgia and England have planned 

complementary commemorative events showcasing their individual histories. 

Many of these communities have found that this is an excellent opportunity 

to explore and highlight the impact and imprint of African Americans and 

American Indians on their community and have events planned throughout the 

18-month commemoration.

African Americans have worked, loved, played, prayed, created and survived 

in a world order that had to adjust to their genius, their determination and 

their victory in the face of incredible odds. Fortunately for us, and for future 

generations, they have left their imprint wherever they have gone. 

Throughout each of the signature events we have sought to demonstrate, 

exhibit, and present (in a variety of forms), their evolution and successes, as 

well as the struggles that took place from the transition of Africans to the “New 

World”—through the Americas—ending with the current realities we face and 

the legacy that we can leave for generations to come.

African American Imprint

Continued from page 18

By Katherine Calos, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 

May 14, 2007. Reprinted by Permission

JAMESTOWN—From the perspective of a 

black man, America had the chance to get it 

right at Jamestown.

“Between 1607 and the 1660s, there was a 

moment of opportunity,” said Jerome Bridges, 

a volunteer interpreter at Historic Jamestowne 

who led tours yesterday while portraying 

Anthony Johnson.

Johnson was taken from Angola in 1619 on 

a slave ship headed to Mexico. Privateers captured the human cargo, some 20 of whom were 

brought to Jamestown that year. Johnson was 

taken instead to Bermuda and from there to 

England before he came to America.

At first, blacks faced the same conditions as 

indentured servants, becoming free after working for a set number of years. Johnson lived 

on the Eastern Shore, married, had children, 

purchased five indentured servants to work for 

him and bought a slave of his own.

“For one brief shining moment, there was 

the opportunity for Negroes to live on the same 

plane,” Bridges said. “There were no slave 

laws. Negroes could own land. They could have 

indentured servants.” 

And then, about 50 years after the arrival of 

the first blacks, the laws changed. Slavery took 

hold. That opportunity was lost.

For some blacks, that was reason to protest 

the Jamestown 400th-anniversary activities yesterday. Generally, crowds at the commemoration have been overwhelmingly white.

However, for blacks who joined the throng, 

the Jamestown story is part of their past, too.

Brendan and Mahalia Laster drove from 

Upper Marlboro, Md., with their 5-month-old 

son Brendan Jr.

“Being African-American, it made me something a little different, being that my history is 

different, but it made me still connected,” the 

husband said.

“The history profoundly affected us as well, 

even though the narrative is a little different.”

For Dr. Susan Bailey of Atlanta, the 400th 

anniversary was a chance to introduce her 8-

year-old granddaughter, Micah, to a place that 

Bailey remembered fondly from growing up in 

Newport News.

“I was expecting to spend half a day at the 

settlement. We spent all day. We watched them 

drying fish, digging a canoe, baking bread. 

We’re having a wonderful time,” Bailey said.

“At the concert [Saturday] night, you had the 

governor up there playing his harmonica.

“I’m so glad that they spent this money 

wisely. They don’t have this in Georgia.”

Jean Kelley of Hummelstown, Pa., stood next 

to the archeological dig and thought about her 

other roots, too.

“Recently, I visited West Africa. I walked 

through the door of no return. I’ve seen slavery 

from the perspective there and the perspective 

here.

“It is a part of history. If it wasn’t commemorated, that wouldn’t be right, either.” 

An NPS volunteer at Jamestown portrays how,

for a brief time, blacks could own land and there were no slave laws

NPS volunteer interpreter Jerome Bridges portrays Anthony Johnson, 

who was taken on a slave ship from Angola in 1619. Photo courtesy 

Richmond Times Dispatch.

Opportunity Lost at Jamestown
20 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007

this issue. (See stories, pages 12 and 

22).

The Commonwealth of Virginia has 

a major role in the commemoration 

through the work of the JamestownYorktown Foundation, which operates 

Jamestown Settlement, a living history 

museum that began in 1957 with the 

350th anniversary of Jamestown. 

The two Jamestowns—Historic 

Jamestowne located on the actual 1607 

site and Jamestown Settlement located 

on the site of the 350th anniversary—

are adjacent to each other. 

“As partners in this commemoration 

of America’s founding, they perfectly 

complement each other,” says Jeanne 

Zeidler, who is mayor of Williamsburg 

and executive director of Jamestown 

2007. “The federal commission works 

hand-in-hand with Jamestown 2007 to 

promote education, national awareness and international participation,” 

says Colonial National Historical Park 

superintendent Dan Smith. A British 

Jamestown 2007 Committee organized 

events in both the United Kingdom and 

the United States. 

The 400th anniversary commemoration began May 22, 2006, when the 

Godspeed left Jamestown for America’s 

400th Anniversary Sail up the East 

Coast. The ship, a re-creation of one 

of the three that brought the English 

settlers to Jamestown in 1607, is based 

at Jamestown Settlement. 

The Godspeed stopped at six ports 

including Alexandria, Va., where 

Secretary of the Interior Kempthorne 

greeted the crew and the public got 

a chance to see the ship and related 

exhibits in a “landing festival.” It also 

stopped in New York, where the Statue of Liberty provided the backdrop for our 

back cover photo. The Godspeed sail attracted more than 460,000 visitors.

In October 2006, a conference entitled “400 Years of Survival” featured 

Virginia tribal chiefs. In recognition 

that American Indians were the first 

people in Virginia, this event was the 

first signature event of the anniversary 

commemoration.

On October 19-22, 2006, the Yorktown 

Battlefield unit of Colonial National 

Historical Park hosted the 225th celebration of the American Revolution 

victory in the battle at Yorktown. As 

part of America’s Anniversary, this 

year’s celebration was expanded into 

four days of activities saluting the men 

and women in the armed forces. 

Secretary of the Interior Dirk 

Kempthorne, the French Defense 

Minister, the French ambassador to 

the United States and Members of 

Congress were among the distinguished 

participants. Colonial Williamsburg 

produced an electronic field trip to 

teach the story of Yorktown to a million students nationwide. 

Later in 2006, Jamestown 2007 

produced a national webcast called 

Jamestown Live. A million children 

were involved in studying democracy, cultural diversity and exploration. 

Student reporters interviewed experts 

such as Dr. Rex Ellis from Colonial 

Williamsburg, Chief Steve Adkins of 

the Chickahominy Tribe and NASA 

astronaut Kathy Thornton. Dr. Ellis 

and Chief Adkins are authors in this 

magazine (stories, pages 18 and 10). 

The federal commission created 

a wonderful resource for this webcast and other educational endeavors. 

Thousands of schoolteachers around 

the nation are using this site to access 

lesson plans that weave the Jamestown 

story into the teaching of civics, history, archeology, science and other 

subjects. These lesson plans are available free online at www.jamestownjourney.org.

In January 2007 Historic Jamestowne opened a new visitor’s center and interpretive programs related to the 1607 James Fort archeology project. The discovery of 

the fort site in 1996 brought international attention to Jamestown and intensified 

At Anniversary Park in Jamestown on May 14, 2007, President George Bush, Secretary of 

the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and other dignitaries addressed the crowd. The blue-shirted participants are members of a choir of 1,607 singers from around the nation. They 

are watching the Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps on the monitor at Anniversary Park. 

Photo by Joan Moody, DOI. 

Officials from both the United States and France participated in a wreath-laying at the 

French Memorial on the Yorktown Battlefield during the 225th anniversary of the victory 

at Yorktown, October 19, 2006. The dignitaries included Secretary of the Interior Dirk 

Kempthorne (second from left), Senator John Warner of Virginia (left) and Michele AlliotMarie (at right), then the French Defense Minister. Photo by Tami Heilemann, DOI. 

A Virginia tribal delegation visited England in 2006 (above). The English tour and 

Yorktown’s 225th anniversary (photo at right) were both “signature events” of 

America’s 400th Anniversary. Photo copyright ©2006 The Washington Post. Photo by 

Lois Raimondo. Reprinted with permission. 

Partnerships

Continued from page 5

“The Journey that Changed the World” Continues . . .
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 21

the importance of the anniversary. APVA Preservation Virginia and National 

Park Service archeologists have covered much new ground in the field of 

archeology (story, page 23).

The visit of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of England to 

Virginia on May 3-4 attracted worldwide media coverage. The royal 

couple had last visited Jamestown and Williamsburg in 1957 for the 

350th anniversary. 

Anniversary Weekend on May 11-13 was a dramatic high point 

of the 400th anniversary. Events took place at Historic Jamestowne, 

Jamestown Settlement and “Anniversary Park,” land acquired with the 

help of the Trust for Public Land (story, page 22). 

The federal commission 

hosted not only President 

George Bush, Queen Elizabeth 

II, Secretary of the Interior 

Dirk Kempthorne, former 

Supreme Court Justice Sandra 

Day O’Connor, Governor Tim 

Kaine, Members of Congress 

and other high-ranking U.S. 

officials, but also representatives from the United 

Kingdom and other nations. 

Events at Colonial National 

Historical Park on the weekend included the 

launching of the John Smith shallop and christening of the new visitor center by National 

Park Service Director Mary Bomar. Anniversary 

Park was the scene for concerts, exhibits and 

fireworks.

“We are extremely pleased with Anniversary 

Weekend,” said Zeidler, noting that it attracted 

about 63,000 people to a small area without 

straining transportation systems and other guest 

services. “There are no operations manuals for 

staging a once-every-50-years event, but I think 

we struck the right balance.” 

Superintendent Dan Smith agrees and says he 

is proud that Colonial National Historical Park 

staff accomplished two major events in one 

year—the Yorktown 225th and the Jamestown 

400th anniversaries—on time and on budget 

with tens of thousands of visitors. 

What is the broader meaning of the anniversary? A good starting point is the National Park 

Service’s description of the meaning of Colonial 

National Historical Park: 

It began on the swampy marshes of Jamestown 

in 1607. It ended on the battle scarred landscape of Yorktown in 1781. It was one hundred 

and seventy-four years of hope, frustration, 

adventure, discovery, growth and development that saw a lonely settlement of 104 men 

and boys grow into a nation of 13 colonies of 

3 million people, of many races and many beliefs. 

The differences between the 350th and 400th anniversaries of Jamestown 

have been stark. In contrast to previous commemorations, the 400th 

anniversary has included prominent roles for Native Americans and 

African Americans. The 2007 organizers have called it a “commemoration” rather than a “celebration” in recognition that all people did 

not share in the blessings of Jamestown. 

“The expansion of Jamestown came at a terrible cost to the native 

tribes of the region, who lost their lands and their way of life,” 

President Bush said in his May 13 speech at Jamestown. “And for many 

Africans, the journey to Virginia represented the beginnings of a life of 

hard labor and bondage. Their story is a part of the story of Jamestown. It 

reminds us that the work of American democracy is to constantly renew and to 

extend the blessings of liberty.”

Although some critics wanted to downplay the less inspiring parts of Jamestown’s 

history, Sandra Day O’Connor, retired Supreme Court Justice and Honorary chairwoman of America’s 400th Anniversary, called on Americans to learn from their 

trials and tribulations. “We must look to the past to understand better how we 

became the people we are, the adversity that had to be overcome, the courage 

of our forebears, their achievements and, yes, 

their mistakes and failings,” she said. Her article 

appeared in the May 7, 2007 Time Magazine, 

which devoted the issue to “How Jamestown 

Colony Made Us Who We Are.” 

A more definitive picture of the meaning and 

legacy of the 400th anniversary will be provided 

by the proceedings of the September World 

Forum on Democracy. (Electronic and written 

records of the proceedings will be published as 

the Jamestown Commentaries on the Foundations 

and Future of Democracy.) 

But, at a minimum, all participants agree that 

Jamestown was the start of something big. “From 

that fragile first planting at Jamestown grew a 

robust Virginia colony, the incubator for ideas and 

institutions that would define and prosper the 

American Republic—among them, representative government, free enterprise, religious liberty, 

and the rule of law,” Frank Atkinson noted in the 

Richmond Times Dispatch on April 26, 2006. 

“America is a nation of immigrants, and its 

cultural diversity traces its roots to Jamestown, 

where Native Americans, English settlers, and 

enslaved Africans first came together under the 

most trying of conditions,” said Atkinson.

Organizers of America’s 400th Anniversary call 

the sail to Jamestown the “journey that changed 

the world.” The journey has not ended. It has 

been a 400-year-long journey toward making the 

promise of democracy real for everyone. Like any 

journey, it’s had its ups and downs. And if the 

journey is at least as important as the destination, 

we’ve learned that we need to be partners along 

the way.

Queen Elizabeth II of England visited Jamestown and Williamsburg in 1957, for the 350th anniversary (at left, courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation). She returned 

in 2007 for the 400th anniversary. Photo by Tami Heilmann, DOI. 

Godspeed on the James River. Courtesy Jamestown 2007.

the importance of the anniversary. APVA Preservation Virginia and National 

Park Service archeologists have covered much new ground in the field of

3 million people, of many races and many beliefs. 

The differences between the 350th and 400

have been stark. In contrast to previous commemorations, the 400th

Africans, the journey to Virginia represented the beginnings of a life of

hard labor and bondage. Their story is a part of the story of Jamestown. It

In contrast to previous commemorations, the 400th anniversary has included 

prominent roles for Native Americans and 

African Americans. The 2007 organizers 

called it a “commemoration” rather than 

a “celebration” in recognition that all 

people did not share in the blessings of 

Jamestown.
22 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007

By Will Rogers, President, The Trust for Public Land

I

n 1606, King James I of England granted a charter 

to the Virginia Company, a group of London-based 

entrepreneurs, so they could create an English settlement in the Chesapeake region of North America. 

Through this partnership, more than 100 explorers 

left England and sailed west, seeking a good water 

route to the Orient. As America’s 400th Anniversary 

commemorated in May 2007, on May 14, 1607, the 

little band sailed through the Chesapeake Bay, up the 

James River, and founded Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World.

Almost 400 years later, another, lesser known partnership—involving governments at all levels and the 

private money and entrepreneurs with a big idea—has 

protected 202 acres on the banks of the James River, 

not far from the Jamestown colony.

In 2006 The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national 

land conservation organization, worked with James 

City County to protect this land, which lies within 

the historic triangle of Jamestown, Williamsburg, and 

Yorktown—an area that hosts more than four million 

visitors annually. The successful effort came just in 

time for the 400th anniversary.

The site, near the Jamestown settlement, was protected in part to serve as “Anniversary Park,” the 

center of the commemoration and the main stage 

for dignitaries and guests, multiple performances, 

interactive displays, cultural exhibits, and information 

about 400 years of Virginia history. 

“This land will now hold an important place in 

history by hosting the many visitors who come to 

Jamestown to commemorate its 400th Anniversary,” 

said U.S. Senator John Warner, who worked with U.S. 

Representative Jo Ann Davis to secure federal funding 

to help protect the property. 

Representative Davis added, 

“Completion of this project was important to the successful commemoration of our nation’s 400th Anniversary. 

It is great to see that this historically 

significant land will be used for such 

a memorable public event.”

The three-day anniversary weekend on May 

11-13 brought an estimated 68,500 visitors 

from around the world to the Jamestown 

area, including Queen Elizabeth II of Great 

Britain. The protection of the land will long 

outlive the weekend.

This complicated land protection project 

took two years to complete, but it is the 

kind of project The Trust for Public Land is 

proud to do as it helps fulfill our mission of 

protecting land for people. Places such as 

Jamestown connect us, both to the land and 

to the nation we have become. It is important to preserve places like this, so future 

Americans can know the stories of those who 

came before them. 

In the 35 years that TPL has existed, we have 

worked with a wide variety of Department of 

Interior agencies and those partnerships—

and even more importantly, the results that 

they have produced—have helped protect 

hundreds of thousands of acres of land.

Long after the Jamestown celebration is over, the 

lands along the Powhatan Creek and the James River 

will remain an important open space.

The newly protected property borders the National 

Colonial Parkway, the famous 23-mile scenic roadway connecting the historic triangle of Jamestown, 

Williamsburg and Yorktown and is adjacent to the 

Jamestown National Historic Site. Across from the 

campground is Mainland Farm, a 215-acre historic 

working farm owned by James City County. In addition, the new Capitol City Bike Trail, linking Richmond, 

Va., to Williamsburg, will traverse the parcel and link 

Jamestown to the historic James River Plantations.

TPL worked closely with James City County on the 

$12.5 million project, including negotiating with 

the landowners and securing private and public funding. James 

City County contributed $9.7 million to the overall purchase price, 

while the state contributed $750,000. Dominion, one 

of the nation’s largest energy companies, contributed $250,000, and Virginia’s Congressional delegation 

secured a $1.8-million federal Coastal and Estuarine 

Land Conservation Program grant to help with its 

purchase.

In addition, numerous area residents and visiting 

history buffs helped support this land protection 

effort in July 2006, by attending a nearby re-enactment of the Revolutionary War Battle of Green Spring, 

which was fought 225 years ago on the site.

In July 1781, 1,000 Continental soldiers narrowly 

escaped British General Lord Cornwallis’s attempt to 

trap them with 2,000 of his troops, buying America 

precious time in its fight for independence. Using 

nimble tactics and some luck, the American forces, 

led by Generals Lafayette and Wayne, eluded British 

troops.

It was the last major fight between British and 

American soldiers before the arrival of American and 

French troops under George Washington in September 

1781. Cornwallis moved his troops back to 

nearby Yorktown, where he was besieged and 

surrendered in October 1781, effectively ending the Revolutionary War.

The 2d Virginia Regiment donated proceeds from that re-enactment—the first one 

ever dedicated to recreating the action at 

Green Spring—to TPL.

“The Battle of Green Spring is one of the 

many Revolutionary War battles which has 

great significance but does not end up in the 

history books because George Washington 

was not a part of it or it was not an American 

victory,” said Todd Post, president of the 2d 

Virginia Regiment and coordinator for the 

re-enactment. “By hosting this re-enactment 

and subsequently protecting this property, 

we have had the opportunity not only to 

teach visitors about this important battle but 

also to have a lasting contribution by protecting part of the original battlefield. Hopefully, 

experiences here will continue to educate 

and inform generations to come.”

As noted earlier, we are proud to have 

worked with Interior Department agencies 

to protect a number of places and sites that help 

tell the diverse American story, including the viewshed of George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate 

in Virginia; Henry David Thoreau’s Walden Woods 

property near Boston; the Martin Luther King, Jr. 

National Historic Site in Atlanta; the Brown v. Board 

of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, Kansas; 

the Monocacy National Battlefield in Maryland; land at 

the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Battlefield in 

southeastern Tennessee; and the Connecticut home of 

American Impressionist painter J. Alden Weir, now the 

Weir Farm National Historic Site. For more information on The Trust for Public Land, see www.tpl.org.

In 2006 The Trust for Public Land worked with James City County and federal, state and private partners to secure a site for “Anniversary Park” and 

to protect land for the future in the James River area. Photo of TPL-protected 

land at top © by David Harp/chesapeakephotos.com, used with permission. 

Festival photo courtesy Jamestown 2007.

Partnerships that Protect Land 

and History for People

Partnerships that Protect Land 

Anniversary Park:

Places such as Jamestown 

connect us, both to the 

land and to the nation we 

have become. 
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 23

Overview

By Joan Moody, Interior Office of 

Communications

Archeologist William Kelso is downright passionate about digging in the dirt. “The interplay of history 

and archeology rediscovers Jamestown,” 

he says in Jamestown: The Buried Truth. 

“The lost 1607 fort is found. Burials 

reveal its people. Thousands of objects 

open windows on daily life. And documents and digging lay bare the places of 

American democracy.” 

In 1996 Kelso realized his longtime 

dream of finding the lost fort site at 

Jamestown, generally thought to have 

washed into the river. He was sponsored by APVA Preservation Virginia, 

the Park Service’s partner in managing 

Historic Jamestowne, in anticipation of 

America’s 400th anniversary. Kelso says 

NPS archeologists working before the 

350th anniversary “just missed finding 

the fort as they were given only a few 

months on the APVA site.” 

Addressing a local Jamestown 400th 

anniversary event in Falls Church, Va., 

in March 2007, Dr. Kelso showed a video 

of objects being drawn up from a well, 

excitedly describing artifacts found at 

Jamestown—including a helmet, surgeon’s tools, a breastplate, pottery and 

Indian pipes. At that time he estimated 

only 40 percent of the fort site had been 

excavated. 

Kelso recounted how mudwalls have 

trapped things “like a moment in time.” 

As an archeologist, he has a keen sense 

of time borne of digging. At the time of 

Jamestown “Shakespeare was alive and 

doing plays,” he noted. “A lot of people 

don’t realize that’s how old America is.” 

In fact, the virtual time capsules found 

at Jamestown have revealed thousands of finds from Shakespeare’s time. 

One of these discoveries is a signet ring that belonged to William Strachey, a friend 

of the Earl of Southampton (Shakespeare’s patron). Strachey joined the Virginia 

Company of London in 1609. He was aboard the Sea Venture with the leaders of the 

expedition when the ship was blown off course by a hurricane and ran aground on 

the island of Bermuda.

Strachey is remembered for the record of this shipwreck; in fact, some scholars 

have concluded that Shakespeare read Strachey’s work and was influenced by it in 

writing The Tempest.

Four million miles and four centuries later, an object from Jamestown went into 

space as an anniversary time capsule. When Space shuttle Atlantis roared into a 

deep-blue Florida sky on June 8, 2007, headed for the International Space Station, it 

carried carried a metal cargo tag from Jamestown. The tag is about 400 years old and 

bears the words “Yames Towne.”

“We found the tag at the bottom of a well during a dig at the James Fort,” said Kelso. 

“It appears to be a discarded shipping 

tag from a crate or trunk that arrived 

from England around 1611. The artifact 

clearly marks Jamestown as a destination—our nation’s first address.”

The APVA’s new archeological investigations, which began in 1994, are known 

as Jamestown Rediscovery. “Jamestown 

Rediscovery resulted in locating the 

original fort site and uncovering nearly 

a million objects associated with the 

earliest years of the settlement. This 

discovery greatly increased interest in 

Jamestown,” says Colonial National 

Historical Park historian Karen Rehm. 

Kelso credits previous NPS research 

for laying the foundation for his work. 

In fact, archeology has been underway 

at Jamestown for more than a hundred 

years.

Historian Rehm credits James 

Haskett, then Chief Historian for the 

park, with foreseeing the need to conduct major archeological investigations 

at Jamestown in preparation for the 

400th anniversary. 

In 1992, through a cooperative agreement with the Colonial Williamsburg 

Foundation and the College of William 

and Mary, the National Park Service 

undertook a five-year comprehensive 

archeological assessment. “The assessment not only reexamined six decades 

of archeology conducted at Jamestown 

but also expanded the investigations into areas previously not tested, 

explored new methods of testing and 

included geology, environmental assessments and historical research,” Rehm 

says. Although less publicized than the 

fort discovery, this assessment resulted 

in a ten-volume study, the identification of 58 new archeological sites on 

the island—many associated with use 

by American Indians dating to 10,000 

years ago—and new understandings of environmental changes and the impacts on 

the settlement. 

Since coming to Colonial National Historical Park in 2000, archeologist Dr. Andrew 

Veech has continued to build on past foundations. His article describes his research 

that tied certain structures to historical figures, discovered 26 shipwrecks, certain of 

which likely date to the 17th century Jamestown colony, and kicked off archeological 

studies of Jamestown’s urban landscapes and submerged cultural resources. 

“Although it will be impossible for us to develop perfectly accurate perceptions of 

past cultures, archeologists nevertheless strive to bring those pictures into sharper 

focus,” says Veech. “That is the goal of recent Park Service archeological work at 

Jamestown.”

With every new archeological site discovered and every artifact found there, we fill 

in the blanks of the history of Jamestown. 

Digging into the Mysteries of Jamestown

Archeologists Discover “Time Capsules” in Each Layer of Soil

SHAKESPEARE AT JAMESTOWN? No, the famous bard was not physically in Jamestown. 

However, archeologists have made a lot of intriguing discoveries there. The signet ring below 

belonged to William Strachey, whose record of a shipwreck may have inspired Shakespeare’s 

The Tempest. Among the more than 3 million objects found at Historic Jamestowne are a 

number of delft pottery remnants such as the one from the NPS collection pictured below the 

ring. National Park Service and APVA Preservation Virginia archeologists are still at work 

at Jamestown. Shown here courtesy of APVA are Dr. William Kelso, who discovered the “lost 

fort” at Jamestown and a dig site with the historic church in the background. 
24 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007

The Roots of Jamestown Archeology

By Brian Tsai, Interior Office of Communications

Much of Jamestown’s history was literally buried in the soil after most of 

its population moved seven miles north to Williamsburg in 1699. The 

first recorded discovery of Jamestown happened during the Civil War 

when Confederate forces constructed earthworks on Jamestown Island and discovered fragments of armor and weaponry. However, it was not until the late 19th 

century that Jamestown became the focus of new historical interest. In 1897, the 

Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, which owned 221⁄2 acres of 

Jamestown Island, explored remains of a church tower. In 1901, Colonel Samuel H. 

Yonge, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, supervised the construction a concrete sea 

wall to stabilize erosion of the riverbank at Jamestown. 

“Under the direction of J.C. Harrington, an integrated approach of archeological 

excavations combined with historical research 

resulted in establishing historical archeology,” 

says Colonial National Historical Park historian 

Karen Rehm. “Harrington’s methodology and 

approach set the standards for similar investigations at historical sites across the country.”

Harrington focused on an area known as “New 

Towne” that was just outside the Church Tower 

and “fort site.” Based upon the lack of historical documentation and images of the original 

buildings, it was decided that Jamestown should 

not be reconstructed or restored. Instead, the 

archeological findings would be presented to 

the public. Many of the foundations and cellars 

of the original structures were left open and 

interpreted to the public. As the open sites deteriorated and frequently flooded, replicas of the foundations were reconstructed on 

top of the filled sites.

Colonial National Historical Park was able to conduct archeological investigations 

and conserve artifacts in its first decade, but later the resources for archeology 

lessened during World II. Resources increased again in preparation for the 350th 

anniversary in 1957.

In conjunction with the 350th anniversary, John Cotter led extensive archeological investigations at Jamestown to assist with the planned interpretive 

landscape. Rehm notes 

that “Cotter’s base map 

and report, Archeological 

Investigations at Jamestown 

Virginia (1958), are critically important documents 

that greatly assist and guide 

investigations to this day.” 

Cotter excavated 13 acres of 

the town site by six miles 

of trenches, three feet wide 

each, on a 50-foot interval 

grid. Cotter reported and 

created a base map of the 

locations of more than 100 

structures from New Towne. 

However, the reports never 

established when during the 

town’s 76-year tenure any 

structure existed. Another 

archeologist named Joel 

Shiner conducted an intensive search on APVA property for the fort. Both of 

their works did not prove or 

disprove the location of the 

fort. However, Shiner located an early 17th century 

armorer’s forge, indicating 

the fort was nearby. He also 

documented occupation of 

Native Americans on the 

island before 1607. 

The APVA and the National Park Service continued to work closely but the next 

major research push would not occur for several decades until the approach of 

the 400th anniversary. During all that time, the original site of the James Fort was 

thought to have been lost due the erosion of the river.

The NPS Reappraises the Past with New Tools 

By Andrew S. Veech, Ph.D., Archeologist, Colonial National Historical Park

The Jamestown Archeological Assessment, 1992-1996

The 1992 - 1996 Jamestown Archeological Assessment stands at the core of the 

National Park Service’s scholarly preparations for 2007. It brought together professionals from a variety of disciplines and jointly set them to the task of recounting 

the Jamestown story in a more accurate and detailed fashion. Park Service officials 

initiated the assessment because a full 36 years 

had elapsed since their last major research 

effort at the island. 

In the meantime, historical archeology had 

blossomed into a more fully developed profession with widely accepted standards for field 

excavation, data recording and data analysis. 

The number of known archeological sites with 

similarities to Jamestown had also increased 

markedly since the last fieldwork on the 

island. 

By 1984 a total of 225 17th-century archeological sites had been recorded throughout 

the Chesapeake: 188 in Virginia and 37 in 

Maryland. Ensuing investigations of those sites 

had greatly enhanced archeologists’ knowledge 

of 17th-century cultural remains. In addition, 

by 1992 a variety of new technologies had been developed that would enable the 

Park Service to examine Jamestown Island in ways hardly conceivable only a generation earlier. 

These technologies include Global Information Systems (or GIS), ground penetrating radar and phytolith analysis. Many of these new technologies are nonintrusive, capable of looking inside objects or beneath the ground without physically disturbing either. Such non-invasive traits are highly attractive, particularly 

for the National Park Service, which is charged with preserving the nation’s unique 

historic sites.

For all these reasons, the 

Park Service advocated a 

comprehensive re-analysis

of its existing Jamestown 

collections, supplemented 

by limited, carefully selected new excavations. Such a 

strategy promised to yield 

new insights about 17thcentury Jamestown. At the 

same time, it guaranteed 

that the bulk of the stillundug town site would 

remain intact, preserved 

for future generations. 

Today’s state-of-theart archeological tools no 

doubt will look primitive 

next to those of the 22nd, 

23rd, and 24th centuries. 

By refraining from digging 

large tracts of Jamestown 

Island now, the Park 

Service safeguards more of 

the island for the betterequipped archeologists of 

the future.

To effectively conduct this 

Jamestown Archeological 

Assessment, the Park 

Service enlisted the serCrosses at Historic 

Jamestowne mark burials recently uncovered 

by archeologists. Photo 

Joan Moody, DOI. 

Some of the more than 2 million artifacts from Jamestown being conserved by the National Park Service. Photo by Joan Moody, DOI.
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 25

vices of two nearby institutions with extensive experience in colonial Chesapeake 

archeology: the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the College of William and 

Mary. The Colonial Williamsburg team concentrated its energies on thoroughly 

reassessing Jamestown’s 34-acre, 17th-century town site, while the William & Mary 

team planned and executed a base-line archeological survey of the island’s remaining 1,417 acres. 

Other scholars who are not archeologists also contributed substantially to the 

Jamestown Archeological Assessment. Tests by geophysicist Bruce Bevan, for 

example, demonstrated that Jamestown’s archeological deposits are best detected 

using a combination of ground-penetrating radar and proton magnetometry. The 

radar detected the widest array of buried deposits. The magnetometer, on the other 

hand, most accurately predicted the depths of those deposits. 

Ultimately, the geophysicists may put us archeologists out of business, by 

enabling future scholars to study Jamestown’s buried archeological sites without 

actually digging them.

A comprehensive geological and environmental study of Jamestown Island coincided with this geophysical work. Geologists Gerald Johnson and Carl Hobbs performed a soil core study enabling paleobotanists to determine the plant regimes 

that once flourished across past landscapes.

This soil core study produced a long-term environmental portrait of Jamestown 

Island documenting ecological changes over the past 11,000 years. It showed 

that 2,000 or 3,000 years ago, the reduction of certain hardwood species in 

the pollen record and the abrupt introduction of various grassy pollens marked 

the beginning of major human alterations of the island. These grassy species indicate that Native American groups began clearing fields in earnest 

around 2,000 or 3,000 years ago and cultivating garden plots. These Native 

American farmers were probably not year-round residents of the island. 

Another environmental study of the island—a tree-ring study—revealed some 

fascinating insights about regional climate conditions right at the moment of the 

Jamestown Colony’s founding. Archeologist Dennis Blanton, working in concert 

with dendrochronologists from the University of Arkansas, extracted a series 

of tree-ring samples from various bald cypress trees growing in the swamps of 

Jamestown Island.

Once collected, the Jamestown Island cypress ring cores yielded an unbroken 

record of local rainfall from A.D. 1185 to the present. The most intriguing discovery was that for the years 1606 to 1612, the narrowness of the tree rings indicates 

that Jamestown experienced the most severe drought in almost 800 years. 

The tree-ring evidence brings a new focus to historical writings of the day, which 

recount a gruesome tale of death, starvation and general human misery. Powhatan 

Indian maize harvests no doubt declined significantly during those years. That 

fact, coupled with additional pressure by the English newcomers for that maize, 

must have fueled animosities between the two groups.

New Towne Archeology, 1993-1995

 Between 1993 and 1995, a Colonial Williamsburg team led by archeologists 

Andrew Edwards and Audrey Horning returned to New Towne and reassessed the 

findings of Park Service projects in the 1930s and 1950s. The assessment team 

first conducted a thorough review of the 

Park Service’s vast Jamestown collections, 

which include not only artifacts (of which 

there are more than 600,000), but also field 

notes, photographs, site maps and other 

materials.

This reassessment included several new 

excavations within the New Towne area. 

Archeologist John Cotter’s 1958 site report 

and base map provide the locations of 

more than 100 structures within 17th-century New Towne. But Cotter’s map does not 

indicate when, during the course of the 

town’s 76-year lifespan, any given structure 

existed. 

Edwards and Horning set out to decipher 

this puzzle by compiling and analyzing the 

measurements of all the clay tobacco pipestems recovered from New Towne structures 

during the 1930s and 1950s. Clay tobacco 

pipestems are frequently used by historical 

archeologists to help date colonial-period 

archeological deposits. This is because the 

borehole diameters of such pipestems gradually shrank over time.

This method revealed a sporadic and haphazard cycle of building construction and 

abandonment in which the earliest pipestems clustered in three spatially disparate 

zones of the town, each of which radiated 

around a hub of industrial activity. Two of 

these industrial zones, records indicate, 

belonged to Sir John Harvey, colonial governor throughout the 1630s and a leading 

proponent of Virginia’s industrial development. 

Horning returned to the so-called “Harvey 

enclave” in the northwest corner of the town 

and re-opened some of the excavation units 

initially dug there by John Cotter in the 

1950s. He discovered that structure 112, a 

stone hearth, actually was contained within 

a wood-framed, earthfast structure. The telltale soil stains of this kind of impermanent 

On the Project Gutenberg website is the 1957 report New Discoveries at 

Jamestown by John L. Cotter and J. Paul Hudson. The book’s images 

include exploration trenches of 1955 (left bottom) and the left leg bone and 

left bone of a human pelvis found thrown with other refuse into a well (bottom, right). The authors say one of the intriguing mysteries of Jamestown 

is how they came to be there: “The logical inference is that a rebel or 

criminal had been hanged, drawn, and quartered.” The authors explain 

how the objects found at Jamestown helped describe the everyday lives of 

the settlers. English sgraffito, or scratched, ware, for example, was one of 

the most colorful types of pottery unearthed at Jamestown (top, left). At top 

right author John Cotter is shown at work excavating. www.gutenberg.org

“Jamestown Island was not like Brigadoon, simply vanishing into 

the mists in 1699. Rather, Jamestown’s late-17th-century residents 

maintained properties and business dealings at both Jamestown 

and Williamsburg, throughout the course of this transition.”

—NPS archeologist Andrew Veech
26 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007

architecture were not recognized by archeologists in the 1950s, so the discovery of 

this one earthfast structure in New Towne strengthens the likelihood that many more 

still lie there undetected, awaiting future discovery.

Before the 1990s, no one had ventured to investigate beyond the island’s 

extreme southwest corner, where James Forte 

and village of New Towne 

lie. The vast remainder 

of the island—more than 

1,400 acres—remained 

an archeological mystery. 

Although historic documents refer to sites elsewhere on the island, the precise locations of those 

sites had long since been forgotten.

Dennis Blanton and his colleagues at the College of 

William and Mary filled this gap in knowledge with 

their comprehensive island-wide archeological survey, which ran over a nine-month period from 1994 

to 1995. The survey located 58 new archeological 

sites and determined their likely ages, functions and 

cultural affiliations. It also gauged the state of each 

site’s preservation. From a cultural resource management perspective, that’s very important because 

it enables the National Park Service to set priorities 

for protection and salvaging of sites so that we can 

guarantee that Jamestown’s unique cultural heritage 

is safeguarded for future generations of Americans.

How has the Jamestown Archeological Assessment 

changed and improved a visit to Jamestown Island 

today? The most obvious and tangible improvements 

are in the interpretive information that the Park 

Service provides daily to Jamestown Island visitors. 

Park rangers incorporate the latest findings into 

their walking tours of the island.

Tourists enjoy hearing how scholarly interpretations of the Jamestown Colony have changed over 

the past 50 years. These messages are underscored 

further by the improved texts that now accompany 

museum displays in the island’s new Park Service 

Visitor Center.

In August 2000, I was hired as the National Park 

Service archeologist for Jamestown, and I have been 

conducting intermittent archeological investigations 

there ever since.

Venturing East of New Towne, 2001-2003

In 2001, a team of students, volunteers and park 

service personnel working under my direction conducted a tight-interval Phase-I archeological survey 

across a four-acre meadow at the eastern end of New Towne on Jamestown Island. 

This survey was prompted by the pending 2007 commemoration of the Jamestown 

Colony and the numerous building projects in the works that were intended for 

that commemoration. Planners wished to site an outdoor exhibit area at the far 

eastern end of New Towne, and thus sought guidance about where they might build 

so as to cause the least disturbance to buried archeological deposits.

Our 2001 team plotted and dug 538 shovel-test pits across the meadow. By the 

time we had finished, we had discovered four new archeological sites, ranging in 

age from the 17th- to the 20th-centuries. These sites included: 1) the brick foundations of a 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps camp; 2) the ringed hearth of a 

Civil War encampment; 3) a mid-18th-century outbuilding related to the Ambler 

Plantation; and 4) a late-17th-century domestic site yielding large quantities of 

household refuse and associated subsurface features.

In 2002-2003, I investigated the latter 17th-century site—dubbed the “East of 

New Towne” site as part of the APVA/NPS Jamestown Archeological Field School. 

The site lies immediately east of the May-Hartwell site, which was dug extensively 

by archeologist J.C. Harrington between 1935 and 1939. Our site’s Dutch fireplace 

tiles, its sgraffito sherds, its large collection of locally-produced Challis ware, its 

“H-H” wine bottle seals—all of these items seemed to come straight from the 

pages of J.C. Harrington’s May-Hartwell site report written nearly 70 years before.

Ceramicist Merry Outlaw has persuasively attributed the massive sgraffito collection in the ditch to William White, whose adjoining parcel Hartwell acquired 

through his 1689 marriage to widow Jane White. And the “H-H” bottle seals in the 

fill are obviously tied to Hartwell. It’s reasonable to assume that Hartwell actually 

finished backfilling of Ditch #5 while he was resident, effectively turning his three 

adjoining lots into a seamless urban landscape. I’m contending that May-Hartwell 

and East of New Towne are one site, or at least were one site, when its last 17thcentury resident, Henry Hartwell, lived there.

At the very end of our 2002 field season, my crew encountered three postholes, 

lying at the base of a late-17th-century sheet midden deposit. As luck would have 

it, our north-south running fenceline on 11-foot 

centers precisely matches those that Harrington 

had found within the May-Hartwell yard area itself 

and links with fenceline B-1. Our fence probably 

represents the far eastern edge of Henry Hartwell’s 

enclosed yard. Although this theory remains to be 

tested more fully, it forms a credible picture on one 

late-17th-century houselot on Jamestown Island.

Of all the features that we uncovered and excavated, certainly the most exciting were our two round, 

trash-filled features explored in 2002 and 2003 

One shallow basin yielded a collection of late-17thcentury domestic refuse, including butchered large 

mammal bones, wine bottle bases, and mendable 

pieces of both a Challis and a Delft pottery vessel.

Another site was riddled with numerous large 

artifact fragments that can logically be tied to the 

Hartwell household. Artificacts suggested it was a 

well shaft initially commenced and yet, for whatever 

reason, abruptly abandoned. Whatever its purpose, 

this site yielded up many wonderful things, the most 

wonderful of which were its three intact wine bottles, complemented by numerous additional, almost 

intact wine bottles. 

The East of New Towne project sought to address 

the need for more thorough urban landscape studies called for at the conclusion of the Jamestown 

Archeological Assessment. Previous excavations had 

provided comparatively scant information about the 

yards that surrounded various brick structures.

Fences, garden plots, walkways, ephemeral earthfast outbuildings—remnants of all these things 

likely lie throughout the town, awaiting discovery, 

documentation, and synthesis with yard-scape elements partially encountered 50 years ago. Our 

recent work at East of New Towne stands as a kickoff for urban landscape archeology on Jamestown 

Island, that will, as it continues, enhance our 

understanding of 17th-century urban house yards.

The East of New Towne project also has provided 

clues about what life was on Jamestown Island during the waning years of the 17th century, as the 

Virginia colony’s political and commercial clout 

repositioned itself to Williamsburg. 

Jamestown Island was not like Brigadoon, simply vanishing into the mists in 

1699. Rather, Jamestown’s late-17th-century residents maintained properties and 

business dealings at both Jamestown and Williamsburg, throughout the course of 

this transition. While in residence on Jamestown, Henry Hartwell was a member 

of the Governor’s council, served as the clerk of the General Court, and acted as a 

burgess for James City County. 

Yet he was also a trustee for the newly-established College of William and Mary 

in Williamsburg and a vestryman of Bruton Parish Church. Clearly, Hartwell was a 

man with feet in both camps. I can envision a long-term comparison of houselots 

that traces the fates and fortunes of colonists from Jamestown to Williamsburg and 

the long-term continuities in Virginia colonial society.

Exploring the Statehouse Mystery on Jamestown, 2004

Between June and August 2004, Colonial National Historical Park volunteers 

and students under my direction conducted excavations at Structure #112 on 

Jamestown Island, initially discovered and excavated by NPS archeologist Dr. John 

Cotter in 1954 and 1955. This archeological investigation sought to determine 

whether or not the forecourt extending from the south-facing (riverfront) façade 

of Structure #112 had been enclosed by a fence during the 1680s and 1690s. If so, 

that finding would lend credence to the theory that Structure #112 had served as 

Dr. Andrew S. Veech, archeologist at Colonial National 

Historical Park, screens dirt at 

Jamestown (above). In 2005 

Veech identified the location 

of William Sherwood’s “Great 

Hall,” a regally adorned 

structure used for official business. Ornamental plaster (left) 

was used in a few buildings 

for enhancing the beauty of 

both the interior and exterior. 

Veech says William Sherwood’s 

“Great Hall” was probably one 

of these buildings. NPS photos.

The search located 58 

new archeological sites.
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 27

the final statehouse of the Virginia colony, before the 1699 movement of the colonial capital from Jamestown to Williamsburg.

All scholars conversant with Jamestown’s colonial architecture acknowledge 

Structure #112 as a building of great civic and architectural importance. It is the 

largest single-unit dwelling house yet discovered amongst the buried ruins of 17thcentury Jamestown. The structure is also generally recognized as the home for two 

of the most powerful, influential, and longest-serving 17th-century Virginia governors: Sir John Harvey (in office from 1630-35, 1637-39) and Sir William Berkeley 

(in office from 1642-52, 1660-1677). The controversy surrounding Structure #112 

relates to whether or not it was the colonial statehouse during 1680s and 1690s

Colonial Virginia’s legislative body, the Burgesses, periodically assembled at 

Jamestown to conduct official business, convening in buildings large enough 

to house the entire assembly. The Burgesses first convened in 1619 inside the 

Jamestown church, qualifying that building as Virginia’s first statehouse. Three 

additional Jamestown buildings subsequently served as Virginia’s statehouse before 

1699 according to written records. However, neither the identity of those three 

other statehouses nor their respective order of legislative service has been worked 

out to unanimous scholarly satisfaction.

Among the many foundations unearthed over the years on Jamestown Island, two 

hold the strongest likelihood for having been the fourth and final of Jamestown’s 

colonial statehouses (i.e., that serving as statehouse from 1663-98): Structure #112 

and Structure #144. 

The task of identifying the 

final Jamestown statehouse 

has not been easy because 

both structures were standing and in use during the 

period of the fourth statehouse.

Dr. Cary Carson of the 

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation identified a fresh avenue of architectural inquiry 

to resolve the issue. The new 

research avenue was a balustraded fence of “railes & 

banisters,” which records 

indicate was built in 1685 

(and repaired in 1691) to 

enclose the statehouse forecourt. 

Before 2004, however, no archeologists had conducted a search for such a balustraded fence. In an effort to resolve Jamestown’s final statehouse quandary, the 

National Park Service set out to demonstrate either the presence or absence of 

a fence enclosing the riverfront yard of Structure #112. The findings of this dig 

cannot be deemed conclusive. Nevertheless, the finding of a fence enclosing the 

forecourt of Structure #112 warrants further investigation. 

Finding Sherwood’s “Great Hall,” 2005

On September 19th, 1676, Nathaniel Bacon and his rebels burnt the majority of 

Jamestown to the ground. This calamity spurred, among other things, a wave a real 

estate speculation and building construction which is evident both in the historical 

and archeological records.

William Sherwood, an English-born attorney, was a leading figure of that rebuilding frenzy, and surviving documents suggest that he profited handsomely by his 

actions. Legislative minutes from the 1680s and 1690s record Virginia’s governor 

and council renting out Sherwood’s “Great Hall” as a place to conduct official business. A 1698 document mentions Virginia’s colonial Secretary leasing Sherwood’s 

“porch chamber” as office space.

But which 17th-century Jamestown foundation actually is Sherwood’s “Great 

Hall.” Sherwood’s own house—Structure #31—has long been held out as one likely 

candidate. 

Between June and November of 2005, the National Park Service conducted an 

archeological excavation of another structure, Structure #138 within New Towne. 

In 2005 our NPS team sought to resolve this question by determining the presence or absence of a porch tower on structure #138. 

By the end of the 2005 excavation, we found remains of a massive 16’3”×13’10” 

porch, evidently added to the south façade of the structure after the fire of 1676. 

This porch tower must be that one mentioned in the official records of 1698, 

and with that, the question about William Sherwood’s Great Hall is at last solved: 

Structure #138 most definitely is that building—not Structure #31.

Although many scholars were skeptical about this 17th century site’s potential 

for yielding new information because of disturbance by 18th century construction 

and 20th century excavations, this project resolved the identity of one of the most 

regally adorned domestic structures on Jamestown Island.

Glimpsing Beneath the Waters, 2006

In July 2006, Colonial National Historical Park sponsored the first comprehensive underwater survey of Jamestown Island’s 7.8 mile shoreline. Given all the ships 

that must have traveled to and from Jamestown, it is perplexing that more study 

had not been conducted before that time. Underwater archeologists Steve Bilicki, 

principal investigator, BRS Research and Survey, and Jodi Lee Carpenter, an M.A. 

Candidate in Maritime Studies at 

East Carolina University, designed 

and conducted the first comprehensive underwater survey of 

Jamestown Island with our help. 

The survey went from Jamestown’s 

shoreline to 1,000 meters into the 

James River Channel. 

The 2006 survey concentrated on the previously unexplored 

Back River, Thorofare, and southern portion of Jamestown Island. 

A handful of shipwrecks had been 

identified around Jamestown 

Island before the 2006 survey, but 

the survey team’s ultimate goal 

was to locate any colonial sites that 

may have been submerged. 

The entire island was circumnavigated with a research vessel equipped with 

side-scan sonar. Through a visual search of the shoreline along with the side-scan 

sonar, the survey yielded more than 70 potential sites. Follow-up research trips to 

the island have provided additional information. 

The most startling result of the 2006 survey was our location of many of shipwrecks surrounding Jamestown Island. The survey team located and confirmed 

26 wrecks. Several of these wrecks almost certainly date back to the 17th century 

Jamestown. 

The Future at Jamestown

Jamestown archeology is an ongoing process and the archeological work that 

could potentially be conducted on Jamestown Island could last years into the 

future. Some tantalizing questions have been raised about many of the archeological sites described in the island-wide survey of 1994-1995 and the underwater survey of 2006. Hopefully, future Park Service-sponsored archeological investigations 

on Jamestown Island will be able to more thoroughly explore these terrestrial and 

submerged archeological sites. 

This white ball clay English tobacco pipe was found 

in a pit dating to the 1607-1610 period.The shape and 

size of the tobacco pipe bowl changed throughout the 

colonial period, providing archeologists with a good 

idea of the dates of the sites where they were discovered. Courtesy of APVA Preservation Virginia. 

NPS volunteer Kathy Ballentine and Andrew S. Veech record information at Structure 

#138, Jamestown in 2005.

Jodi Carpenter dives off of Jamestown Island, 

July 2006. 
28 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007

By Brian Tsai, 

Interior Office of 

Communications

T

he Chesapeake 

Bay has become 

the birthplace of 

American history and 

one of the nation’s 

most storied waterways. 

It also has long been 

known for its great 

seafood production, 

such as blue crabs, 

oysters and clams that 

inhabit the waters. 

Although the story of 

Jamestown is generally 

known, the Chesapeake 

Bay Gateways Network 

provides a new way to 

showcase the history 

and natural resources 

of other areas in the 

watershed. 

The earliest inhabitants of the Chesapeake 

Bay were the American 

Indians who included the Powhatans 

in eastern Virginia, 

Piscataways along the 

bank of the Potomac, 

Nanticokes and Assateagues on the Eastern Shore, 

and Susquehannock at the Bay’s upper end. 

Jamestown was just the beginning for John Smith, 

who would go on to take several explorations 

up and down the Chesapeake that led to other 

English settlements. The population of the bay 

would boom as the next few centuries would 

unfold and it quickly became a key political and 

economical center for United States.

Recognizing a growing interest in maintaining 

the bay, Congress created the Chesapeake Bay 

Initiative Act of 1998 and the National Park Service 

and several partners created the Chesapeake Bay 

Gateways Network in 2000 to integrate educational and environmental projects throughout the Bay 

watershed. The Gateways Network is a system of 

more than 150 parks, refuges, museums, historic 

communities and water trails that are “gateways” 

to the Bay watershed. It has grown to include 

thousands of miles of trails at sites in five states and Washington. D.C.

The National Park Service provides matching grants for projects that advance 

Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network goals. These grants help enhance the public’s 

ability to learn about and enjoy the Bay’s special stories and significance, explore 

its natural and cultural resources and become involved in Bay stewardship. 

These projects and other Gateways Network efforts allow people to recognize the 

Chesapeake as a true national treasure. 

Some of the most popular locations include:

The Fort McHenry National Monument and National Shrine has 

attracted many tourists of all ages to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. 

The star-shaped fort guarded Baltimore’s Harbor from the 

British in the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. It 

also inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled 

Banner.” Following the war, the fort never again came under 

attack. However, it remained an active military post off and on 

for the next 100 years. In 1933 the fort became an area administered 

by the National Park Service and is the only one designated as a national monument and historic shrine.

The Calvert Marine Museum brings the maritime history and ecology of 

Southern Maryland to life through exhibits, programs, lighthouses and boats. 

Located in Solomons, where the Patuxent River joins the Chesapeake, the museum is a focal point for the many visitors coming to the area. The exhibits tell 

the story of the region’s fascinating past and present. Other exhibits depict the 

Patuxent from the 17th-century to the present with over five hundred artifacts 

and photographs. There are fifteen aquariums that explore the aquatic life of the 

Chesapeake estuary, 

displaying plants and 

animals from the salty 

waters of the Bay, and 

the fresh water of the 

upper Patuxent River.

Opened in 1981 as an 

anchor to the revitalization of the Baltimore 

Harbor, The National 

Aquarium in Baltimore 

is one of the world’s 

leading aquatic facilities, home to more than 

10,500 specimens and 

560 species of animals. 

It has become the number one tourist attraction for Baltimore City. 

Through live exhibits, 

innovative habitat restoration projects, and 

quality educational programming, the Aquarium educates 1.6 million visitors annually 

about the fragility of 

the world’s aquatic ecosystems. 

Recently, the Baltimore attraction broke 

ground on a 65,400-

foot expansion that 

poises the facility to become the first of the next 

generation of Aquariums. Outside of the current 

buildings, visitors can expect to see towering 

rock cliffs emerging from within a crystal glass 

pavilion. The exhibits will lead visitors on a journey across the state of Maryland, through the 

Chesapeake Bay watershed and around the world 

to Australia.

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is one of 

the premier indoor/outdoor museums focusing on 

the history and traditions of the Chesapeake Bay. 

Located in St. Michael’s, Maryland, the museum 

has examples of historic bay working boats, 

numerous exhibits, guns, decoys, ship models and 

the 1879 Hooper Strait Lighthouse. Throughout 

the year, there are a variety of interactive programs, workshops and lectures.

Established in 1933, Blackwater National Wildlife 

Refuge on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, preserves 

more than 26,000 acres as a sanctuary for vast numbers of migratory birds. It 

also serves as a haven for several threatened or endangered species. The refuge 

hosts the largest breeding population of bald eagles on the East Coast north of 

Florida. It is administered by Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The C&O Canal follows the route of the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. 

to Cumberland, Maryland. It served as a major Chesapeake transportation system, primarily hauling coal from western Maryland to the port of Georgetown 

in Washington. Managed by the National Park Service, the canal’s 

towpath also provides a nearly level, continuous trail through the 

spectacular scenery of the Potomac River Valley. Every year millions 

of visitors come to hike or bike the C&O Canal. 

Historic St. Mary’s City, an outdoor museum, is the site of the 

fourth permanent settlement in British North America and the 

state of Maryland’s first capital. This museum allows visitors 

to explore Maryland’s first citizens through an exciting mix of 

colorful living history and fascinating archeology, all set in a beautiful 

Tidewater landscape along the St. Mary’s River, a tributary of the Potomac.

There have been several new additions to the Gateways Network that include 

the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, Trap Pond State Park, Baltimore Museum of 

Industry, Frederick Douglass-Issac Myers Maritime Park, Steamboat Era Museum 

and Myrtle Point Park. 

The Gateways Network believes that every person who lives, works or visits the 

region affects the Bay. Hopefully, these sites will give people a better understanding about restoring the Chesapeake Bay to its natural environment for 

future generations. 

Dawn fires the marshy landscape as a full moon sets over Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland. Photo © 

by Ian J. Plant from his new book, Chesapeake: Bay of Light, used with permission. 

Chesapeake Bay 

Gateways Network

Awitchott garden at Historic St. Mary’s City features a recreation of a native home. Courtesy of Historic St. Mary’s City.

towpath also provides a nearly level, continuous trail through the 

spectacular scenery of the Potomac River Valley. Every year millions

of visitors come to hike or bike the C&O Canal. 

fourth permanent settlement in British North America and the 

state of Maryland’s first capital. This museum allows visitors

to explore Maryland’s first citizens through an exciting mix of

The Fort McHenry National Monument and National Shrine has

attracted many tourists of all ages to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

The Fort McHenry National Monument and National Shrine has

attracted many tourists of all ages to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

towpath also provides a nearly level, continuous trail through the 

spectacular scenery of the Potomac River Valley. Every year millions
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 29

By Diana Weaver, 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

T

he wealth of wildlife in 1607 Jamestown 

is almost beyond imagination. The 

Native American Powhatan Tribe and 

a small group of English settlers on an 

island near the mouth of the James River 

and Chesapeake Bay lived amid bald eagles, 

hawks, owls and wild turkeys; herons, 

egrets, ducks; American shad, striped bass 

and Atlantic sturgeon; red fox, beaver and 

white-tailed deer. 

“More plentie of swannes, cranes, geese, 

duckes, and mallards, and divers sorts of 

fowles, none would desire,” wrote Captain 

John Smith in 1608.

The Powhatans and the English settlers 

are long gone, but the legacy of that distant 

bounty remains in the work of individuals dedicated to conserving and restoring 

fish, wildlife and their habitat in the James 

River and Chesapeake Bay.

In the time of Pocahontas and John 

Smith, the Chesapeake Bay region hosted 

1,500 to 3,000 breeding bald eagle pairs. 

Over time, hunting and habitat destruction 

took its toll on eagles as it did on other species whose numbers declined. 

Then disaster struck in the form of the 

pesticide DDT, causing the eagle population 

nationwide to plummet. In the Chesapeake 

Bay region, the James River had no breeding pairs of eagles. 

Discontinued use of DDT and federal 

protection, together with concerted efforts 

by people working for the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State of Maryland, and innumerable organizations and individuals, pulled the eagle back from the brink of 

extinction in the Chesapeake Bay region. 

Eagles return

Now eagles thrive around the Bay, where 2,000 of them visit each summer in 

one of the largest eagle concentrations east of the Mississippi River. More than 

100 pairs of eagles nest along the James River. Four pairs of bald eagles nest on 

Jamestown Island, and the surrounding James City County has 56 active nests. 

Since 2002, a bald eagle pair has nested and produced several eaglets close to the 

National Park Service’s Historic Jamestown Visitor Center. The state of Virginia, 

College of William and Mary’s Center for Conservation Biology, and the FWS provide advice and guidance to NPS, which manages the area to minimize disturbance 

to the eagles. (Story, page 8). 

Forty miles upriver from Jamestown, Cyrus Brame of the FWS surveys James 

River National Wildlife Refuge and the river’s shoreline for eagles in the spring 

and summer. The refuge was established to protect eagles and their habitat. They 

watch from trees rising above the river banks for shad, catfish and carp in the river. 

In one hour, Brame typically spots 30 to 60 eagles. 

“These majestic birds love this location,” Brame said. “The mature pines, bald 

cypress and snags provide ideal vantage points for the eagles to roost and nest.”

Habitat, habitat, habitat

The landscape has changed since John Smith noted cypress trees 18 feet around 

the base and 80 feet tall. During the past 400 years, people altered the land that 

became the James River refuge several times, according to Refuge Manager Joe 

McCauley. 

“Just prior to becoming a refuge, the land was managed for commercial timber, 

which meant a rotation of planting and harvesting loblolly pine,” he said. “You can 

still find hardwoods in the drainages—native forest with oak, beech and maple.”

The majority of the 4,200-acre refuge was cleared and probably farmed in the 

centuries before the timber operation. McCauley began managing the refuge’s 

forested land for wildlife by thinning trees followed by a prescribed burn to reduce 

the risk of wildfire. 

“If you don’t manage a pine forest, it isn’t 

very productive wildlife habitat. When we 

open up the forest, we provide more room 

for birds to nest and overwinter,” he said.

Habitat is crucial for all species. The 

National Audubon Society declared 118,000 

acres of the lower James River area an 

Important Bird Area, encompassing both 

the James River refuge and the 1,330-acre 

Presquile National Wildlife Refuge 15 miles 

upstream. Here are American black duck, 

American woodcock, red-headed woodpecker, wood thrush, and rusty blackbird.

Stripers, shad 

and sturgeon

Fish remains found in archeological pits 

show that the Jamestown settlers ate gar, 

catfish, and brown and yellow bullheads. 

American shad, striped bass and Atlantic 

sturgeon were plentiful food sources, but 

these fish populations have dwindled over 

the years, probably from overfishing and 

habitat loss. 

The FWS national fish hatcheries produced some 7 million striped bass between 

1985 and 1993 to boost the Chesapeake 

Bay population. In 1994, stocked stripers 

brought more than $1 million in revenue to 

Virginia, according to an economic study by 

the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

More than 25 million American shad 

from Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery 

based in Charles City have been stocked in 

the James River in the past 13 years. Even with the hatchery fish, shad numbers 

remain low. 

“We can stock fish until the cows come home, but if we don’t have habitat we’re 

never going to restore the fish to sustainable levels,” according to Albert Spells, 

the Service’s Virginia Fisheries Coordinator based in Charles City.

Atlantic sturgeon were crucial to the survival of the colonists. John Smith wrote 

that they found more Atlantic sturgeon “than could be devoured by dog or man.” 

These large prehistoric-looking fish are now so seldom seen that people assume 

they no longer spawned in Chesapeake Bay rivers. Ten years ago FWS biologists, 

aided by two Virginia watermen, discovered a remnant spawning population of sturgeon in the James River. USGS scientists identified the fish as genetically distinct. 

Although the highly migratory adult sturgeon swim in and out of the Bay and its 

rivers, no other river in the Bay has spawning sturgeon. 

Spells credits partners with a major role in gathering data on the sturgeon, 

including the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Marine Resources Commission, and the 

Virginia Institute of Marine Science. 

Scientists at the Service’s Lamar Fish Technology Center in Pennsylvania developed spawning techniques for sturgeon in hatcheries and published a manual on 

the subject four years ago. 

“If we use hatcheries as tools for sturgeon restoration, the James River population 

will be very important to restoring the sturgeon population to the Bay,” Spells said. 

Each bird, fish and plant occupies a special place in the rich texture of the James 

River area. Through four centuries, people have challenged wildlife habitat in 

myriad ways – importing non-native plants, fish and wildlife that crowd out native 

species; fragmenting the landscape; filling wetlands for construction. It will be 

decades before we have again, as John Smith put it, so many American oysters 

that they “lay as thick as stones” in Chesapeake Bay. We have used the plenty the 

land provided without questioning whether — or how long — it would continue to 

sustain us. 

Dozens of organizations and state and federal agencies work to conserve the 

unique ecology of Chesapeake Bay. And although we will never see the plants, 

fish and wildlife as it was seen through the eyes of the Indians or the English 400 

years ago, we are learning to be better stewards of fish, wildlife and plants and the 

habitat that sustains them — and us.

By Diana Weaver, 

The wildlife legacy of Jamestown,Virginia

On June 28, 2007, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced that 

bald eagle populations are flourishing and no longer need the protection of the 

Endangered Species Act. Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
30 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER Jamestown, 1607-2007

By Mike Litterst, Public Affairs Officer, 

Colonial National Historical Park

As America commemorated the 400th anniversary 

of the founding of Jamestown in May, Colonial 

National Historical Park quietly marked the 25th

anniversary of the completion of the Colonial Parkway.

The Colonial Parkway is more than a scenic road—

it is a landscape meticulously crafted to integrate 

Tidewater Virginia’s natural and cultural resources into 

a memorial roadway of the American colonial experience. It was the first National Park Service-designed 

parkway that unifies dispersed sites as part of a cohesive national park. 

Colonial National Historical Park administers and 

interprets the sites of Historic Jamestowne and the 

Yorktown Battlefield, sites marking the beginning and 

ending points of English colonial America. Authorized 

in 1930, today the national park is an 8,677-acre unit 

of the National Park System located between the James 

and York rivers.

Central to the park’s enabling legislation was a plan 

for a scenic highway to link the sites into a “single 

coherent reservation.” Free of any “modern” commercial development, the parkway was designed to provide 

a scenic continuity to the visitor experience of motoring 

through nearly 175 years of American colonial history. 

By the 1920s the dilapidated condition of Williamsburg, 

the colonial capital of Virginia, was seen by some as a 

grave injustice to its historical role in the founding and 

growth of America. 

When John D. Rockefeller, Jr. appealed to his friend 

Horace Albright for assistance in preserving “America’s 

Historic Triangle” of Jamestown, Williamsburg and 

Yorktown, Albright reflected that, “I am so enthusiastic over this proposed historic park that I can hardly 

restrain my imagination.” 

Work on the Colonial Parkway began during the 

spring of 1930 when NPS landscape architect Charles 

E. Peterson began a survey of the area to establish a 

proposed boundary for the park and a 500-foot rightof-way for the parkway. Rather than following colonialera roads, Peterson decided to follow modern parkway 

design standards. 

Taking his lead from the Bronx River Parkway in 

Westchester County, New York and the Mount Vernon 

Memorial Highway, Virginia, Peterson designed a limited-access highway with broad sweeping curves, set in 

a carefully landscaped right-of-way devoid of commercial development.

Special agreements with the Navy and private landowners transferred ten miles of the route between 

Yorktown and Williamsburg to the National Park 

Service free of charge, allowing construction to begin in 

the spring of 1931. Despite the fortuitous start, due to 

design and routing conflicts, limited funding and World 

War II, the Colonial Parkway would not be completed 

for another 26 years.

Yorktown to Williamsburg

In May 1931 workers began clearing the route of trees, 

stumps and other “objectionable matter.” Consistent 

with NPS landscaping standards, special attempts were 

made to protect the surrounding environment and preserve as much of the existing vegetation that could be 

integrated into the roadway’s design.

The parkway’s design called for a unique three-lane 

road so motorists could focus more attention on the 

surrounding landscape rather than oncoming traffic. 

The decision to align the parkway along the rivers 

provided landscape architects dramatic scenic possibilities, but it challenged builders who had to traverse 

tidal marshes with a modern highway. Extensive use of 

hydraulic fill was required to create a suitable roadbed 

and over three miles of the parkway was constructed 

on dredged material. Additionally, three concrete deck 

bridges were constructed over creeks along the York 

River. The bridges’ simple, low-level designs blend 

with the surrounding environment of coastal bluffs 

and marsh grasses, providing unobstructed views in all 

directions. 

Landscape architects also integrated the region’s 

natural and cultural resources into the overall design 

of Colonial Parkway. To create a “colonial atmosphere” 

culvert headwalls, parkway underpasses and bridges 

were clad in antiquated “Virginia-style” brick laid in 

English and Flemish bonds—perhaps the most characteristic features of the parkway. In addition, a labor 

intensive process of brooming and acid washing was 

used to expose the aggregate in the pavement to simulate the shell and marl roads of colonial Virginia.

Tree placement and vista development were also 

important hallmarks of the parkway. Of the four 

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in Yorktown, 

one was dedicated to parkway planting operations. More 

than 250,000 trees were planted between Yorktown and 

Williamsburg, primarily pines, cedars, dogwoods, redbuds, tulip and beech trees which created a “natural” 

environment along the road. Special attention was 

Colonial Parkway Connects 

“The Historic Triangle” 

From Beginning to End 

of Colonial America

Photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. 

A Parkway from 

Then to Now

NPS Historical photo Photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. 
Jamestown, 1607-2007 PEOPLE, LAND & WATER 31

made to create a canopy cover along this stretch in order to provide a shady tunneling effect.

As construction of the Colonial Parkway approached Williamsburg, debate over 

the route the scenic road would take intensified between the National Park Service 

and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. NPS officials preferred a route east and 

south of Williamsburg for its open and sweeping views of the James River. This route, 

however, crossed the property of Bassett Hall, the family home of the Rockefellers 

during their Williamsburg visits, and Foundation officials countered with a parkway 

alignment north and west of the city, a far less scenic route that passed through 

developed areas of town. 

The standoff ultimately ended in the spring of 1936 with a proposal to construct 

a tunnel under Williamsburg, advocated by prominent Williamsburg citizens. 

Although initially discounted as too ambitious, traffic consultants saw it as the 

most effective way to bypass 

Williamsburg.

Cut-and-cover construction was employed to build 

a 30-foot wide reinforced 

concrete tunnel. Earth was 

excavated along the route, 

requiring certain structures 

to be moved or supported 

while the tunnel’s concrete 

shell was poured. Upon completion of the lining, earth 

was then placed over the structure 

and landscaped. Poor supervision and 

heavy rains that caused numerous 

cave-ins hampered construction and 

turned public opinion against the 

project. Although completed by 1942, 

the tunnel did not open for traffic 

until 1949. 

Williamsburg 

to Jamestown

After the completion of the tunnel in 1942, only a few projects 

were undertaken for more than a 

decade. Heavily reliant upon federal 

works projects during the 1930s, 

the park found itself with shortages 

of both funds and labor with which 

to continue the construction of the 

Colonial Parkway during the postwar years.

Anticipation of the 350th anniversary of Jamestown’s founding in 

1957, combined with an infusion of federal “Mission 66” funds available to help 

the NPS prepare for its 50th anniversary in 1966, provided the impetus and funding 

required to complete the stalled construction of the Colonial Parkway. 

The parkway was but one aspect of 

a comprehensive construction program for the park which resulted 

in new visitor centers, recreational 

facilities, modernized tour roads, 

and an integrated interpretive plan 

for the park complete with historical 

markers mounted along the entire 

parkway corridor.

Between 1955 and 1957, the park 

raced to complete the parkway prior 

to the April 1957 Jamestown anniversary. Perhaps the most ambitious project was the recreation 

of a connecting isthmus between 

Jamestown Island and the mainland 

that had existed in the 17th century. 

Parkway construction was hampered 

by bad weather in the spring of 1957, 

requiring contractors to complete 

paving operations on 24-hour workdays under flood lights. Despite the 

delays, on April 27, 1957, the Colonial 

Parkway was opened for traffic along 

the entire route between Yorktown 

and Jamestown.

Colonial Parkway for the Future

Since the completion of the parkway in 1957, the park has been aggressive in its 

attempts to limit access and fight visual encroachments along the road. Numerous 

grade crossings have been eliminated by bridges and interchanges and many scenic easements have been acquired to preserve the experience of motoring on a 

scenic roadway. Rapid regional growth is placing increasing demands upon the 

natural and cultural resources of Colonial National Historical Park. Sections of the 

parkway between Williamsburg and Yorktown have become popular commuter corridors. Increased traffic has imposed stresses upon the roadway and new dangers 

from more and larger vehicles traveling at speeds in excess of what the parkway was 

designed to handle. Despite these problems, the park has succeeded in balancing 

the needs of highway safety while retaining the integrity of the parkway’s original 

design as a scenic road.

Today, the Colonial Parkway is one of the few intact examples of classic parkway 

design left in America. In recognition of its significance, the Colonial Parkway 

is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has received the prestigious 

Centennial Medallion from the American Society of Landscape Architects, and is 

one of only 27 roads in the country designated an “All-American Road” under the 

U.S. Department of Transportation’s America’s Byways program.

This article was adapted by Mike Litterst of Colonial National Historical Park 

from Highways in Harmony - Colonial Parkway by Michael G. Bennett, Historic 

American Engineering Record

NPS historical photos of the Colonial Parkway show: above, the Parkway at Jones Mill 

Pond under construction in 1932, and below, parkway tunnel construction and the 

opening of the parkway in 1957.