THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 15, 1994 TAG: 9411150042
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
ADVENTURERS FROM England sailed into the Chesapeake Bay 387 years ago and saw a shore of ``faire meddowes and goodly tall trees'' that would soon become Jamestown, the nation's first permanent English settlement.
Many of those meadows and trees are still there, thanks to the preservation of Jamestown Settlement as a living museum.
Brochures in the visitors' center show the ``correct'' way to tour the settlement - catch the 20-minute film ``Jamestown: The Beginning'' in the visitors' center, mosey through the museums, follow the trail through the reconstructed Indian Village, pier and fort.
But I wanted to be authentic. I bought tickets, cut through the woods and went straight to the docks where it all began. Replicas of the three ships that brought the adventurers to the New World - the Discovery, Godspeed and the Susan Constant - are docked and open for public inspection.
The original site of the first colony is less than a mile away on what's called Jamestown Island, but a rebuilt Fort James sits at the end of the pier.
At the entrance is a guard clad in breeches and stockings. Behind him bustles the little village - a woman in a colonial frock walks out of a home as she rocks a small babe, a man in a flowing white shirt hammers away in a small store.
Tourists filled the other buildings that looked of orange-tinged stucco with river-reed roofs - the storehouse, guard house and the church that sits in the center of the fort.
Several yards outside the fort is the Powhatan Indian Village.
The ``yehakins,'' which means dwelling in algonquin language of the Powhatans, are filled with animal skins, cots and other replicas of Indian life that existed when the English arrived. A circle of wooden poles decorated with carved faces mark the dance circle, which would've been used for religious and social ceremonies. One staffer, dressed in period clothing, feeds the fire, while several others carve a canoe and dry hides.
To move from the fort to the village is almost a solemn experience - to realize that one area was the birth of a new nation and the death of another.
The Powhatan Chiefdom numbered about 14,000 Indians and comprised 32 tribes, stretching from Northern Virginia to North Carolina when the English began to arrive. The population began to dwindle as the settlers brought their diseases and pushed the Indians from their land.
There are seven remaining tribes in Eastern Virginia with about 3,000 descendants of the Powhatans in the area. Jamestown is one of the few places in the state dedicated to Indian history.
The last stop for me - the first stop for the ``correct'' tour - is the museum in the visitors' center. The English Gallery examines the beginnings of Jamestown, going back to the English investors, the Virginia Company of London, who hoped to profit from New World wealth. There are hands-on exhibits for the kids, maps and boards that show the difficulties the sailers had in making the sail to Virginia. The Jamestown Gallery offers glimpses into colonial life: clothing, artwork and artifacts excavated from Jamestown Island.
The Powhatan Indian Gallery covers the history going back to the migration of the Paleo-Indians around 12,000 B.C. A 32-foot painted mural traces the evolution of the Indians and their environment, while an audiotape of the Lenape language, an algonquin dialect, plays in the background.
Other exhibits focus on religion, their social structure, government, trade and food. Pocahontas, daughter of the Powhatan chief who married an Englishman to bring peace between the colonists and the tribes, has her own alcove that details her life.
The next stop is Jamestown Island, which is maintained by the National Park Service and The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.
The island features excavations that have uncovered foundations of the town side and burial grounds. A visitors' center offers a 15-minute film on the colonization and what the island has to offer.
Visitors may explore the island on the loop drive, a 5-mile trek that gives a look at all those fair meadows and trees the adventurers spotted years ago. It is a beautiful sight this time of year.
Watch out for the deer. ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo courtesy of the Jamestown Settlement
A staffer in period clothing carves a canoe at the Jamestown
Settlement's Powhatan Indian village.
Graphic
JUST THE FACTS
Cost: Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Christmas and New
Year's Day. $7.50 for adults, $3.75 for children 6 to 12, children
under 6 are free.
Amenities: The Cafe offers an sandwiches, soups, snacks, ice
cream and drinks. Restrooms are located in the visitors' center.
Benches and drinking fountains are located throughout the museum
grounds, as well as a gift shop.
Directions: Jamestown Settlement is on Route 31 and Colonial
Parkway. Take 64 West to exit 242A. The fourth stoplight is Route 31
south, make a left and follow about four miles into the Settlement.
by CNB