Jamestown

There was so much to see and do at Jamestown that the whole day was spent in that area, which means that Yorktown will be done today. The trip to Jamestown - from about the Williamsburg area - was taken on the Colonial Parkway:

The Parkway is a unique road that connects all 3 of the historical sites - Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown - on one, scenic roadway:

There are no lines in the road and it meanders through some beautiful scenery along the James River, where deer graze undisturbed:

Near the end of the Parkway, we came to the entrance for the Jamestown Settlement:

We had already purchased our tickets online for both Jamestown and Yorktown, so all we had to do was go to the counter and pick up the literature for the complex. It begins in the Visitor Center building - nice and cool - that contains many galleries containing  descriptions of the trials, adventures and history of the first successful English settlement in America in 1607. You then go outside - hot and humid - and walk through re-creations of a Powhatan Indian Village:

and further along where you reach the shore of the James River and replicas of the 3 ships that carried the original settlers (104). The first ship was the largest - Susan Constant:

on which 70 of the settlers sailed. It's hard to imagine spending 4 1/2 months in such close quarters while sailing from England. The other 2 ships (Godspeed and Discovery) were smaller, but provided the same close quarters as the first ship:

We took a picture of the map that showed the route that was taken from England to Jamestown which helps to show why the voyage took so long:

There was also a replica of Ft Smith which was built to defend against the Indians during the early part of the settlement:

We then returned to our car and drove a mile or so to the actual location of the settlement:

The original settlement was on the Jamestown Island and occupied a very small portion of the land. There was a memorial constructed next to the actual site:

We saw the remnants of foundations from some of the homes that were built and discovered that the entire area of the settlement was being excavated for items from that period. Here is a statue of Capt John Smith, who led the expedition, and was placed inside the fences of the settlement:

The excavation areas can be seen behind the statue.

We spent most of the day at these locations and realized that our Yorktown visit would have to be moved to today. The day was fun and very educational, but we felt a little disappointed following the day at Williamsburg. Maybe because of the significance of Williamsburg being the original capital of Virginia and the  role it played during the Revolution. It was also a much larger town and provided much more to see of a physical community. They both have been worth the visits.

We drove the Colonial Parkway again to start our trip home, and once again, we spotted a deer on the side of the road:

It was a great ending to a great day...