Jamestown

Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the North America (1607). There is the original Jamestown, of which almost nothing remains since the place was burned down twice--once deliberately in Bacon's Rebellion (1676), which strangely had nothing to do with pork, and again by accident in 1698. When the government moved to what would soon be named Williamsburg after the second fire, they decided to stay. The original site is run by the National Park Service. The Commonwealth of Virginia built the Jamestown Settlement historical center not far from the NPS site, with a large museum, historical reconstructions, etc. We went to the Settlement first and by the time we got to the historical Jamestown, we were too tired to haul ourselves from the parking lot to the park.

 

The James River still gives a good impression of what the undocumented alien English settlers saw when they arrived:

 

The museum was large and impressive, and pleasingly inclusive:

Whoever designed these theaters, on the first meeting of the colony government in 1619 (Virginia has had a democratic government for over 400 years--not to brag or anything) and on Bacon's rebellion, clearly enjoyed themselves.

Outside were replicas of the ships that brought the settlers over, the original fort they built--complete with chapel, note the governor's chair with canopy.

Driving through the woods on the way back to Williamsburg we discovered a reconstructed colonial glassworks, the car ferry across this very wide part of the James River, and a VERY authentic and delicious southern bbq:

We stopped at a highway rest area with a whole bunch of these bushes, which we learned were called Beauty Berries--fitting name.