Jamestown

I drove on a beautiful pebble-paved road that softly slices through the relentless foliage of Virginia. The sun burst through the leaves as it glided slowly toward the west horizon. Any sunlight remaining illuminated the smooth meadows, exposing the families of deer as they ate the grass. Geese flew in formation while gliding reverently across the James River. This is where it all began for our country (well, Roanoke was actually before but those settlers all vanished so we don't know the full story of that venture). Wow!

Though it was conceived for the sole purpose of profit, and although it failed once, and although its redeeming venture involved the source of the first lung cancer in America, this place represents the fibers of ingenuity and adventure deeply woven in our nation.

I went back with some friends and we sailed a ship (well, kind of), visited a fabulous museum full of interactive exhibits of 17th-century Britain, the Powhatan people, Christopher Newport (the main Captain on the voyage to Jamestown), the voyage of Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery, the Virginia Company Charter, and of course John Rolfe, John Smith, and Pocahontas. It was so much fun!

Next, we went into the three ship replicas. One of the most interesting things I learned here was that the ship wheel wasn't even conceived until around 1700. So all those big ships were steered by a long beam that was attached to the shaft for the rudder. I never knew.

They had several cannons on these ships. I learned that they didn't just use the conventional cannon ball, but they used ammo with a chain connecting two pieces and even ones with wooden cases full of shrapnel. Paul and I couldn't subdue our inner little-boy so we played around with these big guns:

Man, they really had small men back then :)

We also used oyster shells to help carve a canoe like the Powhatan people did. Here's the finished product: