Goodbye to Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown!

We had a wonderful time visiting the entire Historical Triangle: Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown. We were there for only three days, but we could have spent an entire week and kept ourselves entertained easily!

Williamsburg,
It was interesting to take a step into the past and see how people once lived. It’s a great way to learn about our country’s beginnings and what life was like back then.
It’s great to dork out on colonial history, and
Personally, Colonial Williamsburg is nice to walk around with a boyfriend^^
(I wish I could have my boyfriend with me...)

Our second destination, Jamestown Settlement, took us by surprise with its variety of educational and entertaining experiences.

Jamestown settlement was a fun trip. It allowed me to think about what the real Jamestown may have looked like and I enjoyed learning about it.
It was very interesting to see how the museum portrayed Jamestown and the Indian settlement. Despite the mix up and the white Indians, it was a spectacular presentation. The people on each of the settlements and the replicas of the ships were extremely knowledgeable of what they were talking about, and it was fun and entertaining to listen to.
It was so much fun, and I would totally do it all again if I was given the chance.
We love to experience history in a physical sense and compare it to our own life, this is what makes Jamestown Settlement such an attraction.

Last destination was Yotktown..
Yorktown is where America became of age. It took myself back in time where history was made.

As a professional TESOLer, I'm sure this experience will help my students to understand about American culture, too. it was a worth visit!

If you have any interest in American history, you will enjoy visiting the entire Historical Triangle: Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown.

Yorktown Victory Center

A rare broadside printing of the Declarationof Independence is on display at the Yorktown Victory Center. The historical document wasco-published in Boston on or about July 18, 1776, by John Gill and Edward E. Powars and Nathaniel Willis

We saw lots of things in Yorktown Victory Center.

First of all,

Indoor exhibition galleries portrayed the Declaration of Independence as a revolutionary document that attracted international attention, recount the war’s impact on 10 ordinary men and women who left a record of their experiences, highlight the roles of different nationalities at the Siege of Yorktown, and explored the story of the Betsy and other British ships lost in the York River during the siege.

Exhibits also described how people from many different cultures shaped a new society and the development of a new government with the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Outdoors, we explored a re-created Continental Army encampment, where historical interpreters describe and depict daily life of American soldiers at the end of the war.

It's fun to know about a re-created 1780s farm that completed with a house, kitchen, tobacco barn, crop fields, and herb and vegetable garden, which showed how many Americans lived during the Revolutionary era.

Yorktown

in front of Yorktown Victory center
Yorktown was last destination of our history(?!?) journey.

A brief history of Yorktown

Yorktown was established by Virginia's colonial government in 1691 to regulate trade and to collect taxes on both imports and exports for Great Britain. By the early 1700s, Yorktown had emerged as a major Virginia port and economic center. A well-developed waterfront boasted wharves, docks, storehouses and businesses. On the bluff above, stately homes lined Main Street, with taverns and other shops scattered throughout the town. Yorktown had 250 to 300 buildings and a population of almost 2,000 people at the height of its success around 1750. The American Revolution had entered its seventh year when, in 1781, British general Lord Charles Cornwallis brought his army to Yorktown to establish a naval base. In the siege by American and French forces that followed, much of the town was destroyed.

By the end of the Revolution, less than 70 buildings remained in Yorktown and the 1790 census recorded only 661 people in town. Yorktown never regained its economic prominence. A fire in 1814 destroyed the waterfront district as well as some homes and the courthouse on Main Street. Additional destruction came during the Civil War Siege of 1862 and the occupation by Union troops that followed.

Today, there are still some tangible reminders of Yorktown's historic past that have survived, giving much of the town a colonial atmosphere.

Love story of Pocahontas and John Rolfe

I've always imagined that I would fall in love with someone like, John Smith from Disney animated movie, "Pocahontas."
He was my IEAL MAN! (He is hot!^^)
Eventhough it was just a movie, the love story between Pocahontas and Captain John Smigh made me thrilled!^^



The 1614 marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe, depicted in a circa 1900 engraving by John C. McRae,marked the beginning of eight years of peace betweenthe colonists and Powhatan Indians. Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation collection.

This marriage marked the beginning of a period of peace between Indians and the Jamestown colonists.

The most well-known of the intermediaries who lived between two cultures was a favorite daughter of Powhatan, the supreme chief of more than 14,000 Indians in Tidewater Virginia at the time. This young girl, Pocahontas, is famous for her interactions with John Smith, John Rolfe and other colonists.Pocahontas first met John Smith in December 1607 when he was captured and brought before her father Powhatan in his village at Werowocomoco, on the north side of the York River. Smith wrote that Pocahontas rescued him from death, but some historians speculate that he was part of a test her father used to assert his authority over the English in Virginia.
Later, Pocahontas accompanied Indian emissaries to Jamestown with food. There she would “get the boyes forth with her into the market place and make them wheele [cartwheel].” Once, she warned Smith of possible ambush. After Smith left Virginia in Fall 1609, Pocahontas was not seen among the English.
In 1613 Samuel Argall found her visiting the Patawomeke tribe on the Potomac River. He kidnapped her to hold her for ransom, hoping her father would return the weapons, tools and English prisoners he had taken. But he only partially complied with English demands, and Pocahontas was sent upriver to Henricus where the Reverend Alexander Whitaker taught her English manners and religion.
There she met John Rolfe, the planter who introduced tobacco cultivation to the colony. In 1614 she was baptized with the Christian name Rebecca and married Rolfe. She then remained in the English world, having a son and traveling to England to promote the English colony. There she died in 1617.





This 17th-century European engraving depicts Powhatanreceiving Ralph Hamor, secretary of the Virginia colony, and interpreter Thomas Savage in 1614 at the chief's newcapital of Matchcot on the Pamunkey River.

Leaders from both cultural groups realized early on the value in trading young men to learn one another’s language and customs and to act as messengers. Several Powhatans served as emissaries, willingly or unwillingly living with the English. In 1608 Powhatan gave “Namontacke his trusty servant” to Captain Christopher Newport.
Newport took Namontack to England and introduced him as the son of “the emperor of Virginia,” and he returned to Virginia with greater knowledge of English culture.Although the English hoped to entice Powhatans to send their children to the settlers to become acculturated, Powhatans were reluctant.

Only a small minority were willing to live with settlers. These included Chanco, who lived and worked with an Englishman on the Pamunkey River, and an unnamed Indian boy who lived with a settler on the James River. The two Indians, seemingly converted to Christianity, warned the English about the upcoming 1622 Powhatan attack. Although essential to both cultures, these intermediaries were often mistrusted.
The first English intermediary was Thomas Savage, who was presented as a “gift” from Captain Christopher Newport to Powhatan in 1608, when Powhatan gave Namontack to Newport. Savage lived with Powhatan for two years, then continued to serve as an interpreter afterward. In 1608 Samuel Collier was left by John Smith with the Warraskoyack tribe to learn the language.

Collier then lived with the English, surviving until 1623.Henry Spelman arrived in Virginia in 1609 and was sent to live with the Powhatans to ensure good behavior from English colonists who had settled up the James River. He resided with Powhatan for several months and then lived for a year with the Patawomeke tribe on the Potomac River.
There he moved freely, was treated as a special guest and recorded his observations of Powhatan life ways in his “Relation of Virginea.” He made several trips back to England, but returned to Virginia to serve as an interpreter until his death in 1623.

Robert Poole came in 1611 and was assigned to Opechancanough, Powhatan’s brother, as an interpreter in 1614. Poole and Savage eventually became wealthy through the Virginia fur trade. As with the Powhatan intermediaries, these interpreters were often mistrusted by both sides. Although the young English men remained loyal to English values, they were manipulated as pawns by Powhatan and English leaders in their struggle for power in Virginia.

Pocahontas and the Powhatans of Virginia

We stopped by The Powhatan Indian village since the Powhatan tribal group closet to Jamestown.
We were so excited to Learn about the world of Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan, powerful leader of 30-some Algonquian-speaking tribes in coastal Virginia.

The villiage is based on archaeological findings at a site once inhabited by Paspahegh Indians.
The historical interpretes demonstrated the Powhatan way of life. It was interesting for us to know that they grew, prepared food, animal hides, made tools and pottery, and woved natural fibers into cordage just like our ancestors did.

THE POWHATAN INDIANS

Pocahontas and the Powhatans of Virginia

At the time English colonists arrived in the spring of 1607, coastal Virginia was inhabited by the Powhatan Indians, an Algonquian-speaking people. The Powhatans were comprised of 30-some tribal groups, with a total population of about 14,000, under the control of Wahunsonacock, sometimes called “Powhatan.” The Powhatans lived in villages with houses built of sapling frames covered by reed mats or bark. Villages within the same area belonged to one tribe. Each tribe had its own “werowance” or chief, who was subject to Wahunsonacock. Although the chiefs were usually men, they inherited their positions of power through the female side of the family. Agricultural products – corn, beans and squash – contributed about half of the Powhatan diet. Men hunted deer and fished, while women farmed and gathered wild plant foods. Women prepared foods and made clothes from deerskins. Tools and equipment were made from stone, bone and wood.The Powhatans participated in an extensive trade network with Indian groups within and outside the chiefdom. With the English, the Powhatans traded foodstuffs and furs in exchange for metal tools, European copper, European glass beads, and trinkets. In a ranked society of rulers, great warriors, priests and commoners, status was determined by achievement, often in warfare, and by the inheritance of luxury goods like copper, shell beads and furs. Those of higher status had larger homes, more wives and elaborate dress. The Powhatans worshipped a hierarchy of gods and spirits. They offered gifts to Oke to prevent him from sending them harm. Ahone was the creator and giver of good things. As English settlement spread in Virginia during the 1600s, the Powhatans were forced to move inland away from the fertile river valleys that had long been their home. As their territory dwindled, so did the Indian population, falling victim to English diseases, food shortages and warfare. The Powhatan people persisted, however, adopting new lifestyles while maintaining their cultural pride and leaving a legacy for today, through their descendants still living in Virginia

POCAHONTAS

This modern painting is based on a 17th-century engraving of Pocahontas attired inEnglish clothing.

The renowned Indian maiden who befriended English colonists in Virginia in the early 1600s has been immortalized in art, song and story. Born about 1596, Pocahontas was the daughter of Powhatan, chief of over 30 tribes in coastal Virginia. Pocahontas was a nickname meaning “playful one.” Her formal names were Amonute and Matoaka. Pocahontas was Powhatan’s “most deare and wel-beloved daughter,” according to Captain John Smith, an English colonial leader who wrote extensively about his experiences in Virginia. Powhatan had numerous wives, and Pocahontas had many half-brothers and half-sisters. Her mother’s name is not mentioned by any 17th-century writers.As a child, Pocahontas probably helped her mother with daily chores, learning what was expected of her as a woman in Powhatan society. Even the daughter of a chief would be required to work when she reached maturity.

In late 1607 Pocahontas, then about age 11, met John Smith in an event he described years later. Smith wrote that he had been captured by Indians and brought before Powhatan at Werewocomoco, the chief's capital town on the York River. After the Indians gave Smith a feast, they laid his head on two stones as if to “beate out his braines,” when Pocahontas “got his head in her armes, and laid her owne upon his to save him from death.”Some scholars today believe the incident was a ritual in which Powhatan sought to assert his sovereignty over Smith and the English in Virginia. In 1608 Pocahontas assisted in taking food to the English settlement at Jamestown to persuade Smith to free some Indian prisoners. The following year, according to Smith, she warned him of an Indian plot to take his life.

A 17th-century European engraving depictingthe abduction of Pocahontas.

Smith left Virginia in 1609, and Pocahontas was told by other colonists that he was dead. Sometime later, she married an Indian named Kocoum. In 1613, while searching for corn to feed hungry colonists, Samuel Argall found her in the village of the Patawomekes in the northern part of the Powhatan chiefdom and kidnapped her for ransom. Powhatan waited three months after learning of his daughter’s capture to return seven English prisoners and some stolen guns. He refused other demands, however, and relinquished his daughter to the English, agreeing to a tenuous peace.Thereafter, Pocahontas lived among the settlers. The Reverend Alexander Whitaker, living up the James River near Henrico (Henricus), taught her Christian principles, and she learned to act and dress like an English woman. In 1614 she was baptized and given the name Rebecca. Soon after her conversion, Pocahontas married John Rolfe, a planter who had introduced tobacco as a cash crop in the Virginia colony. In 1616 the Rolfes and their young son Thomas traveled to England to help recruit new settlers for Virginia. While there, Pocahontas had a brief meeting with John Smith, whom she had not known was alive, and told him that she would be “for ever and ever your Countrieman.” As the Rolfes began their return trip to Virginia, Pocahontas became ill and died at Gravesend, England, in March 1617. John Rolfe sailed for Virginia, where he had been appointed secretary of the colony, but left Thomas in England with relatives. Thomas Rolfe returned to Virginia in the 1630s. By that time, Powhatan and John Rolfe were dead, and peace with the Indians had been broken in 1622 by a bloody uprising led by Pocahontas’s uncle, Opechancanough. Although Pocahontas was one of Powhatan’s favorite children, she probably had little influence over her father’s actions toward the English colonists. However, after she married and traveled to England, she was able to bring the Virginia colony to the attention of prominent English men and women.

Jamestown Settlement Chronology

Here is a brief crhonology of Jamestown.
I think it'll be better for us to know and understand of Jamestown.

Significant Events in Jamestown's History

1570s
Spanish Jesuits set up a mission on the York River in the Chesapeake Bay area. Within a few months, the Spaniards were killed by local Indians.

1585-7
Three separate voyages sent English settlers to Roanoke, Virginia (North Carolina). John White, who had been governor of the Roanoke colony and had gone back to England for supplies, returned in 1590 and found no trace of the settlers.

1607
On May 13, nearly five months after departing from England, an expedition of 104 colonists arrived at a site on the James River selected for settlement. The group was sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, whose investors hoped to make a profit from the resources of the New World. The group named their settlement for King James I.

1608
Captain Christopher Newport, commander of the 1607 Jamestown expedition who had sailed back to England, returned to Virginia in January with settlers and goods. It was the first of a series of regular arrivals in the colony. John Smith was elected president of the governing council in the fall. Smith left for England the next fall (1609) to recover from a gunpowder wound and never returned to Virginia.

1611
Elizabeth City and Henrico were established, marking the beginning of expansion beyond Jamestown.

1613
Pocahontas, a daughter of Powhatan, powerful leader of 30-some Indian tribes in coastal Virginia, was kidnapped by the English.

1614
The first sample of tobacco cultivated by John Rolfe was shipped to England by this time. Tobacco was the “golden weed” that ensured the economic survival of the colony. Pocahontas married John Rolfe after being baptized in the Anglican Church, and an eight-year period of peace between the English colonists and Powhatan Indians ensued.

1617
Pocahontas died in England.

1619
The first representative legislative assembly in British America met at Jamestown on July 30. The first documented people of African origin in Virginia arrived in late summer aboard an English ship flying Dutch colors.

1620
The Plymouth colony was established in Massachusetts.

1624
King James revoked the charter of the Virginia Company, and Virginia became a royal colony.

1699
The capital of Virginia was moved from Jamestown to Williamsburg.

Jamestown Settlement

Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America, circa 1607




What comes to your mind when you hear "Jamestown?"
Well, for me, I just came up with an idea that the Virginia colony had John Smith, Pocahontas, slavery, famine, battles and a great Indian chief, mostly, from the animation, Pocahontas.
Honestly, I didn't even know that they were real until I studied Amerian history.. ^^;
After I visited Williamsburg, we also visited Jamestown, which is next to Williamsburg.
I couldn't take any pirctures since i lost my camera while Iwas visiting here..
I want to introduce this historical, amazing place to you with some information.
Let me strat with a brief history of Jamestown.

A brief history of Jamestown

The founding of Jamestown, America’s first permanent English colony, in Virginia in 1607 – 13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in Massachusetts – sparked a series of cultural encounters that helped shape the nation and the world. The government, language, customs, beliefs and aspirations of these early Virginians are all part of the United States’ heritage today.

The colony was sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, a group of investors who hoped to profit from the venture. Chartered in 1606 by King James I, the company also supported English national goals of counterbalancing the expansion of other European nations abroad, seeking a northwest passage to the Orient, and converting the Virginia Indians to the Anglican religion.

The Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, carrying 105 passengers, one of whom died during the voyage, departed from England in December 1606 and reached the Virginia coast in late April 1607. The expedition was led by Captain Christopher Newport. On May 13, after two weeks of exploration, the ships arrived at a site on the James River selected for its deep water anchorage and good defensive position. The passengers came ashore the next day, and work began on the settlement. Initially, the colony was governed by a council of seven, with one member serving as president.

Serious problems soon emerged in the small English outpost, which was located in the midst of a chiefdom of about 14,000 Algonquian-speaking Indians ruled by the powerful leader Powhatan. Relations with the Powhatan Indians were tenuous, although trading opportunities were established. An unfamiliar climate, as well as brackish water supply and lack of food, conditions possibly aggravated by a prolonged drought, led to disease and death. Many of the original colonists were upper-class Englishmen, and the colony lacked sufficient laborers and skilled farmers.

The first two English women arrived at Jamestown in 1608, and more came in subsequent years. Men outnumbered women, however, for most of the 17th century.
Captain John Smith became the colony’s leader in September 1608 – the fourth in a succession of council presidents – and established a “no work, no food” policy. Smith had been instrumental in trading with the Powhatan Indians for food. However, in the fall of 1609 he was injured by burning gunpowder and left for England. Smith never returned to Virginia, but promoted colonization of North America until his death in 1631 and published numerous accounts of the Virginia colony, providing invaluable material for historians.

Smith’s departure was followed by the “starving time,” a period of warfare between the colonists and Indians and the deaths of many English men and women from starvation and disease. Just when the colonists decided to abandon Jamestown in Spring 1610, settlers with supplies arrived from England, eager to find wealth in Virginia. This group of new settlers arrived under the second charter issued by King James I. This charter provided for stronger leadership under a governor who served with a group of advisors, and the introduction of a period of military law that carried harsh punishments for those who did not obey.

In order to make a profit for the Virginia Company, settlers tried a number of small industries, including glassmaking, wood production, and pitch and tar and potash manufacture. However, until the introduction of tobacco as a cash crop about 1613 by colonist John Rolfe, who later married Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas, none of the colonists’ efforts to establish profitable enterprises were successful. Tobacco cultivation required large amounts of land and labor and stimulated the rapid growth of the Virginia colony. Settlers moved onto the lands occupied by the Powhatan Indians, and increased numbers of indentured servants came to Virginia.
The first documented Africans in Virginia arrived in 1619. They were from the kingdom of Ndongo in Angola, West Central Africa, and had been captured during war with the Portuguese. While these first Africans may have been treated as indentured servants, the customary practice of owning Africans as slaves for life appeared by mid-century. The number of African slaves increased significantly in the second half of the 17th century, replacing indentured servants as the primary source of labor.

The first representative government in British America began at Jamestown in 1619 with the convening of a general assembly, at the request of settlers who wanted input in the laws governing them. After a series of events, including a 1622 war with the Powhatan Indians and misconduct among some of the Virginia Company leaders in England, the Virginia Company was dissolved by the king in 1624, and Virginia became a royal colony. Jamestown continued as the center of Virginia’s political and social life until 1699 when the seat of government moved to Williamsburg. Although Jamestown ceased to exist as a town by the mid 1700s, its legacies are embodied in today’s United States.