Jamestown, Virginia

During our unexpected and brief visit in Virginia we had a great homeschool field trip to Jamestown for the first time. My sister's crew joined ours, making us a nice group of four adults, four teens, and five littles ages 5 months to seven years.

As we approached Jamestown we saw a sign for Historic Jamestowne and for Jamestown Settlement. Quick - where are we going?? We decided to go to Jamestown Settlement to walk around, and learn as much we could, and next time go to the actual historic site of Jamestown, which is close by.



With proof of homeschooling our family was able to get reasonably priced tickets for $11 each. Totally worth it. The welcome center had a huge gallery of information on history of Jamestown, but with our antsy group we headed directly to the Powhatan village.

This was my girls' favorite part of Jamestown. They loved talking to the volunteers and learning about pottery, baskets, cooking and farming. I enjoyed reading about the life of Pocahontas, Powhatan Indian princess, after we left Jamestown.



Canoe making was fascinating. The Powhatan Indians would burn out the inside, keeping the fire going for a few days. Shells from the river were used to carve out the burned parts. My handsome nephew is helping out the process.



The new Mothership???



From the Indian village we moved onto to check out the ships. Three ships arrived originally from England in late April of 1607: Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery. Jamestown usually has all three life-size replicas (the ships are surprisingly small!) there, but Godspeed was out on sea when we were there. Pictured here is Susan Constant, which brought over 55 people. All in all in the three ships they had 105 men, but lost one person in voyage.






The volunteers really helped us understand what life on the ship was like. The bunk beds were so tiny! In fact, the ship was so small it is hard to imagine how all these people fit in. And traveled most of their 4-5 month voyage below deck, getting permission to go on deck specially from the Captain.



Here learning about guns, cannons and gun powder.



This gentleman kept catching pretty ladies with his rope tricks:)



From the ships we walked to the third area: the life-size replica of the colonists' fort.



Beautiful church.




My boys' favorite part of Jamestown: muskets and shooting demonstration.



The governor's house was the fanciest.



On our way out we spotted a bald eagle, and a nest to the right of it! There was definitely some activity in the nest.

We breezed through the indoor galleries, and could have spent another 2-3 hours there reading more about Jamestown, the history, origins of the first Africans, Powhatan Indian culture, but our crew was ready to head back. And for some reason the air inside the galleries was very poor. Little Miss started complaining of a head ache, and it was hard to breathe. I felt dizzy, too. Next time!

You can read a brief history on Jamestown here. And just today, there was an interesting (and gross) article on cannibalism in Jamestown, read it at your own risk..

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Virginiassa ollessamme kävimme kotikouluretkellä Jamestownin elävän historian kylässä siskon perheen kanssa. Oli mielenkiintoista kävellä ympäriinsä, ja oppia lisää tästä ensimmäisestä siirtokunnasta. Täältä löytyy pikkuisen tietoa suomeksi, ja yllä lisää englanniksi, linkkejä myös.