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Historic Jamestowne

The health and safety of our visitors, staff and volunteers remains our highest priority. Jamestown Rediscovery will continue to monitor guidance from the Governor’s office, Virginia Department of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Jamestown Rediscovery website and YouTube channel offer a variety of resources for all ages to explore Jamestown from home. Kids and families can dig deeper into Jamestown history with our fun downloadable JR Kids at Home activities. Educators can download lesson plans to share the history and archaeology of James Fort. Want a front-row seat to the latest archaeological discoveries and analysis? Delve into our Dig Deeper video series on YouTube.

Historic Jamestowne is the actual site of the first permanent British settlement in North America. The site is owned and managed through a private/public partnership between Preservation Virginia and the National Park Service. It is located behind Jamestown Settlement, which is operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project, spearheaded by Bill Kelso, was launched in 1994 to find the site of the earliest fortified town on the Jamestown island. Since this groundbreaking discovery, Preservation Virginia’s talented team of archaeologists have been doing great work to excavate, interpret, preserve, conserve and research the site’s findings to piece together the lives of Jamestown’s first colonists. 

1368 Colonial Parkway Jamestown, VA 23081

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757-856-1250

Typically, Historic Jamestowne is open daily 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day

Explore the James Fort site and see where the American story began.

Plan your visit.

Visitors to the site can enjoy the state of the art visitor’s center, browse artifacts in the Natalie M. and Alan P. Voorhees Archaearium, participate in guided tours and witness ongoing archaeological work.

Learn more about all about Historic Jamestowne and their latest discoveries by visiting  historicjamestowne.org .

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Open Daily 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day

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Historic jamestowne stories, jamestown rediscovery video series on youtube.

Want to hear updates on the most recent discoveries and research of the Jamestown Rediscovery Archaeology team? You can do so from the comfort of your own home by visiting their YouTube channel! See for yourself here .

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Jamestown Colony

By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 27, 2023 | Original: March 8, 2010

On May 14, 1607, a group of roughly 100 members of a joint venture called the Virginia Company founded the first permanent English settlement in North America on the banks of the James River. 

Famine, disease and conflict with local Native American tribes in the first two years brought Jamestown to the brink of failure before the arrival of a new group of settlers and supplies in 1610. Tobacco became Virginia’s first profitable export, and a period of peace followed the marriage of colonist John Rolfe to Pocahontas, the daughter of an Algonquian chief. During the 1620s, Jamestown expanded from the area around the original James Fort into a New Town built to the east. It remained the capital of the Virginia colony until 1699.

English Settlement in the New World

After Christopher Columbus ’ historic voyage in 1492, Spain dominated the race to establish colonies in the Americas, while English efforts, such as the “lost colony” of Roanoke , met with failure. In 1606, King James I granted a charter to a new venture, the Virginia Company, to form a settlement in North America. 

At the time, Virginia was the English name for the entire eastern coast of North America north of Florida ; they had named it for Elizabeth I , the “virgin queen.” The Virginia Company planned to search for gold and silver deposits in the New World, as well as a river route to the Pacific Ocean that would allow them to establish trade with the Orient.

Roughly 100 colonists left England in late December 1606 on three ships (the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery) and reached Chesapeake Bay late the next April. After forming a governing council—including Christopher Newport, commander of the sea voyage, and Captain John Smith , a former mercenary who had been accused of insubordination aboard ship by several other company members—the group searched for a suitable settlement site. On May 13, 1607, they landed on a narrow peninsula—virtually an island—in the James River, where they would begin their lives in the New World.

Surviving the First Years

Known variously as James Forte, James Towne and James Cittie, the new settlement initially consisted of a wooden fort built in a triangle around a storehouse for weapons and other supplies, a church and a number of houses. By the summer of 1607, Newport went back to England with two ships and 40 crewmembers to give a report to the king and to gather more supplies and colonists. 

The settlers left behind suffered greatly from hunger and illnesses like typhoid and dysentery, caused from drinking contaminated water from the nearby swamp. Settlers also lived under constant threat of attack by members of local Algonquian tribes, most of which were organized into a kind of empire under Chief Powhatan.

An understanding reached between Powhatan and John Smith led the settlers to establish much-needed trade with Powhatan’s tribe by early 1608. Though skirmishes still broke out between the two groups, the Native Americans traded corn for beads, metal tools and other objects (including some weapons) from the English, who would depend on this trade for sustenance in the colony’s early years. 

After Smith returned to England in late 1609, the inhabitants of Jamestown suffered through a long, harsh winter known as “The Starving Time,” during which more than 100 of them died. Firsthand accounts describe desperate people eating pets and shoe leather. Some Jamestown colonists even resorted to cannibalism. George Percy, the colony’s leader in John Smith’s absence, wrote:

"And now famine beginning to look ghastly and pale in every face that nothing was spared to maintain life and to do those things which seem incredible, as to dig up dead corpse out of graves and to eat them, and some have licked up the blood which hath fallen from their weak fellows."

In the spring of 1610, just as the remaining colonists were set to abandon Jamestown, two ships arrived bearing at least 150 new settlers, a cache of supplies and the new English governor of the colony, Lord De La Warr.

Growth of the Colony

Though De La Warr soon took ill and went home, his successor Sir Thomas Gates and Gates’ second-in command, Sir Thomas Dale, took firm charge of the colony and issued a system of new laws that, among other things, strictly controlled the interactions between settlers and Algonquians. They took a hard line with Powhatan and launched raids against Algonquian villages, killing residents and burning houses and crops.

The English began to build other forts and settlements up and down the James River, and by the fall of 1611 had managed to harvest a decent crop of corn themselves. They had also learned other valuable techniques from the Algonquians, including how to insulate their dwellings against the weather using tree bark, and expanded Jamestown into a New Town to the east of the original fort.

A period of relative peace followed the marriage in April 1614 of the colonist and tobacco planter John Rolfe to Pocahontas , a daughter of Chief Powhatan who had been captured by the settlers and converted to Christianity . (According to John Smith, Pocahontas had rescued him from death in 1607, when she was just a young girl and he was her father’s captive.) Thanks largely to Rolfe’s introduction of a new type of tobacco grown from seeds from the West Indies, Jamestown’s economy began to thrive. 

In 1619, the colony established a General Assembly with members elected by Virginia’s male landowners; it would become a model for representative governments in later colonies. That same year, the first Africans (around 50 men, women and children) arrived in the English settlement; they had been on a Portuguese slave ship captured in the West Indies and brought to the Jamestown region. They worked as indentured servants at first (the race-based slavery system developed in North America in the 1680s) and were most likely put to work picking tobacco.

Powhatans After Pocahontas

Pocahontas’ death during a trip to England in 1617 and the death of Powhatan in 1618 strained the already fragile peace between the English settlers and the Native Americans. Under Powhatan’s successor, Opechankeno, the Algonquians became more and more angry about the colonists’ insatiable need for land and the pace of English settlement; meanwhile, diseases brought from the Old World decimated the Native American population. 

In March 1622, the Powhatan made a major assault on English settlements in Virginia, killing some 350 to 400 residents (a full one-quarter of the population). The attack hit the outposts of Jamestown the hardest, while the town itself received advance warning and was able to mount a defense.

In an effort to take greater control of the situation, King James I dissolved the Virginia Company and made Virginia into an official crown colony, with Jamestown as its capital, in 1624. The New Town area of Jamestown continued to grow, and the original fort seems to have disappeared after the 1620s. 

Though the Powhatan people continued to mount a resistance (Opechankeno, by then in his 80s, led another great rebellion in 1644), the colony continued to grow stronger, and his successor Necotowance was forced to sign a peace treaty that ceded most of the Powhatans’ land and forced them to pay an annual tribute to the colonial governor.

Bacon's Rebellion

Bacon’s Rebellion was the first rebellion in the American colonies. In 1676, economic problems and unrest with Native Americans drove Virginians led by Nathaniel Bacon to rise up against Governor William Berkeley. Colonists, enraged at declining tobacco prices and higher taxes, sought a scapegoat in local tribes who still periodically sparred with settlers and lived on land they hoped to obtain for themselves. 

A July 1675 raid by the Doeg tribe sparked retaliation, and when Governor Berkeley set up a meeting between the two quarreling parties, several tribal chiefs were murdered. In 1675, the General Assembly declared war on “hostile” tribes and forbid traders from working with them. Conveniently, trade was restricted to friends of Berkeley’s.

Bacon, a distant relative of Berkeley’s, led a volunteer militia and demanded that the Governor give him a commission to fight Native Americans. Berkeley refused, so Bacon raided and killed them on his own. Governor Berkeley named Bacon a rebel, but that didn’t stop Bacon from being elected as a burgess and returning to Jamestown to surround the statehouse with his army.

Bacon’s rallying cry was his “Declaration in the Name of the People,” which charged that Berkeley was corrupt and “protected, favoured and Imboldened the Indians against his Majesties loyall subjects.” Bacon’s forces drove Governor Berkeley from the capital and set fire to Jamestown on September 19, 1676. Bacon died of dysentery in October, and armed merchant ships from London, followed by forces sent by King Charles II, soon put down the resistance.

Jamestown Abandoned

In 1698, the central statehouse in Jamestown burned down, and Middle Plantation, now known as Williamsburg, replaced it as the colonial capital the following year. While settlers continued to live and maintain farms there, Jamestown was all but abandoned.

Jamestown Island housed military posts during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. In the 20th century, preservationists undertook a major restoration of the area. The National Park Service now administers it as part of the Colonial National Historical Park called “Historic Jamestowne.” The Jamestown Rediscovery archeological project, begun in 1994, examines artifacts uncovered at the settlement to gain a better understanding of daily life in the first permanent English colony in the New World.

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Top Things to Do in Jamestown, Virginia: Don’t Miss These Sites

When visiting Virginia’s Historic Triangle area, you really should plan to add a day visiting Jamestown Settlement and Historic Jamestowne to your Colonial Williamsburg itinerary . Here’s what you should know about all the things to do in Jamestown, Virginia.

Jamestown, founded in 1607, was the site of the first permanent English settlement in the New World.

From that tiny colonial foothold in North America came so much of the good (representative government) and the bad (slavery, conflict with Native Americans) that makes up American history.

This post includes affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.  See disclaimer.  

Plan your perfect trip to Jamestown, Virginia, with this FREE printable travel planner .

Historic Jamestowne vs. Jamestown Settlement 

So, what’s the difference between Jamestown Settlement and Historic Jamestowne? Should you go to one or the other or both? 

Jamestown Settlement is a living history museum that combines video, excellent exhibits, and living history to educate guests about the founding of Jamestown and what life was like there.

They have full-scale models of the three ships that brought the first settlers to Jamestown (Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed) as well as re-creations of James Fort and a Powhatan village.

Historical interpreters are on hand to answer questions about many aspects of what life was like at Jamestown, from cooking to weapons and armor. 

Historic Jamestowne, on the other hand, is the actual site of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia. It’s part U.S. National Park (Colonial National Historical Park) and part active archaeological site (Jamestown Rediscovery) managed by Preservation Virginia.

Archaeological discoveries they have made over the last 25 years are on display at the Voorhees Archaerium at Historic Jamestowne. Items there include coins, personal items, armor, and even human remains. 

I highly recommend both visiting Jamestown Settlement and Historic Jamestowne if you can.

Since not much remains of the actual Jamestowne site, a visit to the Jamestown Settlement living history museum first will help you understand what went on at the colony, what it may have looked like, and who the key players were in its founding before you make your way to Historic Jamestowne. 

Related → What to do With One Day in Colonial Williamsburg

Jamestown ticket options 

You can purchase Jamestown Settlement tickets ahead of time online or at the large Jamestown Settlement visitor center. There are a variety of multi-day and combination tickets available (some are “online only” specials).

Visiting Jamestown Settlement 

Jamestown settlement visitor’s center and exhibit area .

Your visit to Jamestown Settlement will start at the large visitor’s center. Once you purchase your tickets (or check in with your multi-site, multi-day pass) and pick up a map, you’ll be directed to the exhibit area. 

Start with the video that shows in the theater every half hour or so, “1607: A Nation Takes Root.” It will give you an overview of the founding of Jamestown, the why’s and wherefores, and the key players. 

After you leave the theater, you’ll want to spend some time reviewing the exhibits in the galleries especially if you’re the kind of person who’s interested in myth-busting.

You’ll learn more about what life was really like for the English settlers, the native Powhatans (including Pocahontas), and those first Africans who were enslaved and forced to come to the New World. 

Jamestown Settlement recently commemorated the 400th anniversary of two very important events.

The first was the 400th anniversary of the very first meeting of the General Assembly in Jamestown in June 1619, meaning this was the very first meeting of representative government in what was to become the United States of America.

To help Jamestown Settlement celebrate this important anniversary, the National Archives of the United Kingdom lent them the minutes from that first meeting to put on display. They were old, faded, and difficult to read, but I do have to say that this history nerd geeked out quite a bit by being so close to such an important document. 

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The other important commemoration was the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in the New World. Taken from Angola by the Portuguese, their ship was captured by English privateers and they were brought (along with the ship’s manifest) to English North America.

At least one of those slaves, Angela, made her way to Jamestown (more on this later). All this to say, don’t bypass the exhibit space at Jamestown Settlement. It is exceedingly well done and provides important historical context for the rest of your day.

They do not allow photography or videography in the exhibition area. 

Jamestown Settlement Outdoor Exhibits 

Once you’ve had your fill of the Jamestown Settlement indoor exhibit galleries, you can make your way to the outdoor exhibits. There you’ll find re-creations of the three ships that brought 104 settlers to Jamestown, the Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed.

When we were there, all three ships were open for visitors to climb aboard and poke around. Living history interpreters answer questions about the ships and what the voyage may have been like. 

The replica James Fort includes several buildings open for visitors to walk through such as a chapel, an armory (where the weapons, ammunition, and armor were stored), and a small house.

Living history interpreters are on hand to demonstrate early cooking techniques and offer special programs, like the fun and interactive program on 17th-century Christmas traditions we saw. 

At the Powhatan village re-creation, you can walk through reed-covered houses and talk to interpreters cooking or making weapons as the native tribes in that area did.  

Where to eat in Jamestown 

Food options are somewhat limited in Jamestown without leaving the entire Jamestown historical sites area and driving back toward Williamsburg.

The large and convenient Jamestown Settlement Café in the Jamestown Settlement Visitor Center serves good and reasonably priced lunches cafeteria style with a variety of vegetarian and gluten-free options. 

The small Dale House Café on the James River at Historic Jamestowne is also a convenient option for lunch, a snack, or a cup of coffee. You can find it between the Memorial Church and the Voorhees Archaerium. There are vegetarian and/or gluten-free options marked on the menu. 

There are picnic areas at both Jamestown Settlement and Historic Jamestowne for those who would prefer to pack a lunch.  

Visit Historic Jamestowne 

Virtually next door to Jamestown Settlement is Historic Jamestowne, the actual site of the first permanent English colony in the New World. 

Once again, you’ll want to stop at the Visitor Center to purchase your tickets or check in with your multi-day pass. The guest services representative will give you a map of Colonial National Historical Park, covering Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown Battlefield plus the Colonial Parkway that connects the two sites.

He or she can also let you know when the next orientation film is showing and what special programs or tours they have scheduled for that day. 

Historic Jamestowne programs 

After you watch the film (and I always recommend you do this), you’ll exit through the rear of the Visitor Center and walk over a footbridge to the Tercentenary Monument. This is where we met up for the Historic Jamestowne tour, which was really more like a talk since we didn’t actually go anywhere. 

Always take advantage of any opportunities to join guided tours or talks with a National Park Service ranger.

They do an excellent job (Thanks, Ranger Doug!) of setting the scene and providing important historical context, especially if you’re at a site that requires a bit of imagination. 

And since you were just at Jamestown Settlement, you can dazzle the park ranger as you answer all of his questions about the history of Jamestown.

They don’t need to know that you just learned it all earlier in the day (wink, wink). But don’t be obnoxious about it. Let a few of the other visitors answer questions too.  Depending on the time of year and staffing, there might be several other tours or official programs offered throughout the day.

Walking Jamestown Island  

After the park ranger gives you an overview of Historic Jamestowne, you can use the map you picked up in the Visitor Center to continue your visit. On the map, you’ll see that the site is divided roughly in half.

To the right of the Tercentenary Monument (as you face the James River) is Old Towne, where you will find:

• the hundred-year-old Memorial Church
• a statue of Pocahontas
• a statue of John Smith
• several archaeological dig site
• part of the site of James Fort
• the Voorhees Archaerium
• Dale House Café (see “Where to eat in Jamestown” above).

The Memorial Church sits over the foundation of the Jamestown church in which the First General Assembly met in 1619.

The Archaerium is well worth a visit. Here is where you will find on display many artifacts that archaeologists have unearthed from the digs around Jamestown Island.

You’ll see all sorts of things that the colonists at Jamestowne used in everyday life, and they even have a couple of skeletons of early colonists (gulp!). 

To the left of the Tercentenary Monument is New Towne. This part of the park, showing how Jamestowne expanded, includes some ruins of old houses including the Ambler Mansion.

Signs along the way provide more information about the sites as you walk past. It is at the Pierce Properties where archeologists think it is possible they may have found the remains of some of the first enslaved Africans to ever live in the New World.

They called it “The Angela Site,” named for one of the captured women from Angola who was forced to live out the rest of her life thousands of miles from her home in Africa.  

Jamestown Island Drive 

If you are so inclined, after you walk through Historic Jamestowne, you can continue your visit by doing the Island Drive. There’s a short loop and a longer loop option, neither of which is very long.

Both are marked, just follow the signs from the Visitor Center parking lot. As you make your way around the island, signs will provide more information about what went on there.  

Where to stay in Jamestown 

There are a lot of great accommodation options all within easy distance of Jamestown and the other Historic Triangle sites. We chose to base ourselves in Williamsburg for our trip since we were going to be spending more of our time at Colonial Williamsburg than either Jamestown or Yorktown. 

We got a great rate at the Residence Inn Williamsburg and enjoyed having a free breakfast every day as well as a kitchen in our room. Check availability and room rates here .

If you would prefer to stay a little closer to Jamestown than we did you might like Wedmore Place . Each of the European-themed rooms has its own fireplace. You can check availability here .

Final thoughts on visiting Jamestown

I highly recommend spending a day in Jamestown, visiting both these important historical sites—Jamestown Settlement and Historic Jamestowne. You’ll gain an appreciation for America’s early history, and it will set the stage well for the time you spend in Colonial Williamsburg.

More articles to help you plan your visit to Virginia’s Historic Triangle

• The best day trips in Virginia
• Key tips for visiting Yorktown, Virginia
• Making the most of your Colonial Williamsburg itinerary
• Great places to eat in Williamsburg
• Essential day trip packing list

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Darcy Vierow is a busy professional and travel planning expert with years of experience maximizing travel with limited time and on a less-than-average salary. Her tips have been published by Forbes, MSN.com, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, Aol, Newsbreak and GOBankingRates. Read more about Darcy Vierow .

10 Comments

Im coming down for the Pow wow during Memorial weekend, and wanted to see Jamestown I only have one day to explore. What should I see and can you see where Pocahontas and John got married if so where would that be located?

Hi, Karen. If you only have one day, you can do the things in this post (Jamestown Settlement and Historic Jamestowne). Pocahontas and John Rolfe were married in Jamestown.

I am planning on visiting this year the triangle. However, I don’t drive and wanted to know is there shuttles that will take people to the different areas? Also, should I get one hotel close to Colonial Williamsburg and then Yorktown and Jamestown?

There is a shuttle that operates within Colonial Williamsburg, but I am unaware of any shuttle that operate between the sites. The Williamsburg Area Transit Authority covers a lot of the area, but it’s not a direct shuttle service between sites. Have you checked to see whether Uber or Lyft operate around there? As far as hotels, we tend to prefer staying in one place rather than changing hotels, especially for visiting sites just a few miles apart. You’ll find a lot more hotel options close to Colonial Williamsburg.

We are planning a trip for the week after Christmas 2021. Will this be a good time to visit?

Hey, Glenda. That’s a great question. I’ve never been the week after Christmas but I have been there just before Christmas and it was a nice time to visit for the most part because it was not crowded and Jamestown Settlement had some Christmas programs going on. It was on the cold side so that’s something to consider. Also at Historic Jamestowne there was no activity at the archeological digs since it was so close to Christmas; however, that doesn’t mean they won’t be active the week after Christmas this year.

We have just came back from our 2nd vist to Jamestown. I would highly recommend going just to Historic Jamestown, the other is somewhat run down and a waste of time.

Thanks for your comment. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy your experience at Jamestown Settlement. Our experience there was excellent and we recommend it without reservation.

I regret not going to Jamestown when I lived in DC. It would have been such an easy weekend trip. This post makes me want to go and visit.

I hope you can one day. My husband and I really thought it was a great day. Thanks for reading!

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A visit to Jamestown offers two compelling ways to go back in time. Historic Jamestowne is the original site of the first permanent English settlement in America. Walk in the footsteps of Pocahontas and John Smith, witness ongoing archaeological digs and discoveries, and explore engaging exhibits and galleries. Then, discover the world-class living history museum of Jamestown Settlement featuring a recreated village, immersive galleries, and life-size replicas of the three original ships that brought the first settlers to Virginia.

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