Jamestown Celebration

words by > Lee Gimpel

It’s not every day that one gets the chance to celebrate a quadricentennial—2007 marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of the English colony of Jamestown. Arguably the genesis of the United States, the crew aboard the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery arrived on the Virginian shores of the New World on May 14, 1607, more than 13 years before the Pilgrims disembarked a few hundred miles further north at Plymouth Rock. The date is important enough for Queen Elizabeth II to make a trip across the pond to mark the occasion. Of course, her journey from London will be a good deal easier than the original voyage by Captain Smith and those first settlers, which took five months.

The official anniversary will be celebrated May 11-13. Blending the new and the very old, the three days—billed as America’s Anniversary Weekend—are designed with the whole family in mind. Visitors will be able to watch colonial military drills on the parade ground and take in the live entertainment on five performance stages. An artisans’ village will give a back-in-time look at traditional crafts such as pottery making and blacksmithing, and cultural demonstrations will highlight

Blending the new and the very old, the three days—billed as America’s Anniversary Weekend— are designed with the whole family in mind.

Yorktown

The English got their New World start at Jamestown. Interestingly, it was nearly from the exact point on Virginia’s east coast 174 years later that George Washington defeated Charles Lord Cornwallis to seal the deal of America’s independence from England. Th e battlefield where the two marquee generals of the war clashed is still mostly rolling fields—although it used to be a golf course before it was re-preserved. Take a tour to get a feel for what the scene would have been 225 years ago. At the Yorktown Victory Center, watch a cannon demonstration to get a sense of the sound and fury that they all endured in October of 1781. www.nps.gov/york

Williamsburg

If Jamestown is where America began, Williamsburg is where preserving American history in grand style got its start. For centuries, Americans didn’t seem to care much about old buildings. But in 1926, John
D. Rockefeller, Jr. bought into the idea that saving America’s heritage was a priority, and Colonial Williamsburg was born. Horses clip-clop down the street, meals at establishments like King’s Arms Tavern and Chowning’s Tavern are familiar and, of course, the storefronts for the cooper and the silversmith look much as they did in the 18th century.
www.history.org

European, Native American and African contributions to Jamestown’s history. Capping off the weekend on May 13 will be fireworks and music courtesy of a symbolic 1607-member choir and 400-piece orchestra.

If you won’t be around for the official anniversary weekend, you can still mark Jamestown’s milestone by visiting the rest of the site’s attractions, which are open year-round. Historic Jamestowne is the original site of the English colony on Jamestown Island. It was assumed that much of the original settlement had been washed away, claimed by the James River, but recent discoveries have uncovered some of the earliest and most important structures. Standing on Jamestown Island, you can see history come to light as archeologists work to reveal the whole of the triangular fort that’s been buried for generations. Hundreds of new archeological finds—from weapons and medical instruments to ceramics and household objects—that have come from various digs over the past decade at the James Fort are housed at the new Archaearium, near the excavations. The Archaearium also provides exhibits that will appeal to “CSI” fans, as the curators endeavor to recount the life and death tales from Jamestown using the forensic evidence they’ve gathered at the site.

Visitors can see the traces of Jamestown’s capitalistic motivations just down the beach from the fort. Sit in on a red-hot demonstration at a recreation of what might have been America’s first factory: a glassblowing furnace. Around the corner from the ruins, colonial life during the 1600s is portrayed through film, gallery exhibits and living history at Jamestown Settlement. Organizers of the 400th promise a commemoration that is multicultural and acknowledges that it was a confluence—and not always a happy one—of people and experiences that made Jamestown what it was. Get a sense of perspective at the Settlement area where you can climb aboard replicas of the sailing ships where 108 people coexisted in cramped quarters for nearly half a year. For the 400th, Jamestown has added two new replicas, the Godspeed and Discovery, which join the older Susan Constant. At the Powhatan village area, you can also try to hollow out your own canoe and watch leather being tanned. While browsing the grounds, which include a mock-up of the English fort and its interior buildings, don’t be too alarmed if you feel like you’re under attack: the sound of musket shots marks the regular firearms demonstrations.

The museum side of Jamestown is new, with 30,000 square feet of gallery space now showing the special “World of 1607” exhibit. To put Jamestown in the larger picture of the 1600s, curators have scoured Jamestown’s collections and borrowed from museums in more than 10 countries.

This May and throughout 2007, there’s a little something for everyone at Jamestown’s celebration—a commemoration that’s been a long time coming. (www.americas400thanniversary.com)

Other Jamestown 400 Events

A SLAVE SHIP SPEAKS: THE WRECK OF THE HENRIETTA MARIE
Presented in conjunction with the Jamestown celebrations, the exhibit, which features artifacts from a 1699 slave ship, calls attention to the fact that the first slaves in the United States lived at the Jamestown colony. Th e Henrietta Marie is believed to be the world’s largest source of tangible objects from the early years of the slave trade. Th e exhibit is open through May 18 at the University of Richmond’s Joel and Lila Harnet Museum of Art. http://museums.richmond.edu

ON-FILM FESTIVAL COLONIAL ENCOUNTERS: JAMESTOWN AND BEYOND
In Norfolk, VA, from March 18-24, Old Dominion University’s festival will examine the cinema’s take on colonialism both from the point of view of the colonizer as well as from the colonized, in films by Senegal’s Ousmane Sambene and Haiti’s Raoul Peck. Th e Belgian/Quebecois film Congorama will be introduced by the filmmakers, and Oscar-winning screenwriter John Briley (Ghandi, Christopher Columbus) will speak, along with other film experts. http://al.odu.edu

AMERICAN INDIAN INTERTRIBAL CULTURAL FESTIVAL
This event—at the Hampton Coliseum, in Hampton, VA on the weekend of July 21—will showcase the various cultures of the continent’s native peoples. Several of the exhibits will give visitors a chance to learn about diff erent tribes. Comparing and contrasting cultures, the weekend will include dancing, traditional stories, arts and craft s, cultural demonstrations, historical information and lots of great food. www.hamptoncoliseum.org

SAIL VIRGINIA 2007
To commemorate Jamestown’s founding, Norfolk is adding a tall ships parade to its annual Harborfest celebration. Sailing ships representing the original 13 colonies will participate along with a fleet of vessels from more than a dozen countries, from June 7-12. Ships will be open for public visits and on-shore festivities will include exhibits dating to the 1600s. Military parades and ceremonies, historical re-enactments, music and theatre are all planned to capture the spirit of the times. www.festevents.org