Jamestown prepares to celebrate a milestone

JAMESTOWN, Va. -- On May 14, 1607, 13 years before Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts, a flotilla of three small ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, sailed up the James River in what is now Virginia. The 104 men and boys aboard had set sail from England four and a half months earlier on an enterprise sponsored by the Virginia Company of London to find riches in its New World grants.

		Jamestown Historic Site When: Open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except for Christmas and New Year's days, when it is closed. Admission: $10 for visitors 16 and older, no charge for those younger than that. Information: www. historicjamestowne.org or 1-757-229-1733. Jamestown Settlement When: Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except for Christmas and New Year's days, when it is closed. Admission: $13.50 for adults and $6.25 for children 6 through 12. Information: www. historyisfun.org (which includes a full schedule of 2007 activities) or 1-888-593-4682.

Over the next months, the stalwart group erected a three-sided stockade fort on a narrow peninsula some 70 miles upriver from where the wide river flowed into the great Chesapeake Bay.

Though privation and death was suffered, both from starvation and disease compounded by their lack of wilderness experience, dependency on supplies from England and conflicts with Indian population, the James Fort settlement endured for 17 years. But despite their best entrepreneurial efforts, the settlers never succeeded in producing a profit for the Virginia Company, and in 1624 the company folded and the marshy, mosquito-infested site was abandoned, in favor of establishing a town on a more salubrious setting nearby. That subsequent settlement, Jamestown, served as the capital of the Colony of Virginia until 1699, when Williamsburg, 6 miles away, assumed the honor.

Still, James Fort is acknowledged as America's first permanent English settlement, and the exploits of Captain John Smith, Pocahontas and Powhatan have been woven into the tapestry of American history. And rather than discovering gold, the new Virginians did eventually discover the gold of tobacco, which soon served as the basis for wider settlements throughout the area.

As the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown Settlement, the year 2007 is filled with a range of activities, the focus of which will be a three-day festival on May 11-13, at which the list of attending dignitaries may include Queen Elizabeth II. After all, quadracentennial celebrations are still exceedingly rare on this side of the Atlantic.

But as I discovered during a brief visit on Dec. 20 (coincidentally the same day the voyagers had set out from England 400 years earlier), there's no need to wait until May to go. The anniversary celebrations have already resulted in several dramatic enhancements to the Jamestown experience that make a visit far more rewarding for first-timers and a pleasant surprise for anyone who hasn't been there in recent months.

A bit of background. Since the 350th anniversary in 1957, the site where James Fort stood has been designated as Historic Jamestowne, a commemorative facility administered by the National Park Service. The old fort disappeared long ago, but the grounds of the narrow peninsula included archaeological excavations of its foundations and buildings. There is a 17th-century church tower, a stone obelisk dedicated to the original settlers and a reconstruction of a 1608 glass-making operation, which serves as an operating concern and visitor attraction. Getting a sense of the site's history required some foreknowledge and considerable imagination on the part of the visitor.

However, a new Visitor Center and an Archaearium have opened within the past year, showcasing hundreds of the artifacts and other findings that have been discovered during on-going explorations of the site. Both facilities make it much easier to appreciate the significance of Fort James.

Even more impressive is Jamestown Settlement located nearby, with its new interpretive center and museum opened within the past two months. The wonderful museum is owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia and administered by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, which is promoting the area's historical triangle in association with the Williamsburg Foundation.

The museum's three large galleries are packed with historic artifacts, innovative displays and full-sensory presentations that constitute state-of-the-art historical interpretation, chronicling and re-creating life in 17th-century Virginia. In addition to telling the story of the English settlers, the museum's exhibits also sensitively consider the two other cultures that were involved in the saga: Native Americans and slaves transported from Angola to work in the tobacco fields. A compelling new docudrama produced for the museum, "1607: A Nation Takes Root," provides a dramatic overview of colony's first two decades and the cultures that converged there.

In addition to the indoor displays, Jamestown Settlement also includes full-scale, working replicas of the three vessels that brought the English to Virginia. The "Godspeed" made headlines on its voyage up the East Coast last summer. All three ships are open for visitors to explore, and first-rate mates brimming with knowledge about the craft and the voyages are ready to answer any question.

Another area of Jamestown Settlement offers full-scale re-creations of James Fort and a Powhatan Indian village, both hosted by costumed interpreters who bring various aspects of pre-colonial history to life.

Visited together in a day, Jamestown Settlement and Jamestowne Historic Site provide a comprehensive, interactive insight into the people and events that wrote this important early chapter in American history. When combined with other day visits to nearby Willamsburg and the Yorktown Battle site, it neatly encapsulates America's first two centuries. One recommendation: seeing the Settlement first will help provide appreciation for the historic site itself.