Description

Who’s got history? At Historic Jamestowne, the first permanent English settlement in America, we do. During the last 25+ years of active archaeology here, more than 3 million artifacts have been found, cluing us into the lives of the first settlers of Jamestown as well as the Native Americans that they interacted with here.

Did you know?

– The first representative assembly in English North America convened in the Jamestown church on July 30, 1619. The General Assembly met in response to orders from the Virginia Company “to establish one equal and uniform government over all Virginia” and provide “just laws for the happy guiding and governing of the people there inhabiting.” A few weeks later came the first arrival of Africans to Jamestown, marking the beginning of de facto slavery in the colony.

– In 1676 a rebellion in the colony led by Nathaniel Bacon sacked and burned much of the capital town. 

– In 1861 the island was occupied by Confederate soldiers who built an earthen fort near the 17th-century brick church tower as part of the defense system to block any Union advance up the James River. There was no battle at “Fort Pocahontas,” but after Confederate forces abandoned it in 1862, Union troops and freed slaves occupied the island the rest of the war.

Learn more about the historical events that took place at Jamestown here.

Explore some of the artifacts our archaeologists have recovered here.

Front Design: “got history?”

Back Design: “we do.” Historic Jamestowne logo

Material: 100% cotton