Jamestown Settlement (Williamsburg, VA)

There are two Jamestowns, which is a little confusing: Historic Jamestowne, the site of the original fort, where archaeological excavation is happening, and the nearby Jamestown Settlement, a recreated version of the 17th century site of the first permanent English colony in America. While down the street is colonial Williamsburg, the revolutionary city, the action of Jamestown is set almost two centuries before, in 1607, the year the colonists arrived on the shores of the James River.

The first part of the settlement is the museum. I was worried the museum wouldn't hold the attention of young ones, but it surprisingly did. They liked the recreations of the Elizabethan English town, the dioramas depicting Powhatan and African villages as they looked before white settlers/slavers came to them. They especially were drawn to the full size recreations of a Native American hut, a slave quarters, and a traditional colonist's home that they could walk through. It helps that a lot of the museum's exhibits are touchable and interactive. They could pet the furs, open and shut the under the floor storage compartments, and sit by the flickering fires in the hearth.

(I was also worried that the museum would focus more on the plight of the colonists and not the Native and African populations that also were affected by colonization. But I shouldn't have. The presentation is one of the most balanced and honest I have seen and is presented in a way that honors each culture while showing how it was affected when it came in contact with the white settlers. I especially recommend stopping and watching the video interpreters talking about how their lives changed when the settlers came.

Outside the museum, we walked the short way to the recreated Powhatan town. There, the kids ran in and out of the dwellings and ground corn, played games, and talked to the re-enactors who were weaving baskets, gardening, and building canoes. Everyone was super knowledgeable there and inside the recreated fort itself, our next stop. Have you ever tried on armor? Or played ten-pins? Or looked over a 17th century doctors tools? You can at the fort.