Guide to the Area
(Numbers correspond to numbers on the map on [page 43].)
“James Towne” developed on the west end of Jamestown Island. At its maximum extent it lay along the river for approximately three-quarters of a mile. It was a thin strip of a town between the James River and the marsh that came to be called Pitch and Tar Swamp. At first there was only the fort, then an enlarged palisaded area. Gradually the town grew with the building of houses, a church, a market place, shops, storehouses, forts, statehouses, and other public buildings grouped along streets and paths. The entire townsite is an exhibit area. The Visitor Center (1), at its edge, is a short distance from the parking area across a trestle bridge spanning Pitch and Tar Swamp.
In the Visitor Center, sponsored jointly by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and the National Park Service, an orientation program of movies and slides, an information desk, an extensive series of exhibits, and literature and souvenirs are available. The exhibits include many irreplaceable objects, such as earrings of Pocahontas, and many objects recovered from the ground. There are dioramas, a large model of James Fort, illustrated panels, and other displays telling about early Jamestown and explaining the points of interest on the townsite and along the island tour or drive.
“JAMES TOWNE”
JAMESTOWN ISLAND
VIRGINIA
The adjacent townsite is easily reached from the Visitor Center, and a good general view of it may be had from the observation terrace around the Tercentenary Monument (2). This shaft of New Hampshire granite rising 103 feet above its base was erected in 1907 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the settlement.
A footpath leads from the monument terrace to the church area, crossing the trace of the “Greate Road,” which served the town’s residents some 300 years ago. It passes close to the site of a 17th-century brick kiln just inside the entrance to the APVA grounds.
The Church Area (3), the most inspiring spot at Jamestown today, embraces the Old Tower, the Memorial Church, and the Churchyard. The ivy-covered Old Church Tower is the only standing ruin of the 17th-century town. It is believed to have been a part of the first brick church built about 1639. Its 3-foot-thick walls of handmade brick laid in English bond have been standing for more than 300 years. The Memorial Church, directly behind the tower, was erected in 1907 by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America over the foundations of the early brick church. Within the church are memorials and burials, including the “Knight’s” tomb and that of Rev. John Clough.
Of particular note, inside the church, are the exposed cobblestone foundations of an earlier church said to have housed the first representative legislative assembly in America which convened at Jamestown on July 30, 1619. In the Churchyard many dead are buried, and the few gravestones that have survived the wear of time and weather are a witness to the antiquity of the spot. These carry the names of Berkeley, Blair, Harrison, Ludwell, Bevereley, Lee, Sherwood, and others. Even the extent of the burial ground is unknown. It is more extensive than either the iron grill fence or the old wall (built of bricks from the ruins of one of the 17th-century Jamestown churches) suggests.