The summer of 2003 my family and I went on vacation to visit Williamsburg, at least
that was the plan. Now myself, I'm the kind of person who packs two weeks ahead
of time, so of course I went online to see what I could find out about Williamsburg,
Jamestown and Yorktown. I couldn't seem to find very much, from a tourists
point of view, so I went to my back up source, the AAA Auto Club. I picked
up a book for Virginia, found the section covering the three towns and started
to read. The more I read, the more I discovered how little I knew and the more
I wanted to know. Now, we've all had vacations and trips that were disappointing. Our expectations were high and the reality failed miserably. This was not the case with this trip. My expectations came no-where near the beauty and wonder of the reality. I thought I knew what to expect - how wrong I was! I hope that people seeing these pages will go out of their way to visit these wonderful historical sites, you won't be disappointed. I would suggest one thing above all else, give yourself plenty of time. A week would be good, you might get to see it all. So far we've split our trip up into two different visits, if you don't count the time I took for pictures, it would have taken us three days so far. We have another visit planned soon for the rest of Yorktown, the Yorktown Victory Center and Williamsburg, we figure at least three more days maybe four. That's without visiting the beautiful plantation houses in the area, I can't even guess how long that would take, because there are a lot. I really hope that these pages help someone in their research and you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the visit. As I mentioned, we haven't finished our "vacation" so the pages here are not complete, we still have Yorktown, Yorktown Victory Center and Williamsburg to visit. I want to thank all the National Park personnel, the members of the Living History Museum as well as the other folks at the other places we visited, everyone was wonderful, helpful and very nice! :) |
The Road To Jamestown... |
Great Oaks These oaks were sprouting acorns about 1750 and were growing toward fair size during the time of Washington, Jefferson, Wythe and Marshall. |
They are white oaks (Quercus alba) with a height near 90 feet and a spread together
of some 150 feet. |
The Palisades For protection against the Indians, the settlers built log palisades across the narrows of the peninsula between the York and James rivers. This was about 1633. Middle Plantation (later Williamsburg) began as a settlement along this palisade which had its southern anchor where Paper Mills and College creeks join a half mile downstream. |
Great Neck When Richard Brewster, gentleman, patented some 500 acres in this area on February 6, 1637 it was described as "the great Neck alias the barren neck." Cleared land then, the forest has since grown back. |
Down the Colonial Highway.... |
Mill Dam The mound of earth in front of you was probably part of the dam for William Park's paper mill. His mill was the first in Virgnia for making paper and operated six years or more beginning in 1744. Parks established the first permanent press in Virginia at Williamsburg. His paper mill supplied other printers, too, including Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia. |
College Creek On May 12, 1607 the colonists who were the next day to establish Jamestown, landed at the mouth of this creek. Captain Gabriel Archer, one of the councilers, liked the spot and would have settled here but was outvoted. For more than a century the creek was known as Archer's Hope and later was named for the College of William and Mary. |
Attempted Settlement A small group of Spanish Jesuits attempted a settlement in Virginia in September, 1570. They are said to have entered James River and landed along this creek and crossed the peninsula to establish a mission new York River. Six months later all were massacred by the Indians save for one young boy. He was rescued by a relief expedition in 1572. |
James River Indians knew this as the Powhatan River, the colonists renamed it in honor of their sovereign, Jame I. It is one of Virginia's longest and broadest rivers. Rising in the Appalachians it flows eastward, often soil laden, 340 miles to the Chesapeake Bay. Its mouth is the world famous Hampton Roads. |
Archer's Hope The great Indian massacre of March 22, 1622, during which a quarter of the population of Virginia was slain came nearest to Jamestown here in a community known as Archer's Hope. At the house of Ensign William Spence five persons were killed -- John Fowler, William Richmond, Alexander Bale, William Fairfax and "the Tinker." |
A Famous African-American Dream The earliest African-American national radio and television minister and advisor of three American presidents, the Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux purchased the lands around you in 1936. His dream was to establish a farm and a national memorial to the progress of African-Americans in this country. The first African-Americans in British Colonial America landed in Virginia, possibly at Jamestown in 1619. |
Glebe Land After 1619 these 100 acres of land were set aside for the benefit of the Jametown parish church and minister. Richard Buck was the first clergyman to have use of it. Later on Francis Bolton became minister at "James Citty" and he, too, had "leave to make a lease of the Gleabe land neere unto Archer's Hope." |
Jamestown Island The woodland and marsh beyond the water is Jamestown Island, a pear-shape area of some 1,500 acres, being about 2 1/2 miles in length. It is separated from the mainland by Back Creek. In most recent times the wide mouth of this creek, which you see here, has been called the Thorofare. |
Real Estate Early records tell of a land sale in 1636 being these 500 acres with "all howses...gardens, orchards, tenements." The property passed from Thomas Crompe "of the Neck of Land" to Gershon Buck son of the Reverend Richard Buck who ministered for more than a decade at Jamestown. |
Neck of Land - near "James Citty" This area, like a peninsula and bounded on three sides by marsh, is just across Back River from Jamestown Island. In 1625 there were a number of houses and 25 persons were living here. The settlement had close community ties to "James Citty" and sent representatives to the General Assembly there. |
Welcome to... James City County Virginia |
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