Jamestown

3. James Fort

Williamsburg, VA

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The early years at the Jamestown settlement were harsh and deadly. Although a trading relationship was quickly established between the settlers and native people, the relationship was tense and misunderstandings often led to violence. Many of the English colonists were gentlemen who were unaccustomed to physical labor, so there were not enough laborers or farmers to do all the work that needed to be done. The water at Jamestown was brackish, colonists did not have enough food, and insects carried deadly diseases such as malaria. In the winter of 1609 so many died of starvation, disease and Indian attacks that the period came to be known as the "Starving Time." In the spring of 1610, the few surviving colonists were preparing to abandon the settlement when new settlers and a new governor arrived in Jamestown, bringing much needed supplies and ensuring the colony's survival. The new governor, Lord De La Warr, established martial law to enforce discipline among the colonists in an attempt to lessen tensions between the settlers and natives. The recreated fort shows the fort's military and commercial character during 1610-1614. Inside the fort, a storehouse, guardhouse, governor's house, barracks, cape merchant's office, an Anglican church and individual dwellings represent how the early colonists lived. Outdoors, historical interpreters prepare meals, cultivate tobacco and food, and demonstrate seventeenth-century blacksmithing techniques. They also present daily demonstrations on how matchlock muskets were fired.