Day 58, March 24, Jamestowne National Historic Site

To say it rained today would be a distortion of truth.  It actually poured to the extent that on our way to historic Jamestowne, the warning system on the radio station issued a flood alert for our very area.  When windshield wipers can't sweep fast enough for safe travel, it's a gusher.  But what is a little bit of rain to us web-footed Oregonians, we said as we donned raincoats and umbrellas.  Besides, we haven't time nor inclination to cancel plans because of rain, and as it turned out there weren't many crowds to fight, so off we trundled...or rather sloshed.

Jamestowne Settlement is a privately owned and brilliantly run site about one mile from where the first American colony at Jamestowne was actually established.  From its award acclaimed documentary films to its captivating indoor exhibits to its recreated Indian village, colonial fort and ships, this was one fascinating visitors site.  We could have spent several more hours inside drinking in the voluminous amounts of engaging information beautifully, colorfully, artistically and brilliantly displayed, but with only one day to spend here, we had to keep moving. 

Outside exhibits included a replica of an Indian village complete with straw living quarters furnished with skins and food stuffs and blankets where docents in period costume engaged in sharing their wealth of information about the people who lived here in 1607 when the first group of English merchant seaman landed on Jamestowne Island with the intent of establishing a permanent settlement.  It was completely intriguing to be inside their rain-proof thatched huts, sitting on furs around a fire, and asking questions of these ancestors of the indians who lived here 400 years ago. 

Venturing on, we boarded replicas of the three ships which carried the 104 men on that voyage in 1607.  We went down into the ships bowels and sat where the men would have slept and strolled through the cooks cabin, the officers cabins, the cargo holds, and the decks asking questions of docents who truly knew of what they spoke.  Continuing along found us at a replica of the first fort built here in 1607 completely fashioned of wood with thatched roofs and including a working blacksmith shop and furnace, period furniture and armament, a church, storerooms, defensive positions, cannons and guns, and living/sleeping quarters.  It is difficult to express how much we learned, how astute the many docents were, and how remarkable it was to walk through and experience actual outfitted structures rather than just walking amongst ruins.  Has been a completely fascinating and wildly educational day.  

We saved some time to drive along the Colonial Parkway to the National Park site where the actual fort was initially constructed, a site called Historic Jamestowne.  This site was much different from the Settlement site in that it is an active archeological dig, so structures have not been rebuilt.  Here we walked along the James River and toured the old fort site complete with wells, digs, foundations, footings, and multiple burial sites.  We also visited the Memorial Church, rebuilt in 1899 over the site of the original church.  Finally, we explored the Archaearium Museum complete with actual relics unearthed here including two excavated skeletons.  I found this particularly intriguing, especially the detailed explanation of how archaeologists have been able to identify sex, age, culture, and cause of death.  Pictures were not allowed of these unbelievably intact skeletons; sorry I cannot include them. 

I have looked very forward to experiencing Jamestowne, and I was not disappointed.  Just the opposite; whatever I had been anticipating fell remarkably short of what we experienced today.  

Three amazing things:  1- Nautical speed is designated in "knots".  On board the ship Susan Constant we encountered a docent who explained navigational capabilities of seaman in 1607.  Unable to calculate longitude, they instead calculated latitude, speed, and distance using sun, stars, a compass, complicated math, and a rope which was drug behind the boat.  Tying a knot in the rope at equal distances and then applying math, they were able to calculate their speed.  Hence, nautical speed is measured in "knots" to this day.    2- When I asked about the management of personal toileting, I was informed that not only were chamber pots used regularly, but at the front of the ship was a length of wood extending beyond the ships deck onto which men ventured and then squatted to relieve themselves.  When you needed a restroom, you went to the "head" of the ship.  Today, we've shortened that to simply "the head."  3- Poor grunts like you and me slept on rags on the floor.  Officers and wealthy immigrants had actual bedsteads to sleep on.  Their feather mattresses were set on top of ropes tied along the four sides of the bed.  With time and use these ropes tended to sag and so were periodically tightened up by rolling the rope along what looks like a rolling pin.  Thus the phrase "sleep tight" came from a freshly rolled and thereby newly tightened mattress.  

Good deeds:  Though I searched all day for a good deed to perform, not only were we without a great deal of people around because of the foul weather, but I also passed a chance to pay museum admission for the single guy behind me in line because it just became awkward and I didn't want to embarrass anyone.  Instead we'll have to content ourselves with this:  many of the delightfully knowledgeable docents just loved to share their wealth of knowledge with anybody willing to listen.  At times, however, people wanted/needed to move on and were not always polite about extricating themselves in a thoughtful manner from these animated hosts.  More than once I hung around long after others had departed just so as to allow these energetic guides to discharge the information they so earnestly wanted their visitors to know.  I further engaged them by dreaming up all sorts of questions for the more eager of them.  I know it's not much, but it'll have to do for today.