Jamestown Through Jaela's Eyes

Powhatan Indian Village:

Ships at anchor:

Riverfront Discovery Area:

James Fort:

(The musket firing demonstration...he fired, she jumped!)

(Self-portrait in the bathroom on the way to the van)

Jamestown Through Macey's Eyes

Powhatan Indian Village:

Ships at anchor:

Riverfront Discovery Area:

James Fort:

(The musket firing demonstration...she jumped as she took the picture!)

Jamestown...Just the Facts

Jamestown was very hands-on, and fun for everyone. There was a museum inside (no pictures allowed), and outside there were four places to visit and experience: Powhatan Indian Village, three replica ships at anchor, a Riverfront Discovery Area, and James Fort.

Powhatan Indian Village was set up with different sized homes, complete with beds, fire pits, and feathers, arrows, and animal pelts of all kinds hanging on the walls. There were places for the kids to grind corn like an Indian would have, and they were free to try out the beds, touch the pelts, handle the (unsharpened) arrows, and explore every nook and cranny.

Inside the village there were deerskins stretched out for the kids to scrape with oyster shells, and along the walkway nearby, they had an example of a hunter's camp set up, along with a garden area.

Due to the flooding from the Nor'easter, we couldn't explore the ships. So we took pictures as we walked past them, and headed to the Riverfront Discovery Area where they had examples of Indian canoes in different stages of completion. After we had examined a water-filled finished example, the kids got to grab oyster shells and assist in scraping out a canoe-in-progress.

The fort was just as hands-on as the Indian village had been. There were armor and helmets to try on, character actors to talk to, cannons to check out, a musket-firing demonstration, a storehouse, church, homes, and gardens to explore, and an armory full of swords, spears, pistols and muskets. We spent most of our time at the armory, where the man in charge was very patient with the kids' questions and requests, and was very knowledgeable about 17th century soldiery. He even had the entire first two paragraphs of the "Instructions of the Marchall for the better enabling of a privat soldier" memorized, in 1611 Old English!

That concludes the summary of our trip to Jamestown; where we went, what we saw, and what we did. In other words, just the facts. Coming soon will be two separate pictorial blog posts entitled:

Jamestown Through Macey's Eyes

Jamestown Through Jaela's Eyes

Our Virginia Trip

The kids and I drove up to Betsey's house in Lynchburg, VA last Monday to begin our big adventure. The adventure we had planned was exciting all by itself: drive 9 hours from our house in TN to the Caballero house in VA on Monday, go to Colonial Williamsburg on Wednesday, stay in a cabin at Fort Story, VA on Thursday and explore lighthouses and the Atlantic coast, visit Jamestown on Friday, and drive back to TN on Sunday.

The drive from Tennessee to Virginia on Monday was beautiful and uneventful. We spent Tuesday relaxing and finishing up last minute errands for our trip to east Virginia. Tuesday afternoon, it started to rain. It rained all night.

Wednesday we drove to Colonial Williamsburg, ignoring the facts that the rain was not letting up, and that the closer we got to Williamsburg, the windier it got. We bundled up in our coats and umbrellas, and went exploring. We practically had the place to ourselves. :)

We explored the gardens of the Governor's Palace,

and the kids had a blast running around through the maze.

By the time we reached the blacksmith's shop, Isaak was soaked to the waist from splashing in puddles, and the girls and Betsey's boys were only slightly more dry.

The blacksmith's fire was nice and warm, and when we reluctantly left it, we caught a shuttle bus to the parking lot and went back to our van to change into dry clothes and head to the cabin at Ft. Story.

Experiencing our first Nor'easter was NOT in the plan, but it happened anyway. Thursday was nasty. If you like storms though, like I do, it was beautiful. We ventured out once to go get food, and since we had come to see the Atlantic, we stopped to see the Atlantic.

We didn't get out of the van.

We also didn't go explore any lighthouses or beaches. Instead, we stayed in the cabin and stayed dry and warm. The kids played, watched a movie, and colored all day.

Early Friday morning, after the winds and rain had died down, we left Ft. Story and went to Jamestown. Once again, we had the place practically to ourselves, but unlike our trip to Colonial Williamsburg, there was no wind, and only a few sprinkles now and then.

Saturday was spent unwinding and running errands again, and Sunday morning found us making the 9.25 hour trip home to TN.

Looking back, the entire trip was insane! Would I do it again? Yes, but give me a week or so to recover first. :)