Jamestown

Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America. It was colonized May 13, 1607, by a party which included Gosnold and John Smith. The location chosen was a peninsula on the river James, about thirty-two miles above its mouth. The town passed through the vicissitudes of famine, fire, and Indian massacre, but was never abandoned wholly. During early colonial days Jamestown was not only the capital of Virginia, but a center of fashion and gaiety. In 1698 the capital was removed to Williamsburg. The site of Jamestown was not happily chosen. It was low and malarious. The neck of the peninsula, always under water in time of flood, has been washed wholly away, converting the old site into an island. The water frontage has been undermined by the current. The spot where the old historic cabins stood has gone down stream, but the ivy-mantled tower of an old brick church and several tombstones still stand. With assistance from the general government, an association for the preservation of Virginian antiquities has purchased the spot and has built a retaining wall to prevent the further encroachment of the waves. See Virginia