Colony secretary William Strachey had written that “ a pretty chapel” stood “ in the middest” of the fort, so it seemed likely that a later church would have been built near the site of the first one, by the rationale “once sacred ground, always sacred ground.” He had a theory that the standing 17th-century brick church tower had been built near the center of the original fort. He heard about the lost fort and the 20 acres of the island eroded by the river current, but Kelso was skeptical. William Kelso visited Jamestown in 1963 while a graduate student at the College of William and Mary in nearby Williamsburg.
An abbreviated archaeological excavation by the National Park Service (NPS) unearthed no apparent evidence of the fort.ĭr. Erosion on the western shore was so bad that a concrete seawall was built in 1900, and that fed the “lost fort” story. The “lost fort” story pointed to a lone cypress tree 100 yards off the western shore of Jamestown Island as the marker of where, according to settler George Percy, the first ships moored to the trees. The Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project has been bringing to vivid life the stories of early James Fort since 1994.Īs early as 1837, eyewitness accounts claimed that the fort built in 1607 by Captain John Smith and the first English settlers was submerged in the James River.
The award-winning Archaearium museum houses over 2000 artifacts that bring James Fort’s story to life.Įxplore selected artifacts from Jamestown Rediscovery's collection.įollow the growth of England’s first permanent colony in North America and learn about life in James Fort.įind your connection to the Jamestown story.īring Jamestown to the classroom through our lesson plans and virtual school programs.ĭownload kid-friendly activities and learn more about family fun on the island.Įxplore online resources to learn more about the archaeology and history of Jamestown. Archives cover years of archaeology at James Fort.Ĭlick each James Fort feature to learn more about what archaeologists have learned in 20 years of work. Explore Jamestown Rediscovery’s exciting finds in monthly archaeological updates.
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