Jamestown

After Daddy cooked a fabulous pancake breakfast, we had to wait until the office opened at 10 to register (we got in too late last night). Then we drove down to Jamestown on the James River. The Vistors Center had all 50 state flags out front and the girls were excited to see the familiar California flag.

We walked through the museum galleries and learned more about English colonies and about Pocahontas. We also learned about the African slave trade. The real fun was outdoors in the Living History areas. We explored the Powhattan indian village and got to walk through their huts and touch just about everything, from cooking implements to beds, fishing equipment, and animal skins. The girls took turns grinding corn into meal, and helping to scrape the fur off an animal skin in preparation to make clothes.

Then we went down to the dock to walk through replica English ships, just like the ones that brought the colonists. The colonists were brought as "cargo" and therefore where not allowed on deck, much. They were crammed into the cargo hold most of the time, during the 4 month trip across the Atlantic. Even the captain's "spacious" cabin was cramped.

The girls got to take a turn making a canoe, the powhattan way that the colonists had to learn (the little boats that came with the ship soon returned with the ship back to England. They felled a tree and burned one side flat. Then they turned it over and, using mud on the rims to keep the fire on the inside, burn out the center. After burning it for a while, they used oyster shells to scrape out the charred wood.

Then we went into the Jamestown Fort. We got to try on armour and help with the laundry. Doing laundry meant boiling the clothes with lye soap and rubbing them on a rock to get stains out. We climbed up into the pulpit in the church, and Kristian did a great Kuiper impression. We had trouble getting Kristian out of the armory where all the weapons were stored. We got to see a musket demostration; it was very exciting and loud!

We had lunch in the cafe in the vistor's center and then headed off to Yorktown!

After Daddy cooked a fabulous pancake breakfast, we had to wait until the office opened at 10 to register (we got in too late last night). Then we drove down to Jamestown on the James River. The Vistors Center had all 50 state flags out front and the girls were excited to see the familiar California flag.

We walked through the museum galleries and learned more about English colonies and about Pocahontas. We also learned about the African slave trade. The real fun was outdoors in the Living History areas. We explored the Powhattan indian village and got to walk through their huts and touch just about everything, from cooking implements to beds, fishing equipment, and animal skins. The girls took turns grinding corn into meal, and helping to scrape the fur off an animal skin in preparation to make clothes.

Then we went down to the dock to walk through replica English ships, just like the ones that brought the colonists. The colonists were brought as "cargo" and therefore where not allowed on deck, much. They were crammed into the cargo hold most of the time, during the 4 month trip across the Atlantic. Even the captain's "spacious" cabin was cramped.

The girls got to take a turn making a canoe, the powhattan way that the colonists had to learn (the little boats that came with the ship soon returned with the ship back to England. They felled a tree and burned one side flat. Then they turned it over and, using mud on the rims to keep the fire on the inside, burn out the center. After burning it for a while, they used oyster shells to scrape out the charred wood.

Then we went into the Jamestown Fort. We got to try on armour and help with the laundry. Doing laundry meant boiling the clothes with lye soap and rubbing them on a rock to get stains out. We climbed up into the pulpit in the church, and Kristian did a great Kuiper impression. We had trouble getting Kristian out of the armory where all the weapons were stored. We got to see a musket demostration; it was very exciting and loud!

We had lunch in the cafe in the vistor's center and then headed off to Yorktown!

After Daddy cooked a fabulous pancake breakfast, we had to wait until the office opened at 10 to register (we got in too late last night). Then we drove down to Jamestown on the James River. The Vistors Center had all 50 state flags out front and the girls were excited to see the familiar California flag.