In Podcast #9 the Virginia Trekkers take you to Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America.  Explore a Powhatan Indian village, and see how they used to live before the Europeans arrived.  Take a tour of the Susan Constant, and find out how difficult it was to journey across the Atlantic Ocean in 1607.  Travel through the Jamestown fort with us as we explore the church, the storage areas, and a settler’s home.  We’ll also try on some armor and watch how they fired their muskets. Come on!  Let’s go trekkin’! (Trouble viewing the YouTube video? Try Vimeo or direct link). If you hear dramatic music, it’s from our Activity below. Scroll down and push the button on the Activity to stop the music.

The Jamestown settlers were a hard-working bunch.  In just 19 days in the summer of 1607 they chopped down over 600 trees weighing between 400 and 800 pounds each to build the walls of the Jamestown fort.  In 2004 a movie production crew built a replica of the Jamestown fort using chain saws and power tools and it took them about the same amount of time! (Source) The women and babies were very hardy too.  During the Starving Time of 1609-1610, when the settlers were so hungry they were eating their horses, dogs, cats, rats, and even their own shoes, one of the first women to arrive, Anne Burras, gave birth to a daughter and named her Virginia.  Both of them survived that terrible time! (AI-generated image using Pixlr and the prompt: "17th century English men chopping down trees.")


Here is a Google map of Jamestown.  Use the +/- button in the bottom right to zoom in or out.

If you zoom in close and look carefully, you can even see the ships in the dock!



This is a 360 view of the reconstructed Jamestown settlement. Take a look around.

What is similar to and what is different from the Powhatan village below?



This is a 360 view of the reconstructed Powhatan village. Take a look around.

What is similar to and what is different from the Jamestown settlement?



This is a 360 view of the three ships. Take a look around.

What would it have been like for the settlers to live on this ship for four months?



This is an old Flash activity about the early explorers from Europe. We got it to work using Ruffle!


Social Studies

K.4 (2023) The student will apply history and social science skills to recognize Virginia’s earliest communities by

a. identifying examples of historical events, stories, and legends;

b. identifying early communities, changemakers and contributions of leaders, including but not limited to Indigenous tribes, farmers, traders, early settlers minorities, women, and

children;

c. recognizing that places change over time; and


1.2 (2015) The student will demonstrate knowledge of Virginia history by describing important events and people in the history of the Commonwealth, including

a) the settlement of Virginia at Jamestown;


1.4 (2023) The student will apply history and social science skills to understand Virginia’s history by

a. identifying and describing important events and locations throughout the early history of the Commonwealth, including but not limited to Werowocomoco and the first English colony in North America at Jamestown; and

b. describing how life in various Virginia communities has changed over time;


1.7 (2023) The student will apply history and social science skills to connect geography to historical events of Virginia and the United States by

a. identifying landforms and bodies of water of Virginia and describing how they affect the way people live;

c. locating the site of the Jamestown colony; and


2.3 (2015) The student will compare the lives and contributions of three American Indian cultures of the past and present, with emphasis on

a) the Powhatan of the Eastern Woodlands;


2.7 (2015) The student will locate and describe the relationship between the environment and culture of

a) the Powhatan of the Eastern Woodlands;


2.5 (2023) The student will use history and social science skills to identify the geographic location, use of resources, and identify the contributions of Indigenous peoples past and present including

a. Indigenous Nations and Tribes of the Eastern Woodlands;


VS.2 (2015) The student will demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between physical geography and the lives of the native peoples, past and present, of Virginia by

c) locating and identifying water features important to the early history of Virginia (Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay, James River, York River, Potomac River, Rappahannock River, and Lake Drummond and the Dismal Swamp);

e) describing how American Indians related to the climate and their environment to secure food, clothing, and shelter;


VS.3 (2015) The student will demonstrate an understanding of the first permanent English settlement in America by

a) explaining the reasons for English colonization;

b) describing the economic and geographic influences on the decision to settle at Jamestown;

f) describing the hardships faced by settlers at Jamestown and the changes that took place to ensure survival; and

g) describing the interactions between the English settlers and the native peoples, including the role of the Powhatan in the survival of the settlers.


VS.2 (2023) The student will apply history and social science skills to describe the Indigenous Peoples’ nations of Virginia past and present by

b. describing Virginia’s three most prominent Indigenous language groups (the Algonquian, the Siouan, and the Iroquoian);

d. describing the relationships and interactions of the Indigenous Peoples in Virginia, circa 1600 and their environment;


VS.3 (2023) The student will apply history and social science skills to explain the causes and effects of events associated with the first permanent English settlement in North America by

a. explaining the reasons for English colonization;

b. describing the economic and geographic influences on the decision to settle at Jamestown;

d. describing the interactions between the English colonists and the Indigenous Peoples, including the role of the Powhatan in the survival of the colonists;

e. describing the hardships faced by settlers at Jamestown and the changes that took place to ensure survival, including but not limited to trade with the Powhatan, the leadership of Captain John Smith, land ownership, and the successful commercial cultivation of tobacco;


USI.3 (2023) The student will apply history and social science skills to explain European exploration and colonization in North America by

b. describing cultural and economic interactions between Indigenous peoples and Europeans that led to cooperation and conflict