We are now at the Jamestown original settlement established in 1607. The Fort was immediately built to protect the settlers

Capt John Smith was the man who led the colony when it first landed. He originally was not the first leader however he quickly became the leader as he showed the leadership skills needed to keep the settlers alive. The colony had a rough three years. They landed in the middle of a drought and had to rely on the Powhatan Indians for sustenance. However the Indians grew angry with the settlers and hence the need for the fort. Over 900 original settlers landed here but after three years less than 100 survived as they died mostly of starvation and disease.

 This is the bridge walkway to the island itself. It crosses a swampy area. The island the settlement is on is not very big.

The first thing you encounter is the monument to the settlers and the Virginia Company that established the colony.

 Scattered over the island are the foundations of the colonists homes. There were several of them but it was too hot to stroll through them.

 Here is a shot of the James River from the monument. As you can see it is not a very wide island. It is longer than it is wide.

 One of the churches that was built on the island and this is the entrance. This was built much later as it was not in the fort proper. It sat at one end of the fort

 The church is currently undergoing renovations and no one is allowed inside

 Here is a scale model of the fort as found by archeological findings.  Behind this scale model they are doing a dig on a original site of one of the buildings in the fort.

 Behind Myron is the edge of the fort that borders the James River. This river has played a major role in both the founding of the country as well as the Revolutionary War.

 Here is where Pocahontas married a settler and for a time it made peace for the settlement, but it didn't last. It wasn't that long before they were at battle again. She went to England with her husband and never returned. She died within a few years after going to England.

 This is a reconstruction of one of the buildings in the fort.

 On Saturday we went to Historic Jamestown Museum that a replica of the first settlement in this country. The actual first settlement is across the river which we will visit later.

 Below is a replica of the Susan Constant that made the trip from England in the 1607 bringing settlers here for commercial purposes by the Virgina Company. Several thousand were brought over several years but ultimately the Company failed to become commercially viable. However the seeds of the new country was planted.

 This is the second deck where cargo and slaves were transported. It must be noted that the slaves did not come until much later. Several years after the  settlement was established English raiders raided a Portugese ship that was carrying slaves and they were taken as pirate booty. They were Angolan in origin and were brought to the colony and sold into slavery. This is the first slaves that entered the country.

Here is the replica of the fort that the settlers built to protect themselves from the Indians that eventually became hostile to them.

 They did a armory demonstration where they fired a cannon to demonstrate how it was done. Kind of loud.

 The gals were out shopping again. This was outside the business. Karen thought the covered wagon was cute so guess who had to pose.

We are taking a couple days off to rest as this has tired us out. Next week we will finish the Jamestown actual settlement then take in Yorktown and some battlefields.

 We arrived at our campground, Outdoor World, in Williamsburg VA. Somewhat a disappointment. Horribly crowded and real tight to move around in. It took almost an hour to get parked and we caused a lot of congestion getting settled. It will also be the same challenge getting out of here. Myron and Karen are behind us and are in only one of three spots without cable and the direct tv dish will not pick up because of the trees. We also have no tv but we can hook up to cable if we want for a daily charge. NOT!!!!!!!!!

 We decided to make the best of it so the first day we went to Hampton VA. I was stationed here in the late 70's at Langley AFB. We went to our old townhouse and visited Ron's first school located across the street from the townhouse. He went to kindergarten here. He was not here a full year as I was only here 10 months.

 Here is the old town house. The most memorable thing about this place was the fact that it was full of Navy families. When the fleet went out many of the families went to their homes away from here and it was pretty deserted. The attics in this place had no barriers between townhouses which I didn't know about until we were about to depart. You could literally crawl from townhouse to townhouse through the attic. Scary!!!!!!!!!!

 This was the hospital I was stationed at. It has since been renovated. As I remember it, it was a few stories higher and it looked like the finish Wilford Hall had back in the early seventies, kind of stucco looking.

 The entrance to the clinic I ran has survived. The clinic windows can be seen here. It was a pediatric clinic. I remember my first day. I arrived at 6:45 a.m. and the entrance you see here was packed to the max with people with sick kids. I couldn't even get to the clinic door. I had to go further down the hall to the OBGYN clinic to get in through the back. When I opened the door it was like a Walmart Christmas rush and I got stampeded. These women were serious. I learned the first day that there was no appointment system and it was first come first served. Suicide for sure. It took me a few months to convince the powers to be to set up a appointment system. After that I left the base.

 This is the Chesapeake bay that the base is bordered by on nearly three sides. There were days that it was not pleasant. Some days the air hung like stale fishy salt smell.

 This is the saddle club that we had Marions horse Star stabled at. We also had a pony named Tonka for Ron but we couldn't get him to have any interest in riding.

 

 

Marion and I went to Charlotte NC to spend the day with my cousin Mark and his wife Vicky. Here we were uptown Charlotte heading for a Irish pub for lunch. This is Mark leading the way.

 The kids at the Pub. Mark is the closest cousin I have had. We grew up together in Michigan. His father was my first cousin and Mark is my second cousin. He and I are the same age. Mark is a doctor and was in Grenada when the U.S. invaded the island. He was on another island at the time and not on the main invasion island. He did tell me though that he and his fellow students coerced the U.S. Army into buying them drinks for intel on the island they came from.

 Vicky is a real card. What a sweetheart. She tells me that she had to make two rounds of family reunions as Marks date before he asked her to marry him. Now there is a lady with some stick to it attitude. She is really a funny lady and a lot of fun to be with.

 What an advertisement. This was a little back alley bar we came across as we were making our way back to the car.

 We are on the patio to Vicky and Marks home. Hot tub to the left and three car detached garage. Vicky told the story of the house and how Mark wasn't interested in the rest of the house. All he could say to Vicky was what a great garage with a room over it. The main house also had a two and a half car garage as well.

 I guess you can see one of the reasons Mark wanted the three car garage. He made me drool over his 2006 Harley Heritage soft tail. Here is his mechanic. Funny.

 Mark asked me to go for a ride and immediately told me Oh that's right you don't have a bike. That sucks.

 The ladies decided to return to Savanna to go to the Paula Deen restaurant for a gastronomic experience. The pic above and below are the restaurant street advertisement. The lady and sons sign is the original restaurant and is still run by Paula and both of her sons.

 We were contemplating  the menus while Marion decided to get some pics. The interior was a little anti-climatic but the food that followed was really good. I am gaining weight and I think I am really gonna feel this trip as well as see it.

 This lady is a hostess in the restaurant. She is one of Deens oldest friends and employee. Her work name is Jelly Roll, I kid you not. That is what is on her name tag. So I guess you can assume what she used to make as one of the food preparers here. She was a real sweetheart.

 Karen ordered a chicken pot pie and received this surprise. She said it was the best she ever ate. She said that the top crust was like a light cake. It tasted like no other she has had.

 Here is Marion with her cardboard dudette. Obviously Paula was not there but that didn't stop my sweetie.

 We stopped by their version of the river walk. It looked like a old warehouse area  on the river front they converted into shops and eateries. Over my shoulder is a river.

 One of the shops we stopped in was a fudge and candy factory where as you can see below is salt water taffy being pulled on a machine. This flavor is banana.

After the taffy cools it is placed on this machine with the cone looking rollers. This machine stretches out the taffy and rolls it at the same time. At the left side of the machine it cuts, wraps, and separates the finished candy then drops it into a conveyer.

 The conveyer then drops it into buckets that move up this tower and again is deposited on another conveyer that goes over the customers heads and slides it into the yellow candy wheel where you can pick out your favorite flavor.

Well it was time to go back to the park and prepare to move to North Carolina tomorrow.