day trip

Destination: Jamestown, Virginia

Our area of Virginia is incredibly rich with American history, so when the Boulevard team starts to consider things to explore on a day trip, it doesn’t take too long before you have dozens of historical options. When I recently loaded up the car with my camera bag and some orange juice, I set out for a place that I hadn’t visited since I was in elementary school. I wanted to see Jamestown Settlement.

I purposefully didn’t do any research at all because I wanted the trip itself to guide me. The only “cheat” I allowed myself was an internet search for the first directional map I saw. For all I knew I could be headed to a Jamestown Pizzeria (I was not). The drive was bright and sunny and for me the audiobook was refreshing. Yet the closer I got to my destination it became clear to me how actually beautiful the water is as you approach Jamestown Settlement. I also tried to imagine life for some of our earlier settlers of the 1600s. Was this exciting to them or terrifying? But I’m getting off track and this is not a history lesson.

I reached the first gate onto the Jamestown Island and continued my drive around to what I know now as the Jamestown Island Loop Road. My first encounter with anyone is a man and his dog finishing what appeared to be their morning walk. It dawns on me: This is a park! If I lived closer, I’d use it as a walking spot, too. That realization set the tone for the next half hour or so as I drove the trails through the Island. Every so often there was a pull over with a sign giving historic or ecologic information. I found the drive pleasant. The trails are wide, single-lane roads, well-marked, one way and very well maintained. The roads are paved and where they cross the water, a sturdy wooden bridge is there for you to cross.

I passed hikers of all ages on their Sunday morning strolls. There were only a couple of joggers and although I didn’t see any cyclists this morning, that doesn’t mean that no one was taking advantage of this quiet and flat route. I also liked the fact that the trails felt safe. I drove this time, but I wouldn’t have any reservations hiking the short 3-mile or even the extended 5-mile route. I pulled over on occasion to take a photo, look around and I thought the area was just beautiful. I specifically went to see the settlement site today, but I could use another trip just to take landscape photographs.

I pulled into the parking lot of the Historic Jamestown Visitors Center and inside was a selfguided tour filled with artifacts and information; I walked around and explored the displays. There were clean restrooms and a gift shop filled with gifts, books and collectables for all ages.

Back in the car, it was a short drive to the Jamestown Settlement. A sign welcomes you to a much larger Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation Museum and Visitors Center. This, too, has a self-guided museum, gift shop, restaurants, event site and is the ticketed gateway to the actual settlement located just a short walk from the museum.

The interactive museum tour begins with a film inside the auditorium that runs on a short rotating schedule and from there you enter exhibits that give an accurate account of life of our earliest American settlers. You will find artifacts, documents, reproductions of articles and replicated homes of the brave new adventurers.

Once outside, it’s a short walk to the Jamestown Settlement; you will enter through the fortified walls and see James Fort, the recreated fort of the Virginia Company of London’s military outpost (1610–14). This outpost—with authentic buildings, churches, blacksmith shops, gardens and much more—provides a glimpse of what it was like for colonists living here. The grounds are full of historic interpreters in authentic wardrobe using period tools and techniques for all aspects of life in the early 17th century—all of whom are willing to answer any question that you may pose to them.

Another short walk from the outpost are the docks where three of the ships that sailed to the New World just over 400 years ago are docked. Continuing your walk, you will also find small houses and gardens, small shops and simple settings of communal life around the settlement.

I mentioned earlier that this article isn’t a history lesson. But I hope that you find it intriguing enough to spark a desire in you to just get out in our area and visit history. We only have one Jamestown, Virginia, and most of us can get there in an hour from Hampton Roads. I have to admit that the more I get into these trips for Boulevard, I realize how much I actually don’t know about my own area. The exciting part is that I can go visit and learn for myself now on a short weekend, with a good audiobook and a large orange juice and a self-guided historical adventure.

The Jamestown Settlement is often outshined by Colonial Williamsburg, but is by no means less important or intriguing. It is worth the day trip. The stories of the lives of our earliest Americians is nothing short of pure bravery and the ability and will to survive. These historic sites deserve our attention.

Boulevard photography editor, David Polston, is also the scenic designs, carpentry and production supervisor for CBN. He is an internationally published freelance photographer, blogger and writer, and the resident professional photographer for Seven Venues, LiveNation, Hampton Coliseum, The VaArts Festival and the Virginia Symphony, among others.

Historic Jamestowne Visitor Center

1368 Colonial Nat’l Historical Pkwy, Jamestown, VA 23081 historicjamestowne.org

Planning to take a day trip somewhere within an hour or two away from Tidewater? How about an overnight road trip somewhere?

Tell us about the experience. Send in your piece (and any photos you take) for us to consider publishing in a future issue of Boulevard.

Email: julie@blvdmedia.io

Jamestown-Yorktown Museums (Jamestown Settlement and American Revolution Museum at Yorktown) 2110 Jamestown Road, Route 31 S., Williamsburg, 23185 www.jyfmuseums.org