Why Settle on Jamestown?

Jamestown's swampy environs claim the life of yet another 17th-century English settler in this painting by NPS artist Sydney King.

NPS image

 

A disease-ridden, bug-infested swamp with bad water: what a place to found a colony! But there were advantages as well to what was chosen as the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America.

To learn more about each reason contributing to the selection of Jamestown in 1607, click on the title next to each of the six images below.

 

Good Parking!

 

A Defensible Site

 

Point A (Atlantic) to Point P (Pacific)

 

All That Glitters….

 

An Unoccupied Site

 

Good, Sweet Water