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Making America's Best Idea Even Better
Historic JamestowneSchool bus off loading students
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Historic Jamestowne
Why Settle on Jamestown?
Jamestown's swampy environs claim yet another victim in this painting by NPS artist Sydney King
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Jamestown's swampy environs claim the life of yet another 17th-century English settler in this painting by NPS artist Sydney King.
 

 

 

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.

 

 

 
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Good Parking!
 
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A Defensible Site

 
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Point A (Atlantic) to Point P (Pacific)

 
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All That Glitters….

 
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An Unoccupied Site

 
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Good, Sweet Water
Young boy dressing up as Samuel Collier, one of the four boys brought to Jamestown  

Did You Know?
Of the first 104 English settlers at Jamestown in 1607, four were boys. Several boys were sent to live with the Powhatans so they could learn the language and customs and then return to the English to become interpreters.

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Last Updated: June 23, 2009 at 10:37 EST