Settlement/Migration

This is an image of the settlement of Jamestown

Colonial Historical Park: Jamestown

Colonial National Historical Park administers two of the most historically significant sites in English North America: the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown in 1607 and the final major battle of the American Revolutionary War at Yorktown in 1781, literally the beginning and end of English colonial America.

A leap of historical imagination is needed to see the human face of Jamestown as it existed almost 400 yars ago. It has become a national icon whose meaning is entangled with the legend of Pocahontas and John Smith. We begin to appreciate the true legacy of Virginia's first capital when we understand its role in English colonization, the growth of representative government, and questions concerning African-Americans, slavery, and American Indian policies. These major themes of American history had their beginning at Jamestown.

Situated on the Virginia Peninsula, these sites are connected by the 23 mile scenic Colonial Parkway. Colonial NHP also includes Green Spring, the 17th century plantation home of Virginia's colonial governor, Sir William Berkeley and the Cape Henry Memorial, which marks the approximate site of the first landing of the Jamestown colonists in April of 1607. This memorial also overlooks the site of the decisive Battle of the Capes fought in September of 1781 preceding the siege of Yorktown. Besides significant cultural resources, Colonial NHP has a variety of natural resources including extensive wetlands, forest, fields, shorelines and streams, as well as rare, threatened and endangered plants and animals.