Josephine Tebeau

Colonial Virginia's Capitals Josephine Tebeau

Jamestown is a historic site in east Virginia. Historic Jamestowne is home to the ruins of the first permanent English settlement in North America. It includes the remains of the 18th-century Ambler Mansion. Artifacts from the region's settlers are on display in the Archaearium archaeology museum. Nearby, the Jamestown Settlement is a living-history museum with recreations of a 1610s fort and a Powhatan Indian village.

Along with Jamestown and Yorktown, Colonial Williamsburg is known today as part of the Historic Triangle of Virginia, but all three of these old Virginian sites are known for vastly different reasons. While Yorktown was the scene of the final climactic battle of the American Revolution and Jamestown is remembered for being the first English settlement to survive in Virginia, Colonial Williamsburg is now best known as a bridge to the past.

Williamsburg got its start as a fortified site, which was vitally necessary for English settlers to be heavily outnumbered by nearby Native Americans, many of which were at times hostile. Known originally as Middle Plantation, the site served as the capital of the colony for much of the 18th century, and it bore witness to seminal events in the history of Revolutionary-era America, including the Gunpowder Incident, which nearly coincided with the Battles of Lexington and Concord to the north. However, once the capital was again moved, Williamsburg lost much of its prominence, and by the end of the 19th century, it was best known for hosting the College of William and Mary.