The Other Jamestown

Yesterday we went to Jamestown Settlement- a museum near Jamestown Island that includes an indoor museum and an outdoor area including a recreation of Powhatten's (not sure how to spell that) village, the Jamestown Fort, and the three ships the original English settlers came over in (sorry that sentence kind of got away from me).

If you come to visit Virginia you may ask- which site should I visit; Jamestown Settlement or Jamestown Island? My answer is that it depends on the weather. If the heat index is over 100 I would stick with Jamestown Settlement which has a huge indoor museum that is actually quite good and you can stay out of the heat. However, if the heat/humidity is not an issue than I would suggest Jamestown Island which is the actual site where Jamestown was and is also, as I mentioned in my last post, an ongoing archeological dig- there is also a small museum there which features items found at the site.

I usually don't spend time talking to the interpreters (the people in the costumes) at these sites but did on this visit- I had a very interesting discussion with a women who worked in the Indian Village. She told me and one of the other instructors that a lot of the interpreters are being laid off and said that you can see the museum's priorities now that money is getting tighter- they say they are all about education but the educators (in this case the interpreters) are the first to be laid off, meanwhile the executives keep their jobs and likely haven't even had pay-cuts. I should really spend more time talking to the interpreters in the future.

I've been to Jamestown Settlement several times now so I didn't take too many pictures.