red oak road: Jamestown and Yorktown

We are almost totally unpacked. Almost all of the laundry is done. I am exhausted, but Jason has kept us in chocolate truffle coffee (sooooo yummy!) while we got everything pack to normal. A steady rain is falling, making it even more cozy inside :-) And my awesome Italian mom often makes huge batches of meatballs and sausage and freezes them in containers. Tonight is a perfect night to have a nice home-cooked meal without having to cook :-) Thank you, Mom, I love you :-)

Here are some more vacation pictures for your viewing pleasure :-)

Jamestown is the first successful English colony in America. About 34 years before the Pilgrims came to America, a small group of Englishmen came to America and set up a colony. It is where John Smith met Pocahontas (though their love affair is a Hollywood fantasy; in truth they were just friends). There had been a long drought and the food was scarce. The Powhatan Indians are not a traveling tribe, like Plains Indians and they were struggling to survive, so when some Englishmen came along...threatening their land and their food supply...the Indians were not too happy. They surrounded the fort in winter and many Englishmen starved to death. We were hard-pressed to find books suitable for children on the Jamestown Colony, but we watched this movie, The New World, while although fictional, gives a good idea of the conditions. We also read many biographies of Pocahontas.

Jamestown

A typical Powhatan village.

using an oyster shell to remove the fur from a hide

learning to make rope as the Indians would have

One of the boats they came over on.

the bunks

inside the fort:

the girls found this woman fascinating and were interacting quite a bit with her:

a musket demonstration

Yorktown

They would use the tool above to cut into the skull to relieve pressure. No anesthesia. Opiates were given for pain, but came from Asia and were expensive, thus you only got that AFTERWARDS if you made it.