Images of Jamestown

In addition to the video footage I took at Jamestown on Monday, I also snapped some still photographs. Especially on a sunny day with fluffy clouds bouncing across the sky, Jamestown Island is extremely photogenic.

This statue of Pocahontas betrays a certain late 19th-century parochialism. She looks more like a Plains Indian in this portrayal. Had I not been at Jamestown, I would have thought this was meant to be Sacagawea, not Rebecca Rolfe.

This obelisk was erected in 1907 to commemorate Jamestown's 300th anniversary.

One hundred years later, the Inns of Court in England provided their own commemorative plaque.

This rock-hewn cross marks the grave that might have been the resting place of Bartholomew Gosnold, one of the leaders of the Jamestown expedition; what are thought to be Gosnold's remains are now on display in the Archaearium.

Were it not plugged up, this cannon might provide an effective defense against invasion via the James River.

(Though it may not be helpful in the case of invasion by air.)

The continuing presence of this church tower was a key clue to the mystery of the location of the original, triangular Jamestown fort ...

... discovered in 1994 by archaeologist Dr. William M. Kelso (right, in hat and glasses). Dr. Kelso chronicles his search for the evidence in Jamestown, the Buried Truth, published late last year by the University of Virginia Press.

A grandfatherly Captain John Smith -- who was actually only in his mid-twenties when he helped lead the settlement at Jamestown -- gazes out over the water.

Perhaps he's longing for a trip back home via this ship.