THE HISTORIC TRIANGLE - JAMESTOWN, YORKTOWN, WILLIAMSBURG AUGUST 15-18

Reminder: The first part of this trip is to learn a bit more about my ancestors and answer the questions a) where did they come from, b) why did they come c) where did they come to and d) how did they get to Tennessee (where I was born).

Our journey began where America began...or at least the English/Anglican portion of it...Jamestown, Virginia.  We arrived at the Chippokes Plantation State Park on Monday afternoon, and took some time get oriented.

Established in 1619 by English Captain William Powell, a Lieutenant Governor of Jamestown, this 1,400-acre farm located opposite Jamestown Island, has been the site of an active agricultural operation for nearly four centuries. Powell named the plantation after Choapoke, an Algonquian Indian Chief who was friendly to the English settlers in Jamestown. The mansion was built by Stewart family in the 1900's

 The Plantation lies on the south bank of the James River (Surry County) where the large plantations were situated, once the English settlers figured out they were going to have to work for a living, instead of just looting the native Americans for their wealth as the Spanish had been doing.

In 1607 The first colonists (104 on 3 small ships, sailing 4 1/2 months from England)

were neither mentally prepared for what they found, nor equipped with the skills needed to be successful. It took several changes of leadership, and multiple ships bringing supplies and skills before the Jamestown colony became viable. Fortunately for my family history, my 9th Great Grandfather Joseph Cobb had the good sense not to come to America until they had figured out a viable way to make money (tobacco farming) and they decided to bring women over and try to establish a real colony.

Joseph Cobb arrived in Jamestown in 1613 on the ship the "Treasurer".  He returned at one point to England and returned in January 1624 to live in Elizabeth City, on the north side of the James River. My 10th Great Grandfather, Pharoah (Farrar) Flinton, a surgeon,  had arrived in 1612 on the ship "Elizabeth" and became friends with Joseph Cobb. His daughter, Elizabeth arrived in 1623 at the age of 25 on the ship Bonny Bess and subsequently married Joseph Cobb becoming my 9th Great Grandmother.

Joseph Cobb had 300 acres along Lawne's Creek in Surry County.

LAWNES CREEK SURRY COUNTY

 Chick and I went to the Creek and his land, and Chick went fishing in the Creek.

CHICK FISHING LAWNES CREEK, SURRY COUNTY

 He also had land in another part of Surry County (100 acres) and Newport County (400 acres.) In our travels we explored the places where his various landholdings were.

So to answer the ancestry question: This branch of the family tree paid their own way from England to Jamestown to make money and become wealthy landowners (no religious persecution).  Their path to Tennessee (to be explored later) simply dropped into Eastern North Carolina and moved west eventually reaching East Tennessee. They arrived at me through my father's mother's line.

Having dealt with the questions of my ancestors, Chick and I then explored the various plantations scattered around Surry County,

Bacon's Castle is distinguished as America's premier example of high style 17th-century domestic architecture and the oldest documented house in Virginia. The house was built for prosperous planter Arthur Allen in 1665.

 Smith’s Fort Plantation is nestled on the south side of the James River, located on the site of Captain John Smith’s planned “New Fort”, on the land given by Chief Powhatan as a dowry for his daughter Pocahontas upon her marriage to John Rolfe.

SMITH'S  "NEW FORT" SITE

We took the ferry boat back and forth to Jamestown,

FERRY BOAT FROM SURRY COUNTY TO JAMESTOWN

and visited the actual site of the Jamestown landing and Fort James.

VIEWS OF HISTORIC JAMESTOWN and FORT JAMES FROM THE JAMES RIVER

We had an excellent archeology tour on the site

HOUSES WERE NOT LOGS BUT LOOK LIKE ENGLISH HOMES IN THE MIDLANDS. THE FORT WAS SIMPLY A FENCE BUILT IN A TRIANGLE ON THE SHORE OF THE JAMES RIVER.

ARCHEOLOGISTS HAVE PARTIALLY RECONSTRUCTED THE SECOND ANGLICAN CHURCH WHERE POCAHONTAS AND JOHN ROLFE WERE MARRIED IN APRIL 1614 

In 1617-1619 when Samuel Argall was governor, he had the inhabitants of Jamestown build a new church "50 foot long and twenty foot broad." It was a wooden church built on a one-foot-wide foundation of cobblestones capped by a wall one brick thick. 

DETAIL OF FOUNDATION.  THIS CHURCH IS WHERE MY 9TH and 10TH GREAT GRANDPARENTS WORSHIPPED. 

and spent a whole day in a fantastic museum adjacent the park called Jamestown Settlement.

HUGE MUSEUM - JAMESTOWN SETTLEMENT

The reconstructed ships were quite revealing, as we saw how cramped the travelers were. But even better is the 'year-by-year timeline history' of the early 1600's in the museum!  We spent hours and hours there and still did not see it all.

The rest of the days there we drove to Yorktown and Williamsburg.  Yorktown is a beautiful historical city...not very commercial, with a beautiful shoreline on the York River.  The history there is largely related to Revolutionary War, as was Williamsburg.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

ON THE STREETS OF YORKTOWN

SHORELINE OF YORK RIVER IN YORKTOWN

 We did not even bother to buy the tickets for Williamsburg ($40 apiece for 1 day) and were glad we had seen Williamburg before it became simpley an outdoor museum with gatekeepers.  We strolled up and down the streets had lunch at Chowning's Tavern (where we had eaten years ago) and headed home.

LUNCH AT CHOWNINGS TAVERN