The colony was sponsored by the Virginia Company
of London, a group of investors who hoped to
profit from the venture. Chartered in 1606 by
King James I, the company also supported English
national goals of counterbalancing the expansion
of other European nations abroad, seeking a
northwest passage to the Orient, and converting
the Virginia Indians to the Anglican religion.
H I S TO R Y C O M E S A L I V E
In 1957 Jamestown Settlement, a museum of 17th-
century Virginia history and culture, opened as the
setting for the 350th anniversary of the founding
in Virginia of America’s first permanent English
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EASTERN HOME & TRAVEL
colony. Fast forward to 2007 when the museum
developed new facilities, exhibits and programs
in time for the 400th anniversary of this seminal
event in American history. Expansive exhibition
galleries, an introductory film and revitalized
living-history areas present the story of 17th-
century Virginia and its Powhatan Indian, English
and west central African cultural origins, drawing
on a wealth of historical information revealed by
late 20th- and early 21st-century archaeological
and documentary research.
Just 20 miles away from where Jamestown was
established in 1607, the outcome of the American
Revolution was determined at the 1781 Siege of
Yorktown. The American Revolution Museum at
Yorktown is successor to the Yorktown Victory
Center, originally founded in 1976 in conjunction
with the 200th anniversary of America’s Declaration
of Independence. The museum holds a “Liberty
Celebration” event every July and participates in an
annual townwide celebration of the momentous
American victory at Yorktown in October.
YO
The founding of Jamestown, America’s first
permanent English colony, in Virginia in 1607—
13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth
in Massachusetts—sparked a series of cultural
encounters that helped shape the nation and the
world. The government, language, customs, beliefs
and aspirations of these early Virginians are all part
of the United States’ heritage today.