Happy 399th Birthday, America!

Call it Karasek luck but we were fortunate to return to Jamestown today to see the replica of the Susan Constant under sail. With all that we saw yesterday, we were unable to finish our tour of Jamestown. So we decided to return to see the National Park Service's Historic Jamestowne. According to a pamphlet I had, there is an 8 mile loop of Jamestown Island with little signposts illustrating life in Jamestown. Really not much to see after all we saw at Williamsburg, but it was beautiful day for a drive along the James River and Chesapeake Bay. Little did we realize that we were returning to a full blown celebration of the anniversary of the landing of the Colonists at Jamestown.
We arrived just in time to join a walking tour headed by a park ranger, who related the history of the Jamestown landing. She lead us down to the river, where we joined an interpreter, dressed in costume of the time, who enacted the life of one of the first women to survive at 1609 Jamestown. She recited passages from the diary of John Rolfe's 3rd mother-in-law. His first wife and child died in Bermuda on their way to Jamestown in 1609. In 1614, he married his second wife, Pocohantas. That union brought peace between the Colonists and the Indians. In 1616, Rolfe and Pocohantas returned to England with their son, Thomas. While there, Pocohantas was presented to the Royal Court. While returning to Jamestown, Pocohantas suddenly died. Thus, Rolfe returned to Jamestown with Thomas and married a 3rd time. He was pretty hard on wives, but he was the one, who developed tobacco, thus bringing prosperity to the Virginia Company investors, as a cash crop had finally been successfully raised for export to England. I wonder if tobacco was as addictive then as it is now. I know that the tobacco companies add additives to make cigarettes more addictive but I don't know about the original plant.
After hearing from Rolfe's mother-in-law, we were joined by an interpreter, who, again, dressed in costume of the time. This guy was good. He played John Rolfe and he really knew his history. I could have been convinced that John Rolfe was actually speaking. I understand why Rolfe had three wives. He was quite handsome and a charmer (at least the interpreter was). Rolfe didn't have too much good to say about Captain John Smith, who is shown in the photo above. I wonder if that is because his wife, Pocohantas, had had an affair with Smith before Rolfe's arrival. She saved Smith's life at least twice according to Smith's own accountings.

To top off the day, we were also present for the grand opening of the "Archaearium" that features artifacts excavated from the archeological digs being conducted through out the national park. To preserve the foundations of the original buildings in the fort, the archeologists have re-covered the foundations and then set bricks outlining the areas that have been excavated and known to have had original structure from the fort. The Archaearium itself is built above and a little outside of the original foundation of the Jamestown Statehouse that served as the capitol building from 1665 to 1698, when the capitol was moved to Williamsburg.

This photo is of the reconstucted third church that was built in the fort. The cobblestone foundation of the original 1619 church are preserved under glass inside the present structure, which itself was built in 1907 for the 300th anniversary. John Rolfe brought all of us into the church and spent 45 minutes telling us the history of the Jamestown Colony. The church was the site of the first General Assembly, thus the beginning of democracy on these shores. John Rolfe was a member of the first assembly. We finished off our day with the 5 mile loop drive through James Island.

After a wonderful meal at Carrabas, an Italian-style chain restaurant along the lines of Olive Garden, we headed for the movies to see Poseidon with Josh Lucas and Kurt Russell. As I went to purchase the tickets, I realized that I had left my credit card at the restaurant. Using the receipt, I quickly called the restaurant and was reassured that they had the card. So we returned to pick up the card. Mel was a little more than perturbed with me since he likes to be early for movies to get "his" seat.

We arrived back at the theater just as the previews were starting and "his" seat was available. We settled in and about 5 minutes into the movie we realized that the dialogue was muddled. Mel went the manager, who explained that they had a bad print. The movie was playing in the theater next door in about 5 minutes so we picked ourselves up and joined the next showing. Don't know what happened to the other audience but I guess that they just muddled through it.

I wasn't too sure that I wanted to see this movie again, but I didn't tell me that. After reading the book by Paul Gallico in 1969 and seeing the Academy Award-nominated movie in 1972, I didn't feel I needed to revisit the story. Frankly, the book and first movie scared the bejeebers out of me back then and I didn't think I could take it again. I was right. This version is just as compelling as the others and I kept jumping in my seat or hiding behind Mel's shoulder. I kept saying to myself that it is just a movie but I was involved and the adrenalin was flowing. I was so happy when it was over so I could get back to my regular life. When it was over, Mel turned to me and said, "So, you want to go on a cruise, huh?"