Virginia’s real Jamestown is still being dug up, and you can watch

There’s dirt under your fingernails here

You don’t go to Historic Jamestowne to look at things behind glass.

You go to stand on the actual ground where English settlers built the first permanent colony in North America back in 1607.

The island sits on 1,500 acres in James City County, just outside Williamsburg, and the National Park Service runs it alongside the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation.

Since 1994, archaeologists have pulled more than three million artifacts from the soil.

They’re still digging on weekdays, and you can walk right up and watch them work from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting. What they keep finding changes the story.

Disease, starvation, and a lost fort

English settlers landed on the island in May 1607 and threw up a triangular fort as fast as they could.

What followed was brutal. Disease tore through the camp. Conflict with the Powhatan people kept everyone on edge.

Then came the Starving Time in the winter of 1609 to 1610, which nearly ended the whole colony. But Jamestown held on.

In 1619, the first representative legislature in English North America gathered inside the church here. The settlement served as Virginia’s capital until 1699, when everything shifted to Williamsburg.

For centuries, historians assumed the original fort had washed into the James River for good. Then, in 1996, archaeologists proved most of it was still sitting on dry land.

Walk the footprint of the original fort

The James Fort site lets you stand exactly where those first buildings went up.

You can see reconstructed sections of the palisade walls and bulwarks that show the fort’s triangular footprint and give you a real sense of how tight the space was.

A rebuilt blacksmith’s shop runs live trades demonstrations during the visitor season. Statues of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas mark the grounds.

In some excavated areas, you can look straight down into the earth and see remnants of the original fort.

Step inside where American democracy started

The Memorial Church you see now went up in 1907 for the 300th anniversary of Jamestown’s founding. But what makes it worth your time is underneath.

Glass panels in the floor reveal the brick and cobblestone foundations of the original 17th-century churches below.

This is the exact spot where the first General Assembly met from July 30 to Aug. 4, 1619. Wall plaques inside honor Captain John Smith, Pocahontas, and John Rolfe.

In 2019, the interior was remodeled to match the footprint of the 1617 church, where that first assembly gathered.

A 1680s brick tower with its first roof in 200 years

The brick church tower, built around 1680, is the only above-ground 17th-century structure still standing at Jamestown.

It rose about 46 feet tall with a wooden roof, belfry, and two upper floors. The walls measure three feet thick at the base and just over 18 feet square.

For more than two centuries, it stood open to the sky. Then, in early 2024, crews installed a stainless steel and glass roof on top.

Preservation Virginia acquired the tower and 22.5 acres around it back in 1893 to keep the whole site from disappearing.

Four thousand artifacts inside the Archaearium

The Voorhees Archaearium holds more than 4,000 artifacts pulled from the James Fort site since 1994, all focused on the Virginia Company period from 1607 to 1624.

You can see arms and armor, coins, trade goods, a 400-year-old writing slate, and locally made tobacco pipes. The museum also holds the largest collection of Colonial-period American Indian artifacts in Virginia.

Exhibits rotate to reflect new finds from the ongoing dig, so what you see on one visit may not be there the next time.

Archaeologists confirmed cannibalism at the site

The Jamestown Rediscovery field team digs on weekdays, and you can stand close enough to ask them questions about what they’re pulling from the ground.

In 2013, the team confirmed evidence of cannibalism during the Starving Time winter of 1609 to 1610. Two years later, they identified the remains of four early colonial leaders buried in the church chancel.

In 2025, crews are working near the Archaearium and a newly discovered brick cellar by the Memorial Church.

Every season turns up something that shifts what historians thought they knew.

Smell the fire at the 1608 glasshouse

Glassmaking at Jamestown started in 1608, when German and Polish artisans arrived to launch the colony’s first manufacturing operation.

The Virginia Company figured Virginia’s sand and wood could produce glass cheaper than importing it from Europe.

Costumed artisans blow glass by hand every day using methods close to what those first craftsmen used four centuries ago.

Today, a reconstructed glasshouse stands right next to the ruins of that original 1608 workshop. You can watch the whole process from start to finish.

Brick outlines trace where the town expanded

After 1620, settlers pushed east of the fort into an area called New Towne. Excavations there from 2017 to 2019 turned up artifacts from everyday life in the early settlement.

A walking path takes you past brick outlines that mark the foundations of homes, taverns, and warehouses. The ruins of the Ambler House, an 18th-century plantation home, still stand along the route.

One stop, the Angela Site, marks the property of Captain William Pierce, where a woman named Angela, one of the first Africans in English North America, was recorded living in 1625.

Bald eagles circle the island drive year-round

Two paved loops, one at three miles and one at five, wind through the island and are open to cars, bikes, and walkers.

The marshes and dense forests along the road look much like what the colonists would have seen 400 years ago.

Bald eagles live on the island year-round, and you’ll spot migratory birds, deer, and turtles depending on the season. At Black Point on the eastern tip, a short footpath leads to a wide-open view of the James River.

Every spring, the road closes to vehicles for several weeks to protect turtles crossing.

Costumed interpreters tell real people’s stories

Living history programs and tours generally run Thursday through Saturday. On weekends, you can catch historic trades demonstrations, including blacksmithing and woodworking.

Costumed interpreters portray actual people from Jamestown’s past and walk you through their daily lives.

Guided archaeology walking tours, led by Jamestown Rediscovery staff, go out daily during the week and twice on weekends.

The big annual event is Jamestown Day in May, which marks the anniversary of the first settlers’ arrival.

A live camera lets you watch the dig from home

If you can’t make it to the island, a live camera feed shows the James Fort area and the 1680s church tower in real time.

The site publishes monthly dig updates with photos and new findings.

An interactive online map lets you click on different areas within James Fort to learn what archaeologists have uncovered there.

A digital collection of selected artifacts from the Rediscovery project goes deeper. Teachers can also pull lesson plans and virtual programs for classroom use.

Explore Historic Jamestowne in Virginia

You’ll find Historic Jamestowne at 1368 Colonial Parkway in Jamestown, VA.

The site is part of Colonial National Historical Park, connected to the mainland by a causeway. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the entrance gate opening at 8:45 a.m.

The National Park Service entrance fee runs $15 per adult, and you’ll need a separate Preservation Virginia ticket to access the fort site, Archaearium, and Memorial Church.

Grab both at the visitor center when you arrive. Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown Battlefield are each a short drive away on the same parkway.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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