On the spot where the POMS arrived

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We awoke to another fine warm day although a little breezy.The weathermen are forecasting rain tomorrow from a low off the Carolina coast but we will head further inland then so maybe it won't be too bad for sightseeing in the open.
While we have a big unit at the Super 8 the place was really tired and even though we intend to stay in Williamsburg for another night we will hunt out another motel for tonight.We are now well aware of watching out for things when you enter a recption area and the smell as well.It turned out the Indian lady on the front desk slept in a unit attached to the office and obviously lived all her life in that one room so smells will out.........
We headed off for Jamestowne(the Nat Parks site not the commercial one)to learn all about the first permanent settlement in the USA.Our card we had purchased came into its own again and we are now well ahead on savings with the card.
We arrived just in time for a ranger talk.She was very informative on how the settlement started and its first few years.Its interesting to compare how the Spanish would have liked to colonise what turned out to be the USA and compare it to how NZ would have been had the French or the Dutch colonised NZ and how our history would have been affected.We think the Yanks were pretty happy it was the English that dominated in the end even if they had to have a revolution to get their "freedom"
It is fortunate that the sight of the first landing was protected by two woman who urged local people in 1896 to set aside a small acreage from a developing farm on the island in the James River where the English arrived in 1607.However it was only in 1996 that the local society discovered the structures etc that led them to confirm this was in fact the first settlement when all along people had thought Plymouth,Mass was the first settlement which was 20 odd years later.Shows how easy it is to lose history although I guess today with computers and a greater awareness of our background that we will keep this information for our future decendents.
They are continuing to dig and are turning up heaps of history and this place will develop even more as time goes on.
We in NZ could learn from the Americans how to preserve history and then present it in an informative and interesting way to our people and visitors.All we seem to want to do in NZ is argue who stole what and what it was going to cost to get/give it back.
After 3 hours w thought we had better move on or we would run out of time so it was lunch and then back the short drive to Williamsburg to sort out the nights stay which was going to be at the Days Inn just down the road from the Super8 and a move up in quality and nosmell !!!
We headed off for the old part of Williamsburg where they ban cars and you need to walk to view the reproduction of the city which became capital of Virginia in 1699 when the Jamestowne settlement lost popularity and with the incresing population more space was needed.
The area has been faithfully reproduced with the help of Rockefeller back in the 1930's and today millions of people come here to take part in various events.The homes are lived in by the people who dress in period costume and ride horses and in horse carriages around the town area.There is no obvious sign of electricity,cable TV,washing lines and all the things associated with modern day life.
You buy a pass that gets you to various events that happen during the day and inside up to 40 homes/buildings open to the public.As we had arrived in the mid afternoon we decided to do it on the cheap and just take in the atmosphere and as it is with the people in costume moving about we still felt by the end of the day we had seen all we wanted to.We sat outside the area where a "show'wa going on about the declaration of Independance and although we werent close up we heard all that was going on.
With the holiday season over the crowds were less and you didnt get what would be a crowded feeling in the height of the season.There are so many motels here for accommodation that this place must hum in the peak of summer.The rest of the town and surrounding area has so many trees and the main roads are lined with trees that give the place a peaceful feeling even though I-95 is just a short distance away.
Had our almost daily visit to WalMart to top up the larder and discoverd a line of microwave dinners which werent frozen that we hadnt seen before.They were very tasty.
Tomorrow will be Yorktown and then onto Richmond for some Civil war history subject to the weather.

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