Tuesday, May 1, 2007
The commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown began on Thursday, April 26th, with a ceremony at the Cape Henry unit of Colonial National Historical Park. The event commemorated the 400th anniversary of the completion of the colonists’ trans-Atlantic voyage and their arrival in present-day Virginia Beach, Virginia.
The ceremony included remarks by Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell and a keynote address by NASA astronaut Charles J. Camarda. In his address, Camarda, mission specialist aboard Space Shuttle Discovery’s “return to space” flight following the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia, compared the Jamestown settlers to today’s space explorers for their sacrifices and risks in endeavors that ultimately benefit all mankind. The ceremony also included a wreath laying at the Cape Henry Memorial Cross and a recreation of the colonists’ arrival and planting of a cross giving thanks for the new land and their safe journey.
On April 26, 1607, after just over four months confined in three small ships, 144 sea-weary English sailors and colonists first laid eyes upon the shores of Virginia. Captain Christopher Newport, admiral of the fleet, brought his ships to anchor within the protected waters of the bay. Newport, Edward Maria Wingfield, future president of the ruling council, Bartholomew Gosnold, a member of the council, and about 30 others ventured ashore. What they found, according to George Percy, were "fair meadows and goodly tall trees, with such fresh waters running through the woods as I was almost ravished at the first sight thereof." Near the end of the day, as these intrepid adventures returned to their ships, they encountered some Indians and a conflict erupted that left two of the English wounded. After a few days at Cape Henry, the fleet moved into the James River, on May 13th selecting for settlement an island, which they named Jamestown in honor of King James I.
Today, the Cape Henry Memorial is a part of Colonial National Historical Park and marks the approximate site of the first landing of the Jamestown settlers in Virginia. A memorial cross of granite was erected in 1935 by the Daughters of the American Colonists to commemorate the site where a wooden cross was erected by those early adventurers on April 29, 1607.
The Jamestown 400th anniversary events continue on Friday, May 4th, as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visits the Historic Jamestowne unit of Colonial NHP, and culminates May 11-13, with the main commemorative events of “America’s Anniversary Weekend.”
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