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And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another report about life in the United States on the VOA Special English program THIS IS AMERICA.
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To mark this difficult time, a memorial cross was built on the eastern coast of Jamestown Island. It honors some of the three hundred burial places dug by the settlers during the starving time. Queen Elizabeth of England attended the observance in Jamestown in nineteen fifty-seven when the Memorial Cross was raised.
At one time, the Old Colonial Tower stood fourteen meters high and had two upper floors. Six small windows were on the top floor. Those openings permitted light to enter the upper room. They also let the sound of the church bell be heard across the colony.
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
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The first few years of life in the Jamestown colony were extremely difficult. The colonists suffered from lack of food and diseases. They clashed with the Native American Indians who lived there. The winter of sixteen-oh-nine was one of the worst periods in the colony's history. It was called "the starving time" because everyone went hungry. Almost ninety percent of the colonists died that year.
This program was written by Jill Moss. It was produced by Caty Weaver. Our studio engineer was Mick Shaw. I'm Sarah Long.
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Jamestown is divided into two areas: Old Towne and New Towne. The new area of the settlement was built in sixteen twenty. This is when the colonists had become economically secure through the trade of smoking tobacco.
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Unlike the first colonists on Jamestown Island, people today arrive by car. As they drive up, visitors can either stop at the Jamestown Settlement or they can see the very place where the colonists first settled on Jamestown Island.
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There are also recreated versions of the ships that carried the colonists to Jamestown Island. The ships were called the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery.
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For visitors who want to drive around the island, there is a four- or eight-kilometer road that circles Jamestown. The drive provides visitors with a look at the natural environment first discovered by the settlers. Signs along the drive tell about the early industries and agricultural traditions of the colonists.
The monument is made of smooth white stone. Tercentenary Monument is a place where visitors gather before a Jamestown guide leads them on a walk around the former colony.
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Jamestown never became the great city its first settlers imagined. But it did allow England to establish a permanent presence in North America. Jamestown, America's first colony, started a culture that would shape this country forever.
Another historic building on Jamestown Island is the old colonial church. A wood version of this church was first built in sixteen seventeen. Years later, in sixteen thirty-nine, a stone church was built in its place.
Nearly one hundred years after Jamestown was settled, a rebellion led by colonist Nathaniel Bacon burned the settlement to the ground. The colony fell into ruin in sixteen ninety-nine, when the capital of Virginia moved to Williamsburg.
For example, several months after arriving in America in sixteen-oh-seven, the colonists built a three-sided structure, or fort, along the edge of the island. Some of the remains of that fort still exist today. However, for years, researchers believed the fort had worn away into the James River.
Down the road from Jamestown is a stone building known as the glasshouse. Local artists work here every day. They demonstrate for visitors how the Jamestown settlers made glass products. Glass-blowing was one of the early industries started by the English colonists in Virginia.
The Jamestown Settlement is a re-created version of the colony and a nearby Powhatan Indian village. Visitors can see what life was like in the colony almost four hundred years ago. The people who work at the settlement speak English the way people did in the seventeenth century. They also wear clothes from that time period and fire musket guns from colonial days. Visitors can see the kind of food the settlers ate, the games they played and the way they lived.
Many settlers built homes in the New Towne area. Visitors can still see parts of these buildings, including the ruins of the Ambler Mansion. This was a two-floor home built in the mid-seventeen hundreds. It is one of the oldest standing structures at Jamestown.
In two thousand seven, Jamestown will celebrate its four-hundredth anniversary. State and federal officials are planning special events. They want Jamestown to be remembered as the place where America's government, economy and culture were born.
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