I could bore you to tears with all we saw that day, but let this suffice..

 

 

A portrait of an evil cherub who looks like she’s ready to stab Fido with an already bloody knife.

 

 

But no.

 

 

It’s just a 17th century pacifier. “Your mouth is sore sweetie? Here… suck on this metal and coral pointy thing.”

No wonder she looks pissed off.

 

 

“Inveterate dysenterical fluxes”.

Doesn’t that sound like fun?

 

 

The museum was filled with artifacts unearthed from the original site.

 

 

And things thrown down the communal well.

Naturally, the husband was appalled at the waste of all those perfectly good rusty tools.

 

 

The takeaway from most of the history we read?

We might romanticize the idea of the first settlers… opportunity, adventure, a brave new world etc., but in reality? It was starvation, illness and death.

 

 

And Pocahantas…. of whom much is written and little is really known.

The only actual image drawn during her lifetime is this English portrait:

 

 

A much later Anglicized version of her true self.

 

 

Child trading. A fact of which I was heretofore unaware.

 

 

So there you have it, historic Jamestown.

Where a t shirt we saw in the gift shop said it all…..

 

 

Leaving Jamestown, we got back on the Colonial Parkway…..

 

 

And saw some deer.

 

 

Some swamps.

 

 

And a whole bunch of these strange mounds.

 

 

Too small and numerous for beaver.

 

 

Any southerners care to weigh in on what constructs them?

 

 

The Parkway slides along the James River….

 

 

And was a lovely, peaceful, traffic free drive.

 

 

Except for the black vultures.

 

 

 

Which are neither lovely nor peaceful….

 

 

And often cause their own traffic jams when they discover a fresh kill.

And no, I didn’t include a photo of the canine corpse.