JAMESTOWNE - VIRGINIA

-JAMESTOWNE

Historic Jamestowne is the site of the first permanent English settlement in America.




Time was running thin for the day, and I spent an afternoon walking Historic Jamestowne last year, so I decided to focus on the two things that were bypassed previously.

The Island drive loop and the Glass House.

The Island drive was a very small one way and one lane drive through some forest area and marshy spots with boardwalk driveways.

Many turtles crossing the road in this area made for keeping an eye out.



I've never experienced riding on a boardwalk like this.



About halfway through the drive, I came across a pullout with a walking path down to Black Point.



An attempt at a panoramic shot at Black Point.



Last stop for the day is the Glass House.

The Virginia Company was granted a charter in April of 1606 from King James I. On May 13th, 1607 the London Company established Jamestown, Americas first permanent English settlement. Today daily you can watch as glass is made in the same way as it was made back then. Visit the Jamestown Glasshouse at the Jamestown Historical Site to get a glimpse into glass-making of the past.

Glassblowing was one of the Jamestown colonists first attempts at industrialization and manufacturing in America. In 1608, the Virginia Company of London brought several German and Polish glassblowing artisans to Jamestown, Virginia to set-up glassworks in the new colony. This first attempt was not successful.

Later, in 1622, the Company would again attempt to manufacture glass with Italian glassblowers, but this attempt failed also.




In 1954, the ruins of the long-abandoned glass furnaces were discovered in Jamestown. Years later, an operating 17th century style glass house was reconstructed near the ruins. Today, this site has become an interpretive glassblowing facility operated by Eastern National. Modern-day artisans dressed in colonial glassblowing garb produce masterful pieces of glass, much as the colonists did almost 400 years ago.

Today the glass furnace is heated by natural gas, rather than by wood as in 1608. Our craftsmen use tools and methods similar to those used in the 17th century. However, 17th century techniques do not prepare the glass for modern day use.​

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It is fascinating to watch the master Glass Blowers working with the molten glass.​

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Back to the Ferry to cross the James River.
There was a bit of a line and a short wait this time.
As I sat there waiting, a Sea Osprey (Raptor, AKA - a Sea Hawk)entertained me as he hovered 30 or 40 feet overhead and then fell into a hard dive and with a loud splash hit the water grasping for a fish.

He did this a few times until he came out with one.
He disappeared up into a tree for a while and then returned for some more spectacular diving.​

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A passing Ferry with Historic Jamestowne in the backdrop as I chilled out on the top deck cooling off with the refreshing breeze.​

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Back at Dad's for the evening, we have dinner together.
In the morning I will be heading down to the Outer Banks for a few days so it is good to spend some time with Dad.​

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After dinner we moved outside to the covered porch with a tin roof and shared a few beers together and talked about life, just as a hard, hard rain hammered down.​

The hard rain on the hot tin roof took me way back to the days of hard drinking in remote mountain villages of Korea during monsoon season....

...when life was simple...almost primitive - compared to today.​

I remember one year over there during monsoon season, it rained so hard for so long that the streets and labyrinth like corridors in between the hooches were like flowing rivers.
I was in a bigger ville at the time called Tongduchon.
Cars were actually floating down the streets.
We would wade through waist deep water in the alley corridors and step over sand-bagged doorways into a club and get a drink !!
Bizarre times !!!​

Back in the day - those hard rains were almost spiritual to me.​

For a moment, I was young and bulletproof again.​

Then reality set in and I realized 4:30 AM comes early, and I better get some sleep.​