Hands Across the Sea: Jamestown 2007: America’s 400th Anniversary
THE ORIGINAL “HANDS Across the Sea” happened 400 years ago. Chartered by King James I in 1606, the Virginia Company was a joint stock company charged with the settlement of Virginia. In December of that year, three small ships set sail from England with a complement of 144 sailors and colonists bound for the shores of the New World. In May 1607 the tiny flotilla landed on the shores of Chesapeake Bay and on a small island in the James River estuary established the first permanent British colony in North America.
Since 1807, Jamestown has marked its founding with commemorative celebrations every 50 years. The Jubilee at Jamestown in 1807 was a five-day event that included a regatta of sailing vessels, a parade and orations by the students of the College of William and Mary. In 1857 overnight cabins, a temporary saloon and a dining hall accommodating 500 were constructed for visitors who came by ship and steamer to attend the festivities.
The Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition of 1907 drew more than a million visitors, and naval fleets from across the globe. Booker T. Washington, Mark Twain and President Teddy Roosevelt were featured speakers. In 1957 Jamestown’s 350th anniversary drew more than 1 million visitors as well. The highlight of the 1957 celebration was the first state visit of Queen Elizabeth II since her accession to the throne. Completion of the Colonial Parkway linking Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown, and the re-created colony of Jamestown Settlement are lasting reminders of the Jamestown Festival 1957.
Fifty years have passed and Jamestown is celebrating again. This summer’s sail of Godspeed north along the Eastern Seaboard marks the beginning of 18 months of events commemorating the 400th anniversary of England’s first colonial settlement on these shores.
State agencies across Virginia are joining a Jamestown Federal Commission and local organizations of Virginia’s Historic Triangle under the umbrella of Jamestown 2007 to coordinate events ranging from an American Indian Intertribal Cultural Festival to a series of academic conferences on the “Foundations and Future of Democracy” held at universities across Virginia. A Jamestown British Committee, headquartered in Maidstone, Kent, is coordinating a variety of commemorative activities on that side of the sea—including ceremonial salutes to the Virginia Company, the 1606 departure from London and the celebrated princess known as Pocahontas.
