CBBT & Jamestown

The winds over Chesapeake Bay diminished somewhat over night - down from "Level 2" (47 mph) to "Level 1" (40 mph) according to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel phoneline. Level 1 restrictions only apply to vehicles with trailers and do not include motorhomes, so we were able to make the crossing - although the white caps pictured here give some indication of the conditions.






Our map and tour book brought our attention to Cape Henry and First Landing State Park on the south side of the bay, so we decided to take a detour to visit that site on our way to Williamsburg. Following a number of vehicles into what we thought was the entrance to Cape Henry, we learned two things that the map did not tell us: (1) Cape Henry is surrounded by a military base and, (2) we had pulled into an entrance that was strictly for military personnel. I'm sure that one look at two middle aged people with a black lab in a motorhome convinced the guard that we were not terrorists, but we nevertheless stopped traffic as we made the U-turn to get out. We were directed to the correct entrance only to be stopped there by four guards who had us get out of the RV as they conducted a search (standard procedure, apparently!). Fortunately, there were no body searches.

Cape Henry is significant as the site of the first landing, on April 26, 1607, of the Jamestown colonists on what would become U.S. soil.





They continued on up the James River and settled in Jamestown on May 13, 1607. We loosely followed their path in just a fraction of the time and spent the afternoon touring the national historic park at Jamestown. As New Englanders, we found it particularly interesting - we've always been focused on the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth and don't know nearly as much about Jamestown's history.

As would be expected, Jamestown is in the midst of preparations for the 400th anniversary of its founding; Queen Elizabeth visited just a few days ago, but the really grand event is planned for this weekend: http://www.jamestown2007.org/