Preservation
By 1893, the site of Jamestown was owned by Mr and Mrs Edward Barney, who donated 221⁄2 acres (9.1 ha) of land, including the 17th-century tower of the Jamestown Church, to Preservation Virginia. By this time, erosion from the river had eaten away the island's western shore; visitors began to conclude that the site of James Fort lay completely underwater. With federal assistance, a seawall was constructed in 1900 to protect the area from further erosion. In 1934, Colonial National Historical Park obtained the remaining 1,500-acre (610 ha) island and partnered with Preservation Virginia to preserve the area and present it to visitors in an educational manner. The site was designated Jamestown National Historic Site on December 18, 1940, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. In 1994, with the quadricentennial year approaching, Preservation Virginia agreed to fund a 10-year archaeological project called Jamestown Rediscovery to search for any remains of James Fort. By 1996, Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists had found James Fort, which had only lost a western bulwark to river erosion. Excavations continuing on the site have uncovered evidence of the Starving Time winter of 1609/10, the arrival of the survivors from the Bermuda shipwreck "Sea Venture," and close to 1.5 million artifacts. The colonists' structures have been identified including temporary soldiers' shelters, row houses, wells, the storehouse, and the 1608 church.
In 2006, many preparations were underway for the Jamestown 2007 event celebrating the 400th anniversary of the settlement. Queen Elizabeth II visited Historic Jamestowne on May 4, 2007 — she had previously visited the park in October 1957. As noted by Queen Elizabeth during her state visit to the U.S. in 2007, Jamestowne was the beginning, not just of America, but of the British Empire.
Read more about this topic: Historic Jamestowne
Famous quotes containing the word preservation:
“The preservation of health is a duty. Few seem conscious that there is such a thing as physical morality.”
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
“Men are not therefore put to death, or punished for that their theft proceedeth from election; but because it was noxious and contrary to men’s preservation, and the punishment conducing to the preservation of the rest, inasmuch as to punish those that do voluntary hurt, and none else, frameth and maketh men’s wills such as men would have them.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“It is my hope to be able to prove that television is the greatest step forward we have yet made in the preservation of humanity. It will make of this Earth the paradise we have all envisioned, but have never seen.”
—Joseph O’Donnell. Clifford Sanforth. Professor James Houghland, Murder by Television, just before he demonstrates his new television device (1935)