Despair. Desperation. Sorrow. Hunger. These are the feelings of the colonists who were in the midst of the “Starving Time” at Jamestowne during the winter of 1609-1610. That harsh winter left many of these colonists dead due to starvation and poor drinking water. This particular episode during the humble beginnings of Jamestown, Virginia echoes many of the struggles the first colonists to the New World endured.

There are heroes to that story, in the form of John Rolfe & Pocahantas whose names alone are enshrined in American lore. John Rolfe will reach the island of Jamestown and with him, South American tobacco seeds that will change the direction of the colony from despair to an economic powerhouse. Pocahontas plays a significant role in an attempt to establish and maintain peaceful relations between her local Native American tribe and the incoming Englishmen who sought a new life for themselves on virgin soil.

Before John Role made his arrival to this southeastern corner of Virginia, Captain John Smith had led the first group of colonists to settle here in the spring of 1607. His efforts to establish a colony for the Virginia Company of London would prove successful as it would become the first permanent English settlement of the New World. His leadership would have to overcome various challenges in those early days, including ordering a work program that simply said, “Those who do not work, will not eat.” He sought to maintain discipline in the new James Fort, with the goal of not having the colony suffer the fate of the Roanoke Colony some twenty years earlier.

Unlike the Plymouth Rock colony that will come in 1620, this settlement was to be an economic venture as evidenced by the establishment of a glass-blowing operation. This operation would utilitze the sand nearby to create any number of glassware, including tumbles and cups. If you visit historic Jamestowne today, you can even view this recreation of this operation, using the same tools and techniques from the 17th century.

In addition to becoming a permanent colony for the English, it also would host the first representative assembly in North America in 1619. That meeting brought together representatives from different parts of the colony in an effort to establish a democratic government. This gathering of delegates will help shape the founding of our nation’s government in 1787 when we declare ourselves a republic with the people participating in the democratic process through elections.

The bravery and courage by these first colonists to seek life in a new land continued further north in 1620 when the Puritans would escape the persecution of the Church of England.