Cobblestone articles from September 2006

Cobblestone archives from September 2006

Editor's note.(English settlement in Virginia)(Editorial)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The first permanent English settlement in America was called Jamestown, after King James (who also had a Bible named after him!). For hundreds of years, the original settlement was believed to have been lost under the waters of the James River...

Setting sail.(Sir Walter Raleigh)
September 1, 2006... Sir Walter Raleigh, military adventurer and friend of England's Queen Elizabeth I, watched as the crowds cheered for Sir Francis Drake in 1580. Drake was the first Englishman to sail around the world. His ship, the Golden Hind, had returned...

Dropping anchor: the settling of Jamestown.
September 1, 2006... On May 14, 1607, 104 weary men and boys dropped anchor in the New World. They had been traveling from England for almost five months, and they were glad to be finally on land. These settlers were sent by the Virginia Company of London,...

Tobacco supplying the whiffers.(Virginia)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... By the early 1600s, the newest fad in England was "whiffing," or inhaling tobacco by smoking it. To those who used it or sold it, tobacco was hailed not only for its pleasure but also as "an holy herb, an herb panacea," a cure-all for...

Strong leaders.(of Jamestown)
September 1, 2006... Jamestown today is viewed as the place where America laid its first English roots, but in 1607, the colony's success was by no means a certainty. Disease, hostile natives, and meager supplies were constant difficulties. The colony needed strong...

Perilous voyage.(sea travel in old age )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... By 1600, people had been traveling by sea for centuries, yet sailing long distances still was a very dangerous, uncertain venture. Pirates lurked along the coasts, ready to prey upon vessels carrying valuable cargo, so ships often traveled in...

The first Virginians.
September 1, 2006... We hope to plant a nation/Where none before hath stood," sang the English about Virginia. They obviously did not understand that native peoples already lived in the New World--ancient and proud Indian nations that had established systems of...

Pocahontas: Jamestown's friend.
September 1, 2006... Captured by Indians while exploring Virginia in December 1607, Captain John Smith was brought before Powhatan. Smith later described how the Indians had "two great stones" and seemed ready to "beate out his braines" with clubs. Then Pocahontas,...

A gift of friendship.(Christopher Newport)
September 1, 2006... Shouts of joy and Excitement from some 200 to 300 Powhatan Indians met Captain Christopher Newport and his men on the shores of the Indian village Werowocomoco (near Purtan Bay, on the York River) in February 1608. Nearby, Chief Powhatan sat on...

At work and play.(Jamestown, Virginia)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The first ships that carried English settlers to Jamestown also brought the colony's first children: James Brumfield, Samuel Collier, Richard Mutton, and Nathaniel Peacock. Although their exact ages are unknown (historical records list them...

Trade you ... beads for food?(trade relation between India and Virginia)
September 1, 2006... Earlier English attempts to settle the New World taught the Virginia Company that for its settlement to be successful, settlers needed a way to communicate with Indians. Different tribes spoke different languages, so the men required something...

Did you know?(Jamestown, Virginia)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Since 1994, the discovery of more than one million artifact--almost 50 percent of them dating to the first half of the 1600s--have revealed some interesting pieces of information about the early years of the Jamestown settlement. For example...

On the backs of laborers.(Jamestown)
September 1, 2006... The success of the new colony at Jamestown hinged on many factors, none more important than the need for a large labor force. Adventure and the prospect of opportunity were what originally attracted English men and women to leave home and cross...

The first Poles in America.(Jamestown, Virginia)
September 1, 2006... As the English made plans to colonize Virginia in the late 1500s, they realized that the area's natural resources could be used to produce pitch, tar, and other products used in England's shipbuilding industry. But the colony would need people...

Angelo's story.(africans in Jamestown )
September 1, 2006... Until recently, not much was known about the first Africans to come to Virginia. They certainly came unwillingly, part of a group captured by the Portuguese army from the West Central African land of Ndongo in 1619. While on their way to...

For the colonists, by the colonists.(meeting at Jamestown)
September 1, 2006... A meeting unlike any that had been held before in Jamestown took place on July 30, 1619. It was all unbearably hot and humid day, when most people would rather have been sitting in the shade or taking a dip in a stream than attending a formal...

James Fort found.(Virginia)
September 1, 2006... Almost immediately after they arrived in Jamestown in 1607, the colonists built a fort for protection from the Virginia Indians or the Spanish, whose ships might be in the area. By the mid-1620s, however, they no longer needed a fort. In the...

Trash and treasures.(found at Jamestown )
September 1, 2006... Archeologists have unearth thousands of artifacts at Jamestown, from buttons and beads to bones and breastplates. All these give us clues about how the settlers lived--and often died--at the young colony. Most people in the 17th century...

The great race.(Going GLOBAL)(near James River)
September 1, 2006... When the Jamestown settlers sailed up the James River in 1607, they were completing a mission that England had begun more than a century earlier: to establish colonies and trading routes beyond Europe. But they were already decades behind in...

Dig into a stratigraphy parfait.
September 1, 2006... Archaeologists like wells because they give a very different account of the past from those found in other features of a dig site. Typically, an unused well became a gigantic trash can. One of the most informative archaeological discoveries at...

Three ships.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... Late December 1606, three ships set sail. Their names were the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. They left from London, England. About 120 men and boys were onboard. They were headed for Virginia. McKennon Kessler ...

Autumn.(Poem)
September 1, 2006... AUTUMN Autumn is in the air. Leaves are still a bright summer green. Hiding in the afternoon sunshine, hanging on by a single stem, is a tiny berry. Soon, it will fall with the leaves to the...

A Jamestown Poem.(YOUR LETTERS)(Poem)
September 1, 2006... A JAMESTOWN POEM Jamestown, you are named after a king. Ask me more and I will tell you. Many years ago, you were settled. Even though it was hard, you began to grow. Settlers come, settlers go. Tobacco...

Introducing ... Ethan.(Ethan LaFrance appointed at Cobblestone)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... We are excited to introduce our new student advisor for COBBLESTONE. Ethan LaFrance has a real love of history and happens to be 12 years old--the perfect source, in our opinion, for helpful advice and good ideas related to the magazine. While...

Blood on the River: James Town, 1607.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... Blood on the River: James Town, 1607 by Elisa Carbone (New York: Penguin. 2006, www.penguin.com) is the fictional tale of Samuel Collier, a young English boy who becomes the page of Captain John Smith. Samuel can't believe his good fortune when...

Jamestown Colony.(BOOKS TO READ)(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... Jamestown Colony by Gail Sakurai (New York: Children's Press, 1997, library publishing.scholastic.com/) uses historical sketches and contemporary photos to enhance the story of Jamestown's early years. Grades 3 to 5.

James Towne: Struggle for Survival.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... James Towne: Struggle for Survival by Marcia Sewall (New York: Atheneum Books, 2001, www.SimonSaysKids.com) tells the story of the settling of Jamestown through the fictional voice of a carpenter who arrives on one of the first ships to land at...

The Double Life of Pocahontas.(BOOKS TO READ)(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... The Double Life of Pocahontas by Jean Fritz (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1983, www.penguinputnam.com/) describes how difficult it must have been for Pocahontas to live in and try to understand two completely different worlds--her Powhatan...

Miracle: The True Story of the Wreck of the Sea Venture.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... Miracle: The True Story of the Wreck of the Sea Venture by Gail Langer Karwoski (Plain City, Ohio: Darby Creek Publishing, 2004, www.darbycreekpublishing.com) captures the drama of the Sea Venture, the flagship of a 1609 supply fleet (heading...

Lifeways: The Powhatan.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... Lifeways: The Powhatan by Raymond Bial (Salt Lake City, Utah: Benchmark Books, 2001, www.benchmarkbooks.com) describes the ways and customs of the Native Americans who befriended the Jamestown settlers. Grades 4 to 7.

Braving the New World, 1619-1784.(BOOKS TO READ)(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... Braving the New World, 1619-1784 by Don Nardo (New York: Chelsea House, 1995, www.chelseahouse.com) describes the experience of the first Africans in the New World, with a look at slavery and how it impacted their lives. Grade 5 and up.

To Conquer Is to Live: The Life of Captain John Smith of Jamestown.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... To Conquer Is to Live: The Life of Captain John Smith of Jamestown by Kieran Doherty (Brookfield, Connecticut: Twenty First Century Books, 2001, www.millbrookpress.com) provides a thorough examination of the life of this English explorer and...

On the Web and places to visit.(Jamestown)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Many of the following Web sites can be accessed by first going to www.jamestown1607.org. Currently, three institutions interpret the Jamestown story: APVA Preservation Virginia, the National Park Service, and the Jamestown-Yorktown...

More media.(The New World)(Movie review)
September 1, 2006... A big-screen theater movie called The New World was released last year and should be available through rentals or libraries. The film captures 17th-century life in Virginia as the original English settlers and the American Indians first...

Our Strange New Land.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... (New York: Scholastic Books, 2000, www.scholastic.com/). Imagine packing all your belongings and moving with your family to a colony on Mars. This is essentially what children, such as the fictional nine-year-old Elizabeth Barker, did in the...

Flashback to ... the people of Williamsburg.(English colonists)
September 1, 2006... When the first English colonists landed in North America in 1607 and claimed Virginia for the Crown of England, they found a strange new wilderness with dense forests, broad and shining rivers, and fertile fields. Virginia became England's...

Brain ticklers.
September 1, 2006... GIVE YOUR BRAIN A LITTLE TICKLE TO SEE HOW WELL YOU READ AND UNDERSTOOD THIS ISSUE ON JAMESTOWN. IF YOU BELIEVE THE ANSWER TO BE FALSE, GIVE TOURSELF THE ULTIMATE TEST AND SEE WHETHER YOU CAN EXPLAIN WHY IT IS FALSE. ANSWERS BELOW. 1. SIR...

A final word.
September 1, 2006... ALTHOUGH THERE WAS CONFLICT BETWEEN THE NATIVE VIRGINIANS AND THE FIRST EUROPEANS, THE TWO GROUPS ALSO ENGAGED IN TRADE. WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO THE ORIGINAL SETTLERS OF JAMESTOWN IF THERE HAD NOT BEEN ANY INDIANS WITH WHOM TO...

Cartoon connection with Ebenezer & The Colonel.(Cartoon)
September 1, 2006... Life sure was TOUGH for an EARLY SETTLER. Yeah, MUCH tougher Than some of those TV SURVIVAL PROGRAMS! I bet I could come up with the ULIMATE REALITY SHOW... Welcome to JAMESTOWN ISLAND! After five horrific months at sea, Your job...