ove Jamestown, from its mouth to a point as far
upstream perhaps as the mouth of the Appomattox River near present
Hopewell. Parties went ashore to investigate promising areas, and
communication was established with the native tribes. On May 12, a
point of land at the mouth of Archer's Hope, now College Creek, a little
below Jamestown, was examined in detail. From this site the ships moved
directly to Jamestown, where they arrived May 13. On May 14, they landed
and broke ground for the fort and the town that ultimately won the
distinction of the first permanent English settlement in America and the
Capital of the Virginia Colony for almost a century.

In May 1607, the days were warm; the nights, cool. Life was stirring in
the wilderness and nature had been generous, the colonists thought.
There were fruits, abundant timber, deer and other animals for food, and
a not too numerous native population. The hot, humid weather of
midsummer and the snow, ice, and emptiness of winter were not in
evidence. The choice of a site for settlement was both good and bad. The
anchorage for ships at Jamestown was good. The Island had not then
become a true island and had an easily controlled dry land isthmus
connection with the mainland. As the river narrows here, it was one of
the best control points on the James. It had been abandoned by the
Indians; and it was a bit inland, hence somewhat out of range of the
Spanish menace. Arable land on the Island was limited by inlets and
"guts." The marshes bred in abundance, even the deadly mosquitoes whose
forebears had been brought from the West Indies in the colonists' own
vessels; and, with contamination so easy, drinking water was a problem.
All of these facts became evident to these first English Americans as
the months went by.

When the orders were opened after arrival in Virginia, it was found that
the governing body in the Colony was made up of seven councilors. Edward
Maria Wingfield, of gallant service in the Low Countries; Bartholomew
Gosnold and Christopher Newport, both seasoned seamen and captains; John
Ratcliffe, who piloted the _Discovery_ to Virginia; John Martin, an
earlier commander under Drake; John Smith, already an experienced
adventurer; and George Kendall, a cousin of Sir Edwin Sandys who later
was to play a dominant role in the Virginia Company. To this list can
be added other prominent names: George Percy, brother to the Earl of
Northumberland and a trained sailor; Gab