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The Virginia Adventure: Roanoke to James Towne: An Archaeological and Historical Odyssey

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I am not an historian and primarily bought this book because I was confused by my children's elementary school's lessons on Jamestown. Well, this book was a fascinating trip - gives great insight into the whole turn of the 17th century era as well as a "never will be found in elementary school textbooks" look at the beginnings of the US, and true aspirations and difficulties of the English adventurers. With his dry wit and acceptance of human shortcomings, Mr. Hume managed to make the journey, even when macabre and disillusioning, enjoyable. Details and difficulties of the archeology are put into the context of both the original settlers and the archeologists of the past century.

One of the best resources for preparing for the forthcoming quadricentenary of the founding of Jamestowne. A must-read to learn about the genesis of our American culture and history.

Anyone with a serious interest in colonial Virginias knows (or ought to know) about this author. I first encountered him though his earlier work on Tidewater archaeology, Martin's Hundred, which was a marvel of both scholarship and accessible writing. This subsequent work shows that wasn't just a fluke. Roanoke was the project of Sir Walter Raleigh, the first attempt in 1586 to plant an English settlement in "Virginia" (which meant the entire eastern seaboard), and it was a dismal failure for an assortment of reasons. When the supply ship, which was delayed far beyond the intended schedule, finally returned, the settlement on the swampy little island behind the barrier islands of North Carolina was completely empty, thereby creating America's first unsolved mystery. There have been many theories since, but most .likely the English settlers were dispossessed by the local Indians and either killed or carried off and absorbed. (The Indians weren't naïve about the long-range intentions of these light-skinned strangers.) But Noël Hume is an archaeologist and he's less interested in speculating about the fate of the colonists than in uncovering the traces they left behind -- of which there aren't many. However, being the chief archaeologist at Williamsburg, he's also more interested in his own back yard; Roanoke takes up less than a quarter of the book, the rest of which is given over to the establishment and survival struggles of Jamestown, the first (more or less) successful English colony, which was begun in 1607, a generation after Raleigh. It's amazing that Jamestown held on at all, given the lack of organization of those involved, their fixation on discovering gold rather than planting crops, their tendency to strut and argue among themselves, and their general lack of understanding of how to deal with the natives. And then there's Capt. John Smith, one of the greatest self-promoting blowhards America has ever produced. When Jamestown, which was very poorly situated for any purpose, was finally abandoned in favor of Williamsburg, the signs of the first settlement largely faded away, though the land continued to be planted and lived on. Subsequent generations knew where Jamestown's fort and village were, more or less, and amateur historians and plundering treasure hunters made a mess of the site, to the grief of modern archaeologists. Noël Hume leads the reader carefully through the story of the settlement's creation, pinning down his descriptions with the artifacts people have found and their interpretations, and comparing life in Jamestown with other sites in Virginia as well as with contemporary Britain. He tells the stories of Capt. Smith and Pocahontas and John Rolfe, and of all the less well-known early settlers (some of my own forebears among them), citing historical sources and sifting fact from folklore. And he does it all in an elegant, self-deprecating, and slightly cynical style that is a joy to read. The last section of the book deals with the modern rivalries among archaeologists and self-important Virginia patriots, which still continue. And the extended bibliography will keep you busy well into the future.

The Virginia Adventure, Roanoke to James Towne: An Archaeological and Historical Odyssey. By Ivor Noel Hume. Edited by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 1994. Xxviii + 491pp.)

The Virginia Adventure, Roanoke to James Towne: An Archaeological and Historical Odyssey is a hungry quest for the answers to the mysteries of Americas first permanent settlement, James Towne.

European trade routes were extremely dangerous before, during, and after Columbuss time. Untrustworthy mercenary soldiers, treacherous roads, and overpriced commodities did their best to set Europeans looking seaward for new, promising trade routes. Spain took the opportunity and sent the eager Christopher Columbus out to sea, not expecting much in return for their financial support. Though Columbus discovered a New World, he remained convinced until the day he died that he had set foot on the shores of East China and India. Spain and Portugal were quick to send out more explorers who soon exploited the wealth of South and Central American natives. News of Spains success was slow to reach English ears, but when it finally did, it caused a flurry of urgency, and thus began the race to colonize America.
England pushed early settlers into the Atlantic, where they quickly took Roanoke Island as their first habitation. Virginia proved to be a foreboding place for the new arrivals with its hot climate and bad Indian relations. The Roanoke fort and settlement were soon abandoned; the inhabitants vanished, never to be seen again. The first permanent settlement, James Town, was established soon after Roanokes demise. James Town experienced many hardships from the start. The food supplies were almost always low, at one time to the point that the colonists resorted to eating dug-up corpses. Relations with the local natives were not always friendly, not that the colonists helped the situation. England was also preoccupied with internal affairs and could not always send supply ships. Disease ravaged the town and wreaked havoc on the colonists moral and health, taking hundreds of lives over the course of James Towns existence. Ivor Noel Hume explains that despite all of these hardships, early settlers established a permanent settlement from which America later sprung.
Ivor Noel Hume, a free-lance writer and an archaeologist, was born in London. He studied at Framlingham College and St. Lawrence College in England. He is currently the chairman of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities Jamestown Rediscovery Advisory Board, though he has held other honored positions in England. He has written other books on colonial America, such as Here Lies Virginia (1963), A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America (1970), and Martins Hundred (1982).
Mr. Noel Hume openly states in the preface that he chose to, whenever possible, use the eyewitness accounts of the involved persons instead of paraphrasing their evidence(xxiii). He is careful to provide the reader with many records from different, first-person accounts as opposed to choosing a favored or cherished story. Mr. Noel Hume does not jump to far-fetched conclusions, but instead, he uses the provided information to produce logical explanations. He does not seem to take the side of any race, nationality, or gender. Archaeology is used on a large scale in this book to convey his messages.
Although The Virginia Adventure is packed full of differing eyewitness accounts, useful archaeological information, and scholarly insights, it is by no means written eloquently. Mr. Noel Hume jumps frequently from story to archaeology, which confuses the reader and disrupts the colorful flow of text needed to appropriately convey a message.
The Virginia Adventure differs from other books and writings on colonial America in that it provides the reader with a variety of first person testimonies, points of view, and experiences. Ivor Noel Hume also adds the element of archaeological expeditions and research into the James Town and Roanoke sites, bringing yet more insight to the table. He explains the intricate complications of shaky relations with the Native Americans, the English crowns regrettable apathy towards James Town, and the mysteries that surround the disappearance of hundreds. Other text and reading books on colonial America tend to adopt a single explanation of a certain situation where there are different accounts in order to make the story simpler and more comprehensible. Mr. Noel Hume blends first and second person accounts and archeological elements together, though it is not particularly enjoyable to read.
Ivor Noel Hume accomplished his goal of shedding new light from many different perspectives on colonial America in The Virginia Adventure. This book has contributed numerous insights into early America, and for that, it should be praised.

History 151

October 2, 2001