| "We had built and finished our fort, which was | | | | 2007 the Civil War's most famous sea battle comes |
| triangle-wise, having three bulwarks at every corner | | | | back to roaring life at the Mariners' Museum's USS |
| like a half-moon," George Percy wrote several months | | | | Monitor Exhibition. The ironclads, the Union's Monitor |
| after 104 English men and boys had disembarked on a | | | | and the Confederate's Merrimac, flung cannon balls |
| swampy island on the James River in Virginia on May | | | | that bounced off each other as harmless as ping pong |
| 13, 1607. That first year only 38 would survive | | | | balls. You will see all this in the Battle Theatre with the |
| diseases, brackish water, Indian raids and starvation, | | | | floor reverberating to the sounds of gunfire. Later you |
| never imagining they had founded a new nation or that | | | | can view remains of the Monitor (which sank a few |
| 400 years later their achievement would be celebrated | | | | months after the inconclusive battle in a sudden |
| in a series of concerts, exhibitions and new attractions | | | | Atlantic squall) on display, including the turret, anchor |
| in Virginia under the banner, "Jamestown 2007."As the | | | | and even mustard bottles (used by the crew to |
| English settlers were sailing toward the New World, | | | | disguise the taste of un-refrigerated meats). The |
| the wildly erratic and wildly talented artist Caravaggio | | | | Mariner's Museum is located in Newport News, |
| had just killed an opponent over a "foul" call during a | | | | VA.The Jamestown Settlement (with re-creations of |
| tennis match in Rome. Four hundred years later his | | | | the original Jamestown Fort, an Indian village, and of the |
| massive "Still Life on a Stone Ledge" would be one of | | | | three ships that delivered the first settlers) has now |
| the highlights of Old Masters paintings from the Medici | | | | opened 30,000 feet of new galleries with life-size |
| Collection that just opened at the Muscarelle Museum | | | | buildings and exhibits. Here you can walk through a |
| on the campus of the College of William & Mary in | | | | 1607 London street scene with the sounds of a |
| Williamsburg.A few years later a young English girl | | | | horse-drawn carriage clopping toward you on the |
| (name unknown) responded to announcements that | | | | cobblestone street, and then stroll into a typical |
| women were needed as future wives and mothers | | | | Planter's House. Along the way you will see statues of |
| for the all-male Fort at Jamestown. She packed her | | | | many historic figures and artifacts from the three |
| limited belongings in a canvas bag and arrived with a | | | | cultures that blended on the tiny Jamestown island - |
| small group of other husband-seeking women in 1619. | | | | English, American Indian, and African. Later in 2007 |
| How could she know that one day her hopeful face | | | | "The World of 1607" will open with paintings, antiques |
| would greet visitors to the new Archaearium | | | | and weapons dating back four centuries will also open |
| (archeology museum) in the National Park on | | | | at the Jamestown Settlement.This information is from |
| Jamestown Island. It had been restored by forensic | | | | the Virginia Hospitality Suite website - , written by Hal |
| scientists from her skull found preserved in mud near | | | | Gieseking. His former positions include serving as |
| the Fort. This new museum, now open, offers views | | | | Consumer Editor of the Reader's Digest's Travel |
| of more than 1,000 recovered artifacts bring to life the | | | | Holiday magazine and Travel Consultant for CBS |
| stories of how the early settlers lived.On March 9, | | | | Morning News. |