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August 15, 2015 (Saturday)

Today was move-in day at VCU, so we decided to do something outside of the city until the roads were fully open and less crowded.  I was very happy with our choice, Henricus Historical Park.  Henricus Citie was the second settlement in the New World (1611) and until this park opened there was nothing to mark it.  This was actually the site of many of the crucial historical events that are associated for most of us with Jamestown (Pocahontas, John Rolfe‘s tobacco discovery, etc).  It was also home to the first hospital and college in the English colonies.

We arrived about 10:30 and were greeted by a friendly worker after we used the restrooms (admission is $8/adult, $6/child).  The park starts in a re-creation of an Arrohatek (part of the Powhatan) village.  There are a few houses, totem poles and some of the craft work and tools of the natives.  There was also a period dressed interpreter making clay cooking pots and beads that interacted with us and was a big hit with Fionnuala (3) in particular.  The kids really enjoyed the village.

The kids explore a native canoe

Arrohatek Village

Next we entered into the rebuilt representation of the fort (much smaller than the 7 acre original).  There were a few more interpreters inside that fort that happily inacted with us.  I found this to be much better than the Jamestown Settlement.  Our children were a little younger than the optimal age, but they very much enjoyed exploring the protective platforms and watch tower as well as the pig, cats and goats.  Inside Rev. Whitaker’s house was an especially good interpreter that explained the transition that Pocahontas had to make to become English.  Another interesting thing we learned is that a lot of (if not most of) the furniture that they use on site is from film, The New World.

The kids celebrate with dancing on the gun platform at Henricus Citie just as they did in Quin, Ireland and Málainn Bhig, Ireland last year.

Henricus Citie

I wish that this had been built when I was in school as it gives a better idea of what life was like for the early colonists after the starving times in Jamestown.  Our visit was an hour and a half, but we didn’t visit the bluff overlooking the river.  The site is also located inside the Dutch Gap Conservation Area and contains about three miles of trails through the woods.

The kids picked up an item each in the gift shop, which I thought had a really nice selection of items.  Then we headed to Chick-Fil-A in Chester where we ate lunch and the kids played in the playground.  We then headed home and took the kids to the pool in our hotel.

After we finished at the pool we ordered food from Olive Garden again.  The food was so good last time and it is so convenient to the hotel that we decided to get food there again.  It was just as delicious as last time.  We are still amazed at how good the food was!

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