Sam McGowan, a Powhatan Indian, arrived in Robertsdale on Monday to begin delivering presentations on Jamestown at the high school. The first successful English colony in America, Jamestown recently celebrated it’s 400th anniversary on May 14 this year. He will be making five presentations Thursday as well as one Friday at 8 a.m.

The event has been a cooperative effort between the states of Virginia and Alabama, and (the organization) and RHS history teacher Joan McIntosh had to secure special permission to make it a reality. A number of invitations have been sent out, including one to President George W. Bush.

The exhibit will highlight the extraordinary circumstances and ordinary people that fortuitously came together and created what would later become the foundation for the New World. There will be over 50 reproduction artifacts like those found at the archeological site, as well as English and Indian colonial era clothing. The audience will also have the opportunity to get a hands-on experience with a tool making exhibition.

Founded in 1607 by the Virginia Company; a merger of two English joint stock companies chartered by King James the year before, Jamestown would be the first glint of hope, after no less than 18 previous attempts at European colonization in North America.

After a horrific five-month journey, three ships (The Susan Constant, The Discovery, and The Godspeed) made landfall in April of 1607. After much debate, the colonists chose an island on the James River which they would christen Jamestown. The following year, more ships arrived bringing expert craftsmen from Poland and Germany, as well as more supplies. They helped the colonist construct America’s first factories which would produce America’s first export: glass.

It was also at Jamestown that, in 1619, America’s first representative assembly convened to discuss matters of governance and would later establish the first “equal and uniform government” in Virginia. It isn’t until one begins to see the reoccurrence of the word ‘first’, that the gravity of the importance of Jamestown starts to become real. It was the template from under which our nation as we know it was wrought. Happy Birthday Jamestown.