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