Colonial Jamestown, assailed by climate change, is facing disaster

[Yonnie3]

From this morning's Washington Post online.

I was a frequent visitor to the island riding my bike from my home. I recall my father having to leave the island by walking over a flooded bridge with a rope attached. This was after a 50s hurricane put the James River in flood. That bridge was later replaced by a causeway. He worked cleaning and preserving artifacts there.

Colonial Jamestown, assailed by climate change, is facing disaster

Chronic flooding lands 400-year-old Virginia site on the endangered list

By Michael E. Ruane
Today at 5:10 a.m. EDT

JAMESTOWN, Va. — The dig site where archaeologist Sean Romo has just found the ancient fragment of armor is surrounded by a double layer of green sandbags to keep out water.

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The 400-year-old colonial site here is losing its battle with climate change, experts say, and Wednesday the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed it on a list of the country’s most endangered historical places.

“Jamestown is a world-class archaeological site and a place of national and international significance,” said James Horn, president of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation, the nonprofit that conducts archaeology and cares for the original settlement site. (The trust listing does not include the adjacent National Park Service Jamestown location.)

The threat to the site of one of the nation’s “very first cultural hubs … brings home the challenges that climate change pose to our entire society,” he said.

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https://wapo.st/3LLdBHg (No Paywall)

[underpants]

1. Odd that I rarely went to Jamestown

Williamsburg I was all over but I only went to Jamestown on school field trips.

Not surprising given the absolutely miserable of a spot they picked.

[Yonnie3]

2. We often went there bird watching. Mom's passion.

Yes, it is a miserable, mosquito ridden spot that had only brackish well water for them to drink.

[Zambero]

3. Currently vacationing in Williamsburg

I spent the day in Yorktown yesterday. It's a lovely spot and as far as location goes is the antithesis of swampy Jamestown. Rich in history as well. The 1781 military siege all but ended the British effort to retain control of the colonies.

[applegrove]

4. We visited when I was a kid. How harrowing it must have been to live there

400 years ago.