Save Our History — Season 1, Episode 27: Secrets of Jamestown

Episode synopsis

In 1607, 105 Englishmen crowded onto three ships to cross the Atlantic in search of a new world. They built a fort at Jamestown and established trade with the indigenous people. But things turned bad quickly--the natives became hostile, the land was unforgiving, and disease and hardship overtook them. Just how did Jamestown, long thought to be a near-failure due to its colonists' incompetence, survive to become the first permanent English settlement despite all odds? A 10-year-long archaeological dig is unearthing evidence every day that tells a different story. Host Steve Thomas climbs down a 400-year-old well, wades into a swamp filled with 1,000-year-old trees, and takes us to a firing range, a sculptor's studio, and right into a forensics lab to piece together the real story of Jamestown Colony.

About Save Our History

Save Our History is a program sponsored by The History Channel. It is a national history education and preservation program that raises awareness and support for preserving local and national heritage. It is partnered with Preserve America, a White House initiative created by Laura Bush on March 3, 2003, to encourage the preservation of the United States's cultural heritage. The show is hosted by Edward Herrmann. In 2006, Save Our History added the Teacher and Student of the Year Awards. The award is given to teachers and students who help preserve historical sites in their communities. One of the sites included the first Union Army camp for African Americans in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania during the American Civil War. The other sites were the Mars Train Station in Mars, Pennsylvania and the Strand Theater in Zelienople, Pennsylvania.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1The Underground Railroad
• E2Dear Home: Letters from World War I
• E3The Declaration of Independence
• E4Frontier Homes
• E5The World War II Memorial
• E6National D-Day Museum
• E7Grand Central
• E8The White House: 200th Anniversary
• E9Dear Home: Letters from WWI
• E10Civil War Battlefields
• E11America's Most Endangered 2001
• E12The Missouri