Jamestown: Surviving The Fort

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What was it like to live in the fort at Jamestown? Who was in charge? What provisions were there? And why is this considered to be the birthplace of enslavement in the United States?

Don is joined by Jamestowne Rediscovery's Willie Balderson to dive into the years following the establishment of the British settlement. Join them to hear more about the lives of those who made the journey to the unknown in the 17th Century.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	London in the 1620s is expanding at an extraordinary pace.
0:06.5	With a population surpassing 200,000 at the turn of the century,
0:10.7	the city's houses are linked not only by roads,
0:13.6	but by elm-piped watermains and licensed hackney carriages,
0:18.0	early predecessors to modern taxis.
0:20.7	London streets team with a diverse
0:22.6	mix of people from across the British Isles and beyond. While the poor crowd into makeshift
0:27.5	dwellings built wherever space allows, the wealthy moved through the city in French-tailored
0:32.7	clothing of indigo-died fabrics and silk stockings. Their meals are seasoned with pepper,
0:39.6	imported by the East India Company, arriving at the docks in Blackwall. But meanwhile, across
0:45.6	the Atlantic, many of their compatriots who set sail from this very stretch of the Thames
0:50.3	over the past two decades, struggle to survive. Numbering barely a thousand,
0:55.9	they face constant threats, reprisals from Native Americans whose land they occupy, disease
1:01.5	bred from a lack of infrastructure, and the ever-present risk of starvation.
1:06.5	Music Hello and welcome. I'm Don Wildman, and this is American History Hit.
1:20.9	In this third episode of our Jamestown series, we're taking a closer look at what it was actually like to live in Jamestown. Who was in control?
1:29.7	How did they keep the peace in the fort? And how did they resolve the ever-present challenge of creating
1:34.7	and then maintaining a workforce? To find out, I am joined by Willie Ballerson, director of living
1:40.8	history and historic trades at Jamestown Rediscovery.
1:45.8	Greetings, Willie. Nice to be with you.
1:47.2	So happy to be with you.
1:52.4	In the previous two episodes, we covered the birth of Jamestown, and then we discussed the relations with indigenous populations. We are going to talk in this episode about more
	...

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