The remains of the church where Pocahontas married an English tobacco farmer have been discovered at Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the New World, archaeologists announced in October.
In the narrow, mud-walled, and well-lighted church, the daughter of Chief Powhatan and John Rolfe wed in spring 1614, ushering in eight years of peace between the colonists and the Powhatan Indians, according to William Kelso, director of archaeology for Historic Jamestowne. The public-private partnership works to preserve and interpret the settlement site.
The nuptials were documented in a letter written by Sir Thomas Dale, governor of Virginia, from Jamestown in June 1614.
“Powhatan’s daughter … is since married to an English gentleman of good understanding, as by his letter unto me containing the reasons for his marriage of her … another knot to bind this peace the stronger … her uncle gave her to him in the church,” Dale wrote.
In a 1610 written account, Jamestown colonist William Strachey described the chapel as “very light within” and “trimmed up with divers flowers.” Read more
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