Lost Chapters
Jamestown: Emerald Location
Jamestown, Virginia, was the first permanent English settlement in North America. About 104 English colonists, sent by the Virginia Company, chose the site on May 13, 1607. It survived deadly early years to serve as Virginia's capital until 1699.
- Cost
- 4 crystals
- Type
- Location · City
- Color
- Emerald (Frontier & Explorers)
- Rarity
- Common
- Set
- Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)
End of your turn: if you have 2 or less Life, Recover 1.
Colonial settlement proving that with enough stubbornness, even the worst-planned community can eventually succeed.
The real history
Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in North America. The Virginia Company of London, working under a charter from King James I, paid for the voyage. Three ships, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery, sailed from England in December 1606. On May 13, 1607, 104 English colonists chose Jamestown Island as their settlement, and they soon began building a three-sided fort.
The early years were deadly. Settlers suffered from disease and food shortages, and gifts of food from the Powhatan Indians helped keep the colony alive. In the winter of 1609 to 1610, known as the Starving Time, roughly 80 to 90 percent of the colonists died. Relief arrived in May 1610, when survivors of a shipwreck on Bermuda reached Jamestown.
In 1612 John Rolfe introduced a tobacco strain that sold well, which finally gave the colony a way to earn money. The year 1619 was a turning point. On July 30 the first representative assembly met in Virginia. That year the first documented Africans arrived in the colony to work in the tobacco fields, an early chapter in the long history of slavery in Virginia, and women were brought to the colony to marry settlers.
In 1624 the king canceled the Virginia Company's charter, and Virginia became a royal colony. Jamestown stayed the capital until 1699, when the government moved to Williamsburg. Today the site is part of Colonial National Historical Park.
Sources
- A Short History of Jamestown, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park
- Chronology of Jamestown Events, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park
- Virginia: Colonial National Historical Park, National Park Service
How the card plays
Jamestown costs 4 crystals and is an Emerald Location. Its text reads: at the end of your turn, if you have 2 or less Life, Recover 1. It does nothing while you are healthy, but it becomes a steady lifeline once you are in danger.
Treat it as insurance for a losing race. Play it early, because it only helps after your Life has already dropped to 2 or less, and then protect that Life total. John Jay, Constitution Drafter, John Jay, has Guard, and he Recovers 1 when you play him with another Founder in play, so he blocks while the Location heals you. The Gettysburg Address, The Gettysburg Address, Recovers 2 on the turn you need it most. Parley, Parley, cancels an attack against you, buying the extra turn the Location needs to heal you.
- Playable in decks led by Amelia Earhart, and by any Traveler Leader whose colors include Emerald.
- In the Earhart starter deck (1 copy). Deck code:
LC2-Ax8CIAEhASIBIwIkAiUBJgEnASgCKQEqAisBLAEtAS4BLwEwATEBMgEzATQBNQE2ATcBOAE5AToBOwE8AT0BZQJ0Anuc - A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.
Questions about Jamestown
What was the Starving Time at Jamestown?
It was the severe winter of 1609 to 1610, when hunger and disease killed roughly 80 to 90 percent of the colonists.
When did Jamestown stop being the capital of Virginia?
In 1699, when the capital of Virginia moved from Jamestown to Williamsburg.
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