Following John Smith

On land once more, south of the river along Route 10, John Smith's Trail stops by Flowerdew Hundred Plantation. Still farmed today, Flowerdew's bottomlands along the river were cleared by Weyanock Indians, who built a village here. Later, the English laid claim to the property and settled it in 1619. About 200,000 artifacts have been recovered here, and a selection of items on display at the Flowerdew museum testifies to thousands of years of human presence on the land.

Further east, at Hog Island, which is a peninsula and includes a 3,908-acre Virginia Wildlife Management Area, the Jamestown settlers let their pigs loose to wander and, one presumes, to fatten up on their own. Today, entry by road to Hog Island takes you past the Surry Power Station, home to two nuclear reactors and a very serious guarded checkpoint, where you'll be expected to present proper identification before gaining access to the wildlife area. (Security alerts may on occasion close access.) Though generally closed to motor traffic, the dirt and gravel road through the wildlife area makes for an easy walk or mountain-bike ride.

Above a lake near the entrance, at least a half-dozen bald eagles were flying, with more blending into their perches on the surrounding trees. Also on the Virginia Birding & Wildlife Trail, marshy Hog Island occupies a sharp bend in the river diagonally across from Jamestown Island. With the wind playing lightly across the waters lapping at the shore and the sun shining brightly in a cloudless sky graced by soaring eagles, it was easy to imagine spending hours in dreamy reverie here.

"Come before the mosquitoes," Trollinger suggested.

Meanwhile, speaking of hogs, don't forget to pick up some ham or peanuts while in Surry, which is famous for both and home to the annual Pork, Peanut & Pine Festival at the trail's Chippokes Plantation State Park in July. Try Edwards Virginia Ham Shoppe in the town of Surry (11381 Rolfe Hwy., 757-294-3688) en route to the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry.

The auto ferry, run by the Virginia Department of Transportation, is a free, frequent and enjoyable 10- to 15-minute ride across the river (for schedule and information, visit http://www.virginiadot.org/comtravel/ferry-jamestown.asp ) that offers a terrific view of Jamestown Island, along with a glimpse of the re-created ships Godspeed, Susan Constant and Discovery, which brought the original settlers to Jamestown. (In May, a newly built version of the Godspeed will set sail for an 80-day tour of the East Coast, stopping in major cities.)

'Our Fort which was triangle-wise'

Jamestown is worth devoting a day to, at least in part because there are really two "Jamestowns" to visit. One is Jamestown Settlement, a living-history and educational center that includes the ships (which you can board to get a feel for just how claustrophobic they are), exhibit galleries and a film detailing the histories and cultures that came together at Jamestown, and a re-created Powhatan Indian village and James Fort, where you can engage in period activities, such as grinding corn or playing quoits, and learn from the costumed, interpretive staff going about the business of 17th-century life on the shores of the James.

The other Jamestown is Historic Jamestowne on Jamestown Island, site of the English settlement. For those who think history is, well, history -- cut-and-dried and forever entombed in textbooks -- prepare to learn otherwise. In 1994, archaeologist William Kelso began a dig to test the long-accepted belief that the remains of James Fort had been swallowed by the river. Within a little more than two years, the south and east palisade lines of the fort had been located -- on dry land -- and in the decade since, continuing excavations have uncovered an extraordinary trove of artifacts along with new and growing understanding about the settlement's history.

Now, the archaeological team is excavating a well that may have been the first dug on the site. A dozen or so feet down, staff archaeologist Luke Pecoraro seemed happy to be troweling through the mucky ooze -- and why shouldn't he be? Acknowledging albeit that he was spending his day in a dank pit, the objects he was prizing from the mud -- it looked like an oyster shell at the moment -- may last have been touched by a human four centuries ago. Items that would have deteriorated if exposed to air were preserved in the wet, anaerobic conditions (that humans can't seem to resist throwing things into a hole in the ground proves a great boon to archaeologists; you can find updates about what's being discovered at http://www.historicjamestowne.org/ ).

On the surface above, fellow staff archaeologist Danny Schmidt, explaining the work, said, "I have a lot of adrenaline moments. We're actively uncovering history in the birthplace of America, and we're adding so much to the story with the archaeological records."

The archaeologists and additional interpretive staff at Historic Jamestowne help visitors understand the significance of the finds and of the information to be derived from often subtle signs in the dirt. An "archaearium," a state-of-the-art interpretive and exhibit space, will open in early May, and a new National Park Service visitors center expected to open late in the year will tell the history of Jamestown before and after the arrival of the English.