Jamestown (recreated-not the original site) has so much potential...but was really a let down. They have a fabulous museum (that was a little hard to follow) Realistic Ships built to scale, A village (that was in many ways similar to what might have been at Jamestown, at some point, but certainly not the first year). But the docents were either grumpy, useless, offensive, off their rockers or stern.
Seriously the first docent we encountered literally gave us the onceover and asked "Can I help you"...not as in "I would like to help you"...but she said it in the same tone you might use if a strange man tried to peek under your dressing room door. We were exactly two minutes late for the movie (you know the movie that would explain the entire history of Jamestown to us in a tidy 20 minute presentation). Well she wouldn't let us in...she shooed us on our way.
As a person who has worked in many volunteer roles, quite often dealing with other volunteers, I have learned to set my expectations low...but at a museum...I expect the docents to at least feign interest.
The museum was really well done except for the fact that chronologically it made very little sense. So after losing each other multiple times we headed out to the Native American village.
So the village itself was very well done. My chief complaint is that nothing is labeled. Nope...not a thing. You basically had to guess what you were seeing. "does this look like a dugout canoe to you" or "I think this is a game of some sort." There were volunteers dressed up as Native Americans. Apparently you had to talk to them to learn about things in the village. A nice concept-except many of them were discussing their weekend plans amongst themselves...and ignoring the visitors. And speaking of these volunteers... let me paint a picture for you...think old, overweight, very WHITE people dressed up in questionably authentic, off the shoulder (toga looking) "costumes" with modern hairstyles, jewelry and glasses. It reminded me of the Sorority who dressed in black face and served watermelon and fried chicken at a party.
Because our studies of Jamestown focused on the first year, I was disappointed to see this village which seemed way more awesome than what we studied. And, I'm not an expert, but if I had to guess the village was furnished with a lot of things that were from the late 1800's...if that.
I guess thatching a roof in levis is at least sort of authentic.
"So are you headed to Red Lobster after this?"...."No I thought I'd head to the mall for mustache wax"...
This guy was like the worst High School teacher ever. He kept asking the kids random questions and if they were wrong he really let them have it..."NO..NO...That's wrong" he would say.
The boat guys were much more talkative and helpful. They were surly old white guys...much more authentic playing surly old white-guy explorers... And these boats really gave me perspective. They were so small. The ceilings were low and the bunks were tiny...and most passengers didn't get a bunk. They slept on the floor with the livestock. Although as the docent pointed out. They were probably sleeping with the livestock back in England anyway.
Other than being a little "too" in character these guys were pretty great.
"I don't even fit in here and I'm just a kid"
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