Jamestown Church

Jamestown Church, partially built in 1639 in Jamestown, Virginia, is one of the oldest surviving buildings built by Europeans in original thirteen colonies that became the United States. It is part of Jamestown National Historic Site owned by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.

Construction on the current church tower began in 1639 taking 4 years to complete. The rest of the original church was destroyed after abandonment in 1750 when a new church was built 3 miles away. Next to the original tower is a church building built in the twentieth century on the cobblestone foundations of the older 1617 church and brick foundations of the 1639 church. The present church was built by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in 1906, and the original foundations may be viewed behind glass in the walls. Nearby St. Luke's Church (Smithfield, Virginia) is a similar church surviving from 1632.

External links and references

* [http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/jamestown-churches.htm National Park Service Site on Jamestown Churches]
* [http://www.apva.org/tour/chtour.html APVA Site on the church]