Cape Henry Memorial Cross

Cape Henry Memorial Cross. . , On April 26, 1607 three small ships approached the Chesapeake Bay from the southeast and made their landfall at Cape Henry, the southernmost promontory of that body of water. The Virginia Company expedition had set sail from England in December, 1606. Released from their four month confinement, the colonists, led by the Reverend Robert Hunt, gave thanks to God for their safe voyage. Before them lay the vast American wilderness known as Virginia., Captain Christopher Newport, the commander of the expedition, went ashore with a party of thirty to explore this new land filled with "faire meadows," "Fresh-waters," and "goodly tall Trees." Near the end of the day an encounter with Indians left two of the party wounded., The next day a second party was put ashore to "recreate themselves" and to assemble a small boat (shallop). This "shallop" was launched and used to explore the lower reaches of the Chesapeake Bay., On April 29, the colonists, possibly using English oak already fashioned for the purpose, "set up a Crosse at Chesapioc Bay, and named that place Cape Henry" for Henry, Prince of Wales, oldest son of King James I. They were then ready to follow their instructions to push deeper into Virginia to seek a site suitable for settlement., Early on April 30, they moved to a new anchorage at a place named "Cape Comfort" (Old Point Comfort), shortly thereafter they entered the James River. After two weeks of searching along both sides of the river, they established a permanent settlement at Jamestown on May 13, 1607., This memorial cross, erected in 1935 by the Daughters of the American Colonists, serves as a reminder of that original oak cross planted by a group of Englishmen in search of gold, adventure and natural resources. But more importantly, Cape Henry marks the beginning in a continuing chain of events which saw the shaping of American culture by English institutions and customs.