On April 26, 1607, four English ships made landfall in the New World after nearly five months of sailing. They named their place of arrival Cape Henry, in honor of King James I of England’s eldest son, and erected a wooden cross to give thanks for a safe journey through the stormy seas and claim this land for Christian England.
The colonists’ stay was temporary, and after a few days, they would relocate up the James River and establish the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, James Fort, later known as Jamestown.
Cape Henry would prove vital in the demise of English colonization, too, for it was here that the French—under Admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse—would defeat a British fleet, preventing the British from resupplying Lord Cornwallis’ forces and further ensuring a patriot victory in the Revolutionary War.
In 1935, the Daughters of the American Colonists unveiled a granite cross to commemorate the arrival of those English colonists. Although the cross doesn’t overlook the shore, a short walk to the nearby overlook gives visitors a glance at the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay, which were instrumental in both the creation and independence of the English colonies.
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