The Bones of Our Past: Jamestown and the Making of America

2019 Sunday Speaker Series: The Bones of Our Past: Jamestown and the Making of America 

March 24: Mary Anna Hartley - "New Discoveries Inside Jamestown Church"
Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologist Mary Anna Hartley takes us deep inside the recent excavations at the 1617 Jamestown church, which in 1619 hosted the first meeting of Virginia’s General Assembly. Learn how Hartley and her team are using modern science, technology and forensics to help identify individuals buried there, most notably Governor George Yeardley, who called the first Assembly.  

April 7: Doug Owsley – "Forensic Files of the 17th-Century Chesapeake"
Renowned Smithsonian Institution forensic anthropologist Doug Owsley takes us to Jamestown and other 17th-century sites in Virginia and Maryland to reveal how scientific analysis of skeletal remains has shed light on the identities and experiences of European and African colonists in the Chesapeake.

October 13: Connie Lapallo – "Forgotten Heroines: Virginia’s First Women and Children"
Award-winning author Connie Lapallo transports us to 1609 and the journey of Joan Peirce and her daughter, who survive a hurricane at sea and Jamestown’s Starving Time to make a new life in the fledgling Virginia colony. Based on a true story, LaPallo reveals the courage these daunting women show in the face of disease, martial law and other hardships at Jamestown.  

November 3: Brent Tarter – “The First General Assembly of Virginia, July–August 1619”
Few know more about Virginia history than Library of Virginia scholar Brent Tarter, who explores the origins of Virginia’s General Assembly, the first representative legislature in the New World. Tarter shows that while not originally intended as a formal lawmaking body but rather a new tool for the Virginia Company to help manage the colony, the Assembly nonetheless passed laws and became an institution of government that has shaped Virginia for four centuries.

• All presentations are Sundays at 2:00 p.m. at Historic Christ Church & Museum, 420 Christ Church Road, Weems. 
• Wine & Cheese Reception with speaker follows each presentation. Books will be available for purchase and signing at Owsley (Apri 7), Lapallo (October 13) and Tarter (November 3) presentations.
• $30.00 per talk or $100.00 for series. Tickets non-refundable and do not include book purchases.
• All proceeds benefit preservation and education programs at Christ Church (1735), a National Historic Landmark.