No trip to Jamestown would be complete without a visit to the actual remains of the original James Fort, located on a 1,500-acre island park adjacent to the Jamestown Settlement reconstruction. Now partially swamped by the James River at one corner, the vestiges of the triangular fort are the heart of Historic Jamestowne, which has more to set it apart from its neighbor than the addition of an old-timey "e."

Jointly administered by the National Park Service and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, Historic Jamestowne features (along with such magnets for archaeology buffs as the ruins of a 17th-century church tower) a handsome, high-tech new museum dedicated to the display and interpretation of some of the million-plus artifacts that have been unearthed since the fort was uncovered in 1994.