Jamestown, Virginia

Pocahontas was buried in the cemetery of St George’s Church in the town of Gravesend, Kent where the monument to her short but dramatic life stands today.

Pocahontas

The statue in Gravesend commemorates the remarkable story of a Native American woman, known in popular folklore as Pocahontas. It was presented to the Church of St George to recognise her burial place beneath the chancel. Early in her life she was called Matoaka, but was later known as Amonute.

The statue and its pedestal originally stood almost 18 feet tall and were located south of the 1907 Memorial Church, where Pocahontas could welcome visitors coming from off the ferry. In 1957, the statue was moved to the low rock base near the APVA entrance gate for Jamestown’s 350th anniversary celebration.

Matoaka

In 1617, the Rolfes set sail for Virginia, but Pocahontas died at Gravesend of unknown causes, aged 20 or 21. She was buried in St George’s Church, Gravesend, in England, but her grave’s exact location is unknown because the church was rebuilt after a fire destroyed it.

Born around 1596, Pocahontas was the daughter of Wahunsenaca (also known as Powhatan), the powerful chief of the Powhatans, a Native American group that inhabited the Chesapeake Bay region.

Interesting Facts about Pocahontas As a child she was given the name Matoaka. As she grew older, she was called Amonute. She was one of Chief Powhatan’s favorite daughters and was called his “delight and darling.” Before marrying John Rolfe, Pocahontas was baptized and took the Christian name “Rebecca.”

Many would like to claim descent, but the truth is that, according to documents, Smith never married or fathered any children. However, Smith did claim to have “children”—England’s New World colonies.

John Smith, an early leader in Jamestown, described her as beautiful in “feature, countenance, and proportion” and filled with “wit and spirit.” But contrary to her depiction in films by Disney and others, Pocahontas wasn’t a busty teenager when the English encountered her.

In 1614, Pocahontas converted to Christianity and was baptized “Rebecca.” In April 1614, she and John Rolfe married. The marriage led to the “Peace of Pocahontas;” a lull in the inevitable conflicts between the English and Powhatan Indians. The Rolfes soon had a son named Thomas.

It’s a bold ending, and one that deliberately subverts real history, which saw the real Pocahontas marry a different Englishman, John Rolfe, and travel to London with him, where she was feted as an example of the “civilized savage” before dying at the age of 21 shortly before her husband was due to sail back to …

Pocahontas is currently the only Disney Princess to have a tattoo (the symbol on her right arm) and the only one to wear one outfit throughout her entire film.

Jamestown Colony, first permanent English settlement in North America, located near present-day Williamsburg, Virginia.

Forensic scientists say they have found the first real proof that English settlers in 17th century Jamestown resorted to cannibalism during the “starving time”, a period over the winter of 1609 to 1610 when severe drought and food shortages wiped out more than 80 per cent of the colony.

The settlers of the new colony — named Jamestown — were immediately besieged by attacks from Algonquian natives, rampant disease, and internal political strife. In their first winter, more than half of the colonists perished from famine and illness. The following winter, disaster once again struck Jamestown.

In 1607, 104 English men and boys arrived in North America to start a settlement. On May 13 they picked Jamestown, Virginia for their settlement, which was named after their King, James I. The settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America.