Cape Henry Memorial Cross

On April 26, 1607, three small ships of the Virginia Company expedition approached the Chesapeake Bay from the southeast and made landfall at Cape Henry after sailing from England in December, 1606. Released from four months aboard ship, the colonists, led by the Reverend Robert Hunt, gave thanks to God for their safe voyage as they faced the vast wilderness known as Virginia. Captain Christopher Newport, commander of the expedition, went ashore with a party of thirty to explore the land, where they found "faire meadows," "Fresh-waters," and "goodly tall Trees," but near the end of the day an encounter with Indians left two men wounded. The next day a second party went ashore to recreate themselves and assemble a small boat, or shallop, which was launched and used to explore the lower Chesapeake Bay. On April 29, the colonists, possibly using English oak already fashioned for the purpose, set up a cross at Chesapioc Bay and named the place Cape Henry for Henry, Prince of Wales, oldest son of King James I. Early on April 30 they moved to a new anchorage at Cape Comfort, or Old Point Comfort, soon entered the James River, and after two weeks of searching along both sides of the river established a permanent settlement at Jamestown on May 13, 1607. Cape Henry thus marked the beginning of a continuing chain of events in which English institutions and customs helped shape American culture.

Virginia Beach, Virginia · United States