Gourt Home::Gourt :: Jamestown 2007
Jamestown 2007 is the name of the event commemorating America's 400th anniversary, the founding of the birthplace of the United States and the first permanent English settlement in the new world at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. The anniversary is an 18-month long commemoration that will include signature events and programs planned throughout Virginia, in major cities along the East Coast as well as in England. The commemoration kicked off on May 27, 2006 with the sailing of the replica ship Godspeed to major ports along the eastern seaboard.
The highlight of the celebration is expected to be a visit by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. As the current British Monarch, the Queen's presence at this historic event will further demonstrate the strength of the Anglo-American Alliance, for she is not only the direct descendant and heir of King James I, the English and Scottish King under whose authority the settlement was founded, but she is also the direct descendant and heir to King George III, the King who lost the same territory nearly two hundred years later.
The State of Virginia has made a major commitment for the 2007 commemoration and has enlisted big corporate sponsors such as Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the Norfolk Southern Corporation, a Fortune 500 company which itself has a rich Virginia railway heritage to support Jamestown 2007. (The Norfolk Southern Railway's predecessor railroads, including the Norfolk and Western Railway and the Virginian Railway, provided major transportation services for attendees at the Jamestown Exposition, the 1907 event). Another big corporate sponsor is Verizon Communications, a major telecommunications company.
In February, 2006, it was announced that retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is chairing America's 400th Anniversary. In October, 2005, she accepted the ceremonial role of becoming the 23rd Chancellor of the College of William and Mary, which was founded in nearby Williamsburg in 1693.
See also
External links
"Jamestown 2007"