Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA (CC BY-SA 2.0)
A self-guided audio walking tour of Historic Jamestowne, the site of the 1607 English settlement on Jamestown Island, on about a mile of level paths. From the footbridge over the Pitch and Tar Swamp it starts at the Tercentennial Monument and the bronze of Pocahontas, whose outstretched hands visitors have polished bright, then the brick tower of the Jamestown church, the most prominent seventeenth-century structure on the island, and the Robert Hunt Shrine. Over the earthworks of the Confederate fort of 1861 it enters the triangular James Fort, built between May 14 and June 15, 1607, and uncovered by Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists since 1994, with John Smith's statue, the site of the 1608 church and Governor's Row, then the Voorhees Archaearium, built over the foundations of the late-seventeenth-century statehouse. It ends in New Towne, along Back Street and the riverbank warehouses of the tobacco port, at Swann's Tavern, the May-Hartwell lots and the Ambler mansion ruins, with the Glasshouse of 1608 about a mile away by the park entrance. Jamestown Settlement, the living-history museum with the replica ships, is a separate site nearby.
16 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.
Going somewhere with no signal? Put the guide on your home screen first, then download it from that icon while you are on wi-fi — that way you download once, and it works in airplane mode with no roaming charges. Show me the order →
Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.
Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 24 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 2 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.
Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.
Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.
Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.
Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.
Tercentennial Monument, Pocahontas Statue, Jamestown Church, Robert Hunt Shrine.
Confederate Fort, 1607 James Fort, John Smith Statue, 1608 Church, Governor's Row, Voorhees Archaearium, Bland Warehouse.
Swann's Tavern, New Towne and Back Street, May-Hartwell House, Ambler Mansion Ruins, Jamestown Glasshouse.
William Ordway Partridge's bronze of 1913, its outstretched hands polished bright copper by visitors holding them for photographs.
The brick church tower, the most prominent seventeenth-century structure on the island, its walls 34 inches thick at the base.
The triangular fort the settlers built between May 14 and June 15, 1607, uncovered by Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists since 1994.
William Couper's bronze of Captain John Smith, unveiled in 1909 inside the outline of the fort and looking toward the James River.
The archaeology museum of steel, glass and copper that stands on piles over the foundations of the late-seventeenth-century statehouse.
The site of the colony's first glassworks, where craftsmen sent in 1608 made a trial of glass for England, about a mile from the fort.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 16 narration points.
Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.
Each site has its own narration. 16 narration points.
Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.
Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.
Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.
See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.
Every narrated point in Historic Jamestowne — James Fort and New Towne, each with its own narration.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
16 narration points, including Tercentennial Monument, Pocahontas Statue, Robert Hunt Shrine, 1607 James Fort and John Smith Statue. That is about 23 minutes of narration in all, and you walk between the stops at your own pace.
Yes. It plays in your phone’s browser as you walk: no guide, no group, no app to install and no fixed start time.
Three ways, all built in:
The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.
No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.
Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.
Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):
On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.
If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.
Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.
The audio runs ~1–2 hours total, but you walk at your own pace. 16 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.
One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.
Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.