On January 7, 1608, a catastrophic fire tore through Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America. Occurring during an unforgiving winter, the blaze dealt a severe blow to an already struggling colony. Established in 1607 by the Virginia Company of London,…
Read More
In 1607, during the precarious first year of England’s Jamestown experiment in North America, Captain John Smith later claimed that his life was spared through the intervention of Pocahontas, the young daughter of the powerful Algonquian leader Wahunsenacawh. According to Smith’s account, the dramatic…
Read More
On March 26, 1830, a little-known print shop in Palmyra, New York, released what would become one of the most influential—and controversial—religious texts in American history: The Book of Mormon. Purporting to be a translation of ancient records inscribed on golden plates by prophets…
Read More
