AT JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA, ONE OF THE MOST ELABORATE RECONSTRUCTIONS OF AN EARLY COLONIAL VILLAGE ANYWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES, COSTUMED VIRGINIANS BRING TO LIFE EVENTS THAT SAVED THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL ENGLISH COLONY ON THIS OR ANY OTHER SHORE.

TOBACCO WAS THE KEY. PLANTED BY JOHN ROLFE, ASSISTED HERE BY HIS INDIAN PRINCESS SWEETHEART, POCAHONTAS, THE FIRST TOBACCO CROP WOULD PROVE TO BE THE SALVATION OF THE COLONY.

IN 1612, JAMESTOWN WAS ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE. HARD HIT BY EPIDEMIC, STARVATION AND INDIAN ATTACK, THE COLONISTS HAD NOTHING TO SEND TO EUROPE IN EXCHANGE FOR THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE. THEN ROLFE ROLLED HIS TINY TOBACCO CROP DOWN TO THE WATERFRONT, FOR SHIPMENT TO ENGLAND, WHERE THE NEW "VIRGINIA LEAF" WOULD PROVE TO BE A BIG SUCCESS.

THUS BEGAN, 350 YEARS AGO, THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW NATION, FIRST ELEMENT IN THE SPRAWLING BRITISH EMPIRE...NOT TO MENTION THE CREATION OF THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY, WHICH TODAY EMPLOYS MILLIONS.

USING FULL-SIZE RECONSTRUCTED MODELS OF THE ORIGINAL JAMESTOWN SHIPS, YACHTSMEN TAKING PART IN THE PAGEANT PUT THE TOBACCO ABOARD THE SHIP, WHICH THEN IS SAILED DOWN THE JAMES RIVER TOWARDS THE ATLANTIC. AN ELABORATE AND COLOURFUL RE-ENACTMENT OF A DRAMATIC TURNING POINT IN WORLD HISTORY.