A BOXWOOD INN OF WILLIAMSBURG - Key Persons

Captain John Smith was the colony's most well known and perhaps most effective leader. An injury forced him to return to England during which time he published numerous accounts of early Jamestown. The initial voyage was sponsored by the Virginia Company of London, which was chartered by King James I. One of the goals of the Virginia Company was to find a northwest passage to the Orient. Another goal was for the colony to make a profit. It failed to do so in its early existence. The turning point came in 1613, when John Rolfe cultivated tobacco and discovered that it not only flourished in Virginia but also was profitable. This discovery led to the rapid growth of the Virginia colony.