The Old Church Tower at Historic Jamestowne is the only above-ground structure surviving from the 17th century — a stout brick bell tower built around 1680 as part of the fifth church on the site. The church itself was rebuilt around the tower in 1907 as a memorial for the 300th anniversary of the founding.
Inside the modern Memorial Church, the brick foundations of the earlier churches are visible through the floor. This was the site of the first representative assembly in English America in 1619, when the elected House of Burgesses met to govern the colony — a small but consequential beginning.