As a proud native of the Old Dominion I am compelled to point out to Punki that Jamestown, the first >permanent< English settlement in North America, was two years earlier in May 1607 (See: http://www.apva.org/history/index.html).

Twnty years earlier, the English established a colony on Roanoke Island in what is now North Carolina, which disappeared without a trace and is now known as the "Lost Colony".

The settlers who landed at Plymouth Rock known as Pilgrims were headed for Virginia, but went off-course. The same happened to the first settlers of Bermuda whose ship wrecked there enroute to the Virginia colony.

Just a bit of history on a thread which seems to be meandering with no apparent destination.