Queen's Jamestown tour evokes history

By Caren Bohan

WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia (Reuters) - Greeted by hundreds of admirers and bouquets of flowers, Queen Elizabeth II strolled past thatched-roof houses in historic Jamestown on Friday in a visit that evoked both the U.S. colonial past and the early years of her own reign.

The monarch's visit marked the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown by English settlers who sailed for five months across the Atlantic in search of gold and silver.

Despite travails including a scarcity of food and clean water, the colonists established the first permanent British settlement in North America and named it after King James I.

The Queen, wearing a teal coat and matching hat, was joined by Vice President Dick Cheney as she toured houses and a church created as replicas of buildings from 1607 settlement. The Queen also viewed rusted armour and other original items at an archaeological site.

For some Virginians old enough to have been in the area in 1957, the excitement around the visit brought a sense of deja vu. Queen Elizabeth, then a young mother who had assumed the throne just five years earlier, came to Jamestown for its 350th anniversary as well.

"Everyone thought she was so beautiful and charming," said Sarah Watkins Williams, who was 12 at the time. But she added, "I think it's even more exciting to see her this time."

Williams, 62, and Hugh DeSemper, 80, watched on Thursday evening as a horse-drawn carriage took the Queen through the historic area of Williamsburg, Virginia. Both saw her go by in a similar procession when the Queen was just 31.

But one difference they noticed was the much higher level of security.