In her final resting place, now called the Princess Pocahontas Gardens in St George’s Church, is a bronze statue of Pocahontas, who passed away unexpectedly on her voyage back to America after visiting England with her husband and son.
Pocahontas (1596-1617) was the daughter of the Powhatan chief who assisted the early European settlers during their first years in Virginia. In 1614 she met and married a widow tobacco farmer named John Rolfe, and together they had a son. Their marriage symbolized a union between the Patawomeck and the settlers and fostered peace in the area; In 1616, Pocahontas, her child, and husband, with a group of other Native Americans, traveled to England by the Virginia Company of London to present the Virginia colony’s success in “taming the savages.” She was introduced to the English people as a princess and attended social gatherings with the high society and royals. On the first day of the voyage back to America, she became ill and returned to England. A few days later, she passed away.
The statue was dedicated in 1958 as a replica of Jamestown’s statue. Her name and years are inscribed on the stone pedestal, and she is dressed in Native American women’s traditional clothes.
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