Settlement of Jamestown

To mark the 400th anniversary of first English settlement in America in Jamestown, Virginia, the Post Office has issue a stamp souvenir sheet.

The stamp (shown above) features a painting of the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, the three ships that carried the first settlers to Jamestown. Artist Griffith Baily Coale completed the painting in 1949.

On the front of the sheet is a painting of the settlement along with a single 41-cent stamp. On the back are 19 more.

NewsChannel 3 of Hampton Roads, Virginia reports that Captain Christopher Newport's expedition (which included Captain John Smith), left the docks near London on Dec. 20, 1606 and arrived in Virginia on April 26, 1607.

According to the television station's Web site, "The three-sided stamp depicts the three ships that brought colonists to the banks of the James River four centuries ago. The stamp is shaped like a triangle, as was the fort raised by the Jamestown settlers shortly after their arrival in 1607."

For more on the 400th Anniversary of Jamestown, click here.