The park includes an attraction known in modern times as Historic Jamestowne. Located in James City County at the southern end of the Colonial Parkway, it encompasses the area of Jamestown Island and is adjacent to the Commonwealth of Virginia's complimentary attraction known as Jamestown Settlement.
Sir William Berkeley, who held the colonial governorship during the longest periods of any individual, used his Green Spring Plantation as an experimental farm to attempt to develop sources of income for the colony other than cultivated tobacco and traded furs.
The preserved portion of the site of Green Spring has been largely untouched since the second dwelling there and dependencies were destroyed during the American Civil War (1861–1865), promising a rich archaeological dig area to follow upon recent discoveries at the Park's location on Jamestown Island.