WILLIAMSBURG — The Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Virginia has presented its first award recognizing outstanding achievements in Colonial history to Jamestown archaeologist William M. Kelso at a ceremony on Sept. 20 at the Commonwealth Club in Richmond.
“As part of the events during our hosting of the General Society of Colonial Wars’ 44th General Assembly, we have recognized Bill Kelso, a renowned archeologist and historian who revolutionized the knowledge and understanding of Jamestown, the first permanent English colony on the American continent,” said Blair H. Nelsen, the society’s governor.
Kelso, who retired in 2021, is currently the emeritus director of archaeology and research at the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation. In the 1990s, as director of Archaeology for the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities — now Preservation Virginia — Kelso was convinced that the original Jamestown fort had not, as prevailing opinion held then, washed into the James River over the centuries.
His team’s excavations on Jamestown Island uncovered the footprint of the fort’s southern palisade in 1994, changing what was generally known about the nation’s founding and earliest years.
“The award, known as the Russell Cecil Scott Award, will be given from time to time to a person or organization whose work is judged to have made significant contributions to our understanding of the Colonial era, its people and events,” said Nelsen.
Scott, a Virginian and engineer, served as governor general of the General Society of Colonial Wars and governor of the Virginia Society. According to the society, he was also active in several historical and lineage organizations, including the Society of the Cincinnati, the Sons of the Revolution, and the Order of First Families of Virginia.
