Virginia’s Historic Jamestowne is celebrating the 400th wedding anniversary of Sea Venture survivor John Rolfe to Pocahontas this weekend.

A recreation of the wedding will be held tomorrow at the cultural heritage site in Jamestown, Virginia as part of a series of educational events marking the occasion.

The ceremony is being held at the site of the original chapel, which was identified by archeologists in 2010.

In addition to the commemoration of the wedding, visitors at Historic Jamestowne will be able to watch other events tied to the anniversary. Events started yesterday and are set to continue until Sunday.

The activities are part of a year-long series of events and lectures about the life and marriage of Pocahontas, organised by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and Preservation Virginia, in collaboration with the Pamunkey Indian Museum and Cultural Center and the Patawomeck Heritage Foundation.

Pocahontas, a daughter of a Pamunkey Indian chief, was taken hostage by colonists in 1613. While in captivity she converted to Christianity and was baptised with the name “Rebecca”.

Mr Rolfe was a widower whose wife died in childbirth while the couple were shipwrecked in Bermuda. Their daughter, the first person to be born on the Island, was named Bermuda. She died before the stranded colonists were able to leave the Island.

In a 1614 letter to the colony’s governor, Mr Rolfe stated his desire to marry “for the good of this plantation, for the honour of our country, for the glory of God, for my own salvation, and for the converting to the true knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, an unbelieving creature, namely Pokahuntas.”

The couple were subsequently married in a chapel in James Fort on April 5, 1614, sparking seven years of peace between the settlers and the Native Americans.

Pocahontas died during a trip to England three years after the marriage, while Mr Rolfe lived on, launching Virginia’s tobacco industry, which ensured the colony’s prosperity.