By the end of the century, ocean levels could rise by 2 or 3 feet. That’s enough to flood the colonists’ first settlement at Jamestown, Va. And it’s putting pressure on archaeologists to get as many artifacts out of the ground as quickly as possible — before it’s too late.

— With Rising Seas, America’s Birthplace Could Disappear

Photo: John Poole/NPR

Although erosion is a constant face of life in the Chesapeake Bay (and has been since the last ice age), the effects are compounded by sea level rise. It begs the question- what will be left of the landscape, marshes, and historic structures of the Bay’s watershed once the water begins to slowly reach into the land? Certainly, it isn’t a future John Smith ever could have foretold.