The James River in Virginia is formed by the confluence of the Jackson and Cowpasture rivers near Iron Gate in the Allegheny Mountains, about 15 miles from the West Virginia border. It covers about 340 miles in a generally easterly course before reaching its estuary, Hampton Roads, which in turn empties into Chesapeake Bay.
Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America, was established on an island in the James River.