Werowocomoco, a 264-acre historical site on Purton Bay in Gloucester that was the York River headquarters of Algonquin Chief Powhatan when Captain John Smith explored Virginia, has been purchased by the National Park Service for development as a park.

The site, which consists primarily of forest and farmland, has been determined to be the place where Captain Smith was taken after his capture by Native Americans and where he met Chief Powhatan and his daughter Pocahontas.

The $7.1 million acquisition was made possible by The Conservation Fund, a Maryland nonprofit corporation specializing in environmental protection with economic vitality, which initially purchased the site from the previous owners, Bob and Lynn Ripley of Gloucester, before selling it to the federal government for the price it paid. According to records in the Gloucester County Clerk’s Office, the Ripleys retained lifetime residential rights to a 5.6-acre parcel on the premises.

In National Park Service talking...