Jamestown as it is now maintains historical recreations of what the original building would look like. Jamestown, Williamsburg and the Yorktown Battlefield are all historical sites today, where time period authenticity is maintained.

To answer your primary question regarding how Jamestown developed, or didn’t as it were, is to look at the geography surrounding the settlement. Jamestown sits near a marsh and is along the James River. At the point where the settlement was there was no clear source of fresh water, because the river water mixed with sea water to create the brackish marsh area.

Jamestown did not develop past its size because the geography did not permit it. Instead, outlying settlements such as Middle Plantation grew with more favorable land to use. Middle Plantation, which grew into Williamsburg, sat further inland and north of Jamestown on the peninsula created by the James and York Rivers. Williamsburg grew as Virginia’s agriculture, specifically the Tobacco growing industry grew larger.

By the 1660s/1670s Jamestown was no longer necessary as a settlement. Settlers had moved further and further inland, and the moving of the colonial legislature to Williamsburg took that function from Jamestown as well.