Virginia’s Historic Triangle saw a drop in tourism for the second straight year, as some businesses are reporting fewer visitors and lower spending than last year.

This daily column features short news items from some of the 20 localities that make up the greater Richmond area. If you have a news item, call 649-6990 or e-mail us at . Charles City The Charles City County Board of Supervisors will meet tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. in the Government and School Administration Building, 10900 Courthouse Road.

Archaeologists have pulled a 400-year-old slate tablet from what they think was an original well at Jamestown, a historic preservation group announced yesterday. The slate is covered with faint inscriptions of local birds, flowers, a tree and caricatures of men, along with letters and numbers, according to Preservation Virginia, which jointly operates the dig site with the National Park Service. It was found May 11 at the center of James Fort, which was established in 1607 and makes Jamestown the first permanent English settlement in North America.

Jean Renner Lewis Sherbondy Short was born in Hardy County, W.Va., the only child of a carpenter and a teacher. She was precocious enough at age 6 to ask a man coming to borrow money from her surgeon-uncle what the man offered as collateral for his loan. “She killed her first squirrel at 12. She was a tomboy and could outshoot the boys,“ said her godson, Norman Wagstaff of Skipwith.

The John Randolph Foundation recently awarded grants totaling $436,500 to nonprofits working to better the lives of all residents in Hopewell and surrounding areas. “We’re excited to do that in these economic times,“ said Josie Craighead-Bailey, the foundation’s grant program officer. “Our board has consistently considered programs and projects that improve the health and quality of life of our community to be a main priority,“ she said.

The first sections of the Virginia Capital Trail have been completed near Williamsburg. When finished, the 55-mile trail will stretch from Jamestown to Williamsburg and Richmond, connecting the three places that have been the state capital since the arrival of the first English settlers in 1607 in Jamestown.