A COLONIAL CHRISTMAS

 December 1, 2009, to January 3, 2010

Jamestown Settlement & Yorktown Victory Center

Watch a video about the holidays at Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center. 

Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center history museums will offer a glimpse of 17th- and 18th-century holiday seasons during “A Colonial Christmas,” December 1, 2009, through January 3, 2010.

At Jamestown Settlement, a short holiday film and special interpretive programs compare and contrast English Christmas customs of the period with how the season may have been observed in the difficult early years of America’s first permanent English colony. In England, the holiday season – extending from December 25 to January 6 – was a time of merriment and feasting. Little is known about Christmases at Jamestown, but it is likely there were few celebrations other than church services to mark the holiday.

Guided tours of Jamestown Settlement’s re-created outdoor interpretive areas, beginning each day at 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m., will engage visitors in ongoing interpretive holiday presentations. In the Powhatan Indian village, visitors will learn of hospitality shown by Powhatan Indians when a trading party led by Captain John Smith in 1608-09 was forced to seek shelter from a winter storm in a Kecoughtan village. Aboard the Susan Constant, a re-creation of the largest of the three English ships that sailed to Virginia in 1607, historical interpreters will discuss the first Christmas shared by colonists after they departed London on Dec. 20, 1606.

In the re-created colonial fort, visitors will encounter the festive 17th-century traditions of an English Christmas that may have existed only as a memory, considering the English colonists’ struggle to survive. Historical interpreters will adorn the re-created church and fort buildings with greenery and demonstrate fancy cooking. Fort interpreters also will share the English tradition of the Lord of Misrule, “grand captain of all mischief,” who with his followers progressed through town during the Christmas holiday. Lord of Misrule presentations will be held at 11 a.m. and 2:30 and 4 p.m. daily. 

Like Jamestown colonists, soldiers of the American Revolution had little opportunity for Christmas merriment. At the Yorktown Victory Center, hear accounts of Christmas and winter in military encampments during the American Revolution and glimpse holiday preparations on a 1780s farm. Visitors to the Continental Army encampment can learn about winter camp life and hear accounts of Christmas during the war, as well as assist the quartermaster in preparing military supplies. At the farm, historical interpreters will demonstrate a variety of holiday activities, including setting a farmhouse table for a holiday feast, decorating with greenery and demonstrating cooking in the farm kitchen.

Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily year-round; closed Christmas and New Year’s days. A combination ticket to both museums is $19.25 for adults and $9.25 for ages 6-12. Admission to Jamestown Settlement is $14.00 for adults and $6.50 for ages 6-12. Yorktown Victory Center admission is $9.25 for adults and $5.00 for ages 6-12 (2010: $9.50 adults; $5.25 for ages 6-12). An annual pass to both museums is $35.00 for adults and $17.50 for youth. Parking is free.

Learn more about Christmas in 17th-century England and Virginia.