WILLIAMSBURG, Va., May 27, 2010 – Jamestown Settlement’s Godspeed, a re-creation of one of the three ships that brought America’s first permanent English colonists to Virginia in 1607, will sail to four Virginia ports this year to participate in maritime events and outreach education programming. Jamestown Settlement is a museum of 17th-century Virginia operated by the state’s Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.
The first port of call is Norfolk, for the city’s 34th annual Harborfest, June 11-13. The event opens with a parade of sail beginning in Hampton Roads at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 11, and arriving at the Norfolk harbor at noon. The Godspeed will dock at Waterside Marina for the maritime festival and will be open for public tours from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on June 11, and noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, June 12 and 13.
The Godspeed will be a featured attraction at the 28th annual Hampton Bay Days, September 10-12 in downtown Hampton, as the city commemorates its 400th anniversary. The event has an educational focus, highlighting Hampton’s history as a colonial seaport and fishing village and the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay. The Godspeed will host public tours throughout Hampton Bay Days.
This fall, the Godspeed will sail into the Chesapeake Bay and up the Rappahannock River for Lancaster County’s Hospice Turkey Shoot Regatta in October and the Urbanna Oyster Festival in November. Pre-scheduled maritime education programs will be presented for area students on October 8 in Lancaster and November 4 in Urbanna. The Godspeed also will be open for public tours at Yankee Point Marina in Lancaster on October 8 and at the Urbanna Town Marina during the Urbanna Oyster Festival on November 5 and 6.
During the Godspeed’s absences from Jamestown Settlement, museum visitors will have access to the Susan Constant and Discovery, re-creations of the other two 1607 ships, and the Elizabeth, representing a ship that made several voyages to Virginia between 1613 and 1625.
The Godspeed is sailed by a crew of Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation staff and volunteers, and its voyages are supported with private donations.
For more information about Jamestown Settlement, call (888) 593-4682 toll-free or (757) 253-4838 or visit www.historyisfun.org.
