WILLIAMSBURG, Va., June 2, 2011 – The Godspeed will sail to Norfolk for the city’s 35th annual Harborfest, the first of several voyages the ship is undertaking this year. A replica of one of the three vessels that brought America’s first permanent English colonists to Virginia in 1607, the Godspeed is based at Jamestown Settlement, a museum of 17th-century Virginia operated by the state’s Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.
Following the Harborfest Parade of Sail beginning in Hampton Roads at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 10, the Godspeed will dock at Norfolk’s Waterside Marina and will be open for public tours 3 to 6 p.m. June 10 and noon to 6 p.m. June 11 and 12. During the ship’s absence 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.
In mid-September the Godspeed is scheduled to visit Henricus Historical Park, where it will be open for tours on September 17 and 18 and host pre-scheduled student groups September 19 and 20. The next port of call is Alexandria, where the Godspeed will be docked October 3-9, hosting public tours and students from area schools for educational programs. From Alexandria, the ship will sail directly to Yorktown and will be open for public tours October 14-16 in connection with the 230th anniversary of the decisive battle of the American Revolution. The final voyage of the year will be to Berkeley Plantation on the James River, for the Virginia Thanksgiving Festival on November 6.
The Godspeed is sailed by a crew of Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation staff and volunteers, and its voyages are supported with private donations.
Jamestown Settlement is located at State Route 31 and the Colonial Parkway just southwest of Williamsburg. For more information, call (888) 593-4682 toll-free or (757) 253-4838 or visit www.historyisfun.org.
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