Williamsburg and Hampton Roads
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Williamsburg and Hampton Roads - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in Williamsburg and Hampton Roads - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
If you're not a nature lover, hiker, or biker, don't take the time to visit the Great Dismal Swamp. If you are, do take mosquito repellant. The forbidding name was possibly assigned to the area by William Byrd on one of his early-18th-century surveying expeditions. George Washington once hoped to drain it. Today the swamp is a 106,000-acre refuge that harbors bobcats, black bears, and more than 220 varieties of birds. A remarkably shallow lake—3,000 acres, 6 feet deep—is surrounded by skinny cypress trees that lend the scene a primeval quality. One hundred miles of hiking and biking trails, including a wheelchair-accessible boardwalk, stand in stark contrast to nearby downtown Portsmouth and Norfolk.
In a waterfront park near the Virginia Air and Space Center is the Hampton Carousel. Its prancing steeds and bright-color chariots carry riders round and round to the tunes of carnival music. Expert artisans have meticulously restored the 1920 carousel, which was a fixture at the city's former Beach Amusement Park for 60 years, and the carousel and building are now climate-controlled and air-conditioned.
The museum features permanent and changing exhibits on Native Americans and the early colonists, the city's port, the infamous Blackbeard, contraband and the Civil War, and the development of NASA Langley Research Center.
Hampton University was founded in 1868 as a freedmen's school, and ever since has had a distinguished history as an institution of higher education for African Americans. Booker T. Washington was an early graduate. The Hampton University Museum, on the riverfront campus, is notable for its extensive and diverse collection, which includes more than 9,000 African, Native American, Pacific Island, and Asian art objects. Four permanent galleries are now located in the new Huntington Building. It is the oldest African American museum in the country.
An early-20th-century estate of the Sloane family, the Hermitage Museum offers an outstanding presentation of architecture, art, and nature. The Sloanes, educated collectors with broad artistic interests, were among the founders of what is now the Chrysler Museum. Mr. Sloane was a wealthy New York businessman who moved to Virginia to operate textile mills. Docent-led tours are available on the hour. Visitors may also stroll the waterfront and 12-acre gardens and view contemporary art exhibitions.
An island originally connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus, Historic Jamestowne was the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America (1607) and the capital of Virginia until 1699. The first settlers' bitter struggle for survival here, on the now uninhabited land, makes for a visit that stirs the imagination. Redbrick foundation walls roughly outline the settlement, and artists' conceptions of the original buildings can be seen at several locations. The only standing structure is the ruin of a church tower from the 1690s, now part of the Memorial Church built in 1907; the markers within indicate the original church's foundations. Other monuments around the site also date from the tercentenary celebration in 1907. Statues portray the founder of Jamestown, Captain John Smith, and his advocate, the Native American princess Pocahontas, whom Smith credited with saving him from being beheaded. Near the entrance to the park, you can stop at the reconstructed Glasshouse to observe a demonstration of glassblowing, an unsuccessful business venture of the early colonists. The products of today are for sale in a gift shop. Archaeological discoveries from the site are showcased at the Archaearium. You can also observe digs on-site where archaeologists from Preservation Virginia continue to dig up evidence of colonists' and Native Americans' ways of life, including the remains of the original 1607 fort. A visitor center near the main parking lot tells the history of Jamestown and the Virginia Indians, Europeans, and African peoples who lived here. Ranger-guided tours, held daily, explore many different events in Jamestown's history. Living-history programs are presented daily in summer and on weekends in spring and autumn. A 5- to 8-mile nature drive (some cut out a loop within the loop and skip certain sections) that rings the island is posted with informative signs and paintings.
At James Anderson's Blacksmith Shop, smiths forge the nails, tools, and other iron hardware used in construction throughout the town. The shop itself was reconstructed by carpenters using 18th-century tools and techniques.
Lee Hall, an Italianate mansion constructed around 1859, was once home to one of Warwick County's leading landowners, Richard Decauter Lee, who achieved prominence using the method of scientific farming. It is the only large mid-19th-century plantation house remaining on Virginia's lower peninsula, and it served as the headquarters for Confederate generals John Bankhead Magruder and Joseph E. Johnston during the spring of 1862. Lee Hall now provides an in-depth review of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign.
The MacArthur Memorial is the burial place of one of America’s most distinguished military officers. General Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) agreed to this navy town as the site for his memorial, museum, and research center because it was his mother’s birthplace. In the rotunda of the old City Hall, converted according to MacArthur’s design, is the mausoleum; 9 adjoining galleries house artifacts of MacArthur’s career, including his signature corncob pipe and a few of the pens used to sign the Japanese Instrument of Surrender that concluded World War II. However, this is a monument not only to General MacArthur but to all those who served in wars from the Civil to the Korean War. Its archives and library hold some 2 million documents and more than 100,000 photographs and assist scholars, students, and researchers from around the world. The visitor center contains a rotating special exhibit gallery, a theater, and a gift shop. MacArthur’s last staff car is on display in this building.
The original Magazine (1715), an octagonal brick warehouse, was used for storing arms and ammunition—at one time 60,000 pounds of gunpowder and 3,000 muskets. It was used for this purpose by the British and then by the Continental army. Today 18th-century firearms are on display within the arsenal. This is the largest collection of Colonial muskets in the country. Every able-bodied man in Colonial times was expected to have and maintain a musket in his home. Between the ages of 16 and 55 men were expected to be a part of the militia, the civilian army that could be called to arms in defense of hearth and home.
An open green between Queen and Palace Streets along Duke of Gloucester, Market Square was the site where cattle, seafood, dairy products, fruit, and vegetables were all sold—as were slaves. Market auctions are sometimes reenacted. Recently reconstructed, it now serves for historical interpretation and retail sales. Shop like you stepped back to the 18th century, including fruits, hams, soaps, candles, ceramics, and clothing. Children and families are invited to join the games and role-play with the toys for sale.
The Federal redbrick Moses Myers House, built by its namesake between 1792 and 1796, is exceptional, and not just for its elegance. The furnishings, 70% of them original, include family portraits by Gilbert Stuart and Thomas Sully. A transplanted New Yorker as well as Norfolk's first Jewish resident, Myers made his fortune in Norfolk in shipping, then served as a diplomat and a customs officer. His grandson married James Madison’s grandniece; the home passed down through several generations of the family and eventually to Norfolk mayor Barton Myers, who carried out early architectural restoration in 1892. Exhibits throughout the house feature letters and other artifacts from several generations of the Myers family.
A popular attraction on Norfolk’s redeveloped downtown waterfront, Nauticus is a maritime discovery center featuring interactive exhibits that tell the story of Norfolk’s maritime environment, industry, and the military. Visitors can walk the historic decks of the Battleship Wisconsin, the largest and last battleship of the U.S. Navy, learn to sail through an award-winning sailing program, and charter a tall ship for an educational cruise along the Elizabeth River. Nauticus is undergoing a major transformational redesign project, opening in stages. Phase I features a new children’s exhibit, Aquaticus, encouraging experiential play, as well as "Norfolk in Time," a look at the past, present, and future of Norfolk. Stage 2 opens in 2024 to include the addition of three state-of-the-art exhibit galleries.
On the northern edge of the city, this naval station is an impressive sight, home to more than 200 navy aircraft, including the F/A-18 Tomcat (the type of plane flown by the Blue Angels) and other planes assigned to the aircraft carriers of the Atlantic Fleet. From an observation park on Oceana Boulevard at the POW/MIA Flame of Hope Memorial Park, near the runways, you can watch aircraft take off and land. Non–Defense Department visitors can access the base only on the Hampton Roads Transit summer-only tours (photo ID required) or during the annual air show in September. Tours depart at 9:30 am and 11:30 am from the 24th Street transit kiosk on Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach and stop at an aviation historical park with 13 aircraft.
The springtime Azalea Festival is one highlight of the lovely 155-acre Norfolk Botanical Garden on the eastern edge of the city. In addition to an abundance of azaleas, rhododendrons, and camellias, there is a delicately landscaped Japanese garden with trees native to that country, including unusual strains of cherry and maple. From mid-March to October, trams carry you along routes to view seasonal plants and flowers, including 4,000 varieties of roses on 3½ acres. Year-round, you can stroll 12 miles of paths. Eleven marble statues of famous artists, carved in the late 19th century by Moses Ezekiel, enhance the natural beauty of the gardens. The lakeside is ideal for picnics. Fall brings a 3-acre children's garden.
At the northeastern tip of Virginia Beach, on the cape where the mouth of the bay meets the ocean, the historic Old Cape Henry Lighthouse is near the site where the English landed on their way to Jamestown in 1607. This lighthouse, however, didn't light anyone's way until 1792. Across the street to seaward is the replacement to the old lighthouse, but it isn't open to visitors. Be prepared to show a photo ID at the military checkpoint at the Fort Story base entrance.
Along the oceanfront, the Old Coast Guard Station, a 1903 Lifesaving Station, contains photographic exhibits, examples of lifesaving equipment, and a gallery that depicts German U-boat activity off the coast during World War II. On the website there's current weather, tide charts, and a webcam.
The handsome Palace Green runs north from Duke of Gloucester Street up the center of Palace Street, with the Governor's Palace at the far end and notable historic houses on either side.
This was the home of a prominent colonist and revolutionary who served as attorney general under the British, then as Speaker of the House of Burgesses, and later as president of the first and second Continental Congresses. The oak-paneled bedroom and Randolph family silver are remarkable.
A reconstruction of a 1773 insane asylum, the Public Hospital provides an informative, shocking look at the treatment of the mentally ill in the 18th and 19th centuries. It also serves as cover for a modern edifice that houses very different exhibitions; entrance to the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum is through the hospital lobby.
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