18 months of Festivites

10 Signature Events

Hundreds of Community Projects
and Commemorative Programs

One Special Moment in time. Join us
beginning in May 2006 for 18 months
of spectacular events.

In 2007, Virginia will invite the world to commemorate an unparalleled event in American history - the 1607 founding of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World. The quadricentennial will provide opportunities for all Americans to focus on the legacies of Jamestown, 400 years of Virginia history and the Commonwealth's diverse cultures.

Jamestown Settlement

Today at Jamestown Settlement, the story of the people who founded Jamestown and of the Virginia Indians they encountered is told through film, gallery exhibits and living history. Gallery exhibits trace Jamestown's beginnings in England and the first century of the Virginia colony and describe the cultures of the Powhatan Indians, Europeans and Africans who converged in 1600s Virginia. Outdoors, visitors can board replicas of the three ships that sailed from England to Virginia in 1607, explore life-size re-creations of the colonists' fort and a Powhatan village, and tour a riverfront discovery area to learn about European, Powhatan and African economic activities associated with water. In the outdoor areas, costumed historical interpreters describe and demonstrate daily life in the early 17th century.

Guided tours of the museum's living-history areas are offered several times daily.

This unique museum of 17th-century American history and culture is located adjacent to the entrance of the original site, Historic Jamestowne, co-administered by the National Park Service and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.

Virginia History and Archaeology Month
October 1-31, 2007
Jamestown Settlement & Yorktown Victory Center
Discover what has been learned about Virginia's history from archaeological excavations and primary historical sources.

Yorktown Victory Celebration
October 20-21, 2007
Yorktown Victory Center
Demonstrations of military life and tactics mark the 226th anniversary of America's victory at Yorktown. To experience Continental Army life firsthand, visitors can enroll in "A School for the Soldier" to try on uniforms, march to the beat of a Revolutionary drum and join in other hands-on military activities. Special programs also are held in Yorktown and the Yorktown Battlefield, administered by Colonial National Historical Park.

Virginia Indian Heritage Month
November 1-30, 2007
Jamestown Settlement & Yorktown Victory Center
In observance of American Indian Month, there will be a special focus on the culture of Virginia Indians and their history.

Foods & Feasts of Colonial Virginia
November 22-24, 2007
Jamestown Settlement & Yorktown Victory Center
Explore Virginia foodways of the 17th and 18th centuries during this three-day event beginning on Thanksgiving Day. At Jamestown Settlement, learn how food was gathered, preserved and prepared on land and at sea by Virginia's English colonists and Powhatan Indians. At the Yorktown Victory Center, learn about typical soldiers' fare during the American Revolution and trace the bounty of a 1780s farm from field to kitchen.

A Colonial Christmas
December 22-31, 2007
Jamestown Settlement & Yorktown Victory Center
Experience 17th- and 18th-century holiday traditions. At Jamestown Settlement, a film and special guided tours compare and contrast English Christmas customs of the period with how the season may have been observed in the difficult early years of the Jamestown colony. 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 Virginia farm.

Don't miss out on this very special moment in time . . . America's 400th Anniversary!