WILLIAMSBURG – Jamestown Settlement’s Godspeed, a re-creation of one of the three vessels that brought America’s first permanent English colonists to Virginia in 1607, will participate in two premier maritime events, the Urbanna Oyster Festival on Oct. 31-Nov. 2 and Yorktown Tea Festival on Nov. 7-9.
At Jamestown Settlement, a museum of 17th-century Virginia, a dedicated crew of maritime staff and volunteers work throughout the year to maintain the Godspeed for visitors to learn about the 1607 voyage to Virginia.
The Godspeed, commissioned in 2006, undertakes educational outreach voyages each year to Virginia ports to share lessons in 17th-century maritime history. Maritime outreach voyages are supported by private donations to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Inc.
As a floating classroom, the Godspeed brings its maritime history to remote Virginia schools in the Chesapeake Bay region that are unable to travel to Jamestown Settlement.
The Godspeed, along with the Discovery and Susan Constant, have been designated the “official fleet of the Commonwealth” by the General Assembly.
“We are excited for the Godspeed and crew to visit Urbanna and Yorktown for these community events and education programs,” said Eric Speth, director of Maritime Operations for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. “It is also an opportunity for the crew to take advantage of the wind and weather conditions for sail training and practice sailing and emergency drills while operating the square-rigged ship.”
Urbanna Oyster Festival & Education Days: Oct. 31 – Nov. 2
The Godspeed will take part in the Urbanna Oyster Festival and Education Days from Thursday, Oct. 31, through Saturday, Nov. 2.
The Godspeed will be docked at the Urbanna Town Marina, 210 Oyster Road, and will be open for public tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1 and 2.
In Urbanna, the crew will welcome students during Education Days on Oct. 31, from 8:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., to take part in hands-on learning about what it was like to sail, live on board and navigate a square-rigged ship in the 1600s.
The Urbanna Oyster Festival is Virginia’s official celebration of oysters and one of the world’s oldest festivals dedicated to these prized shellfish.
Yorktown Tea Festival & Market Days’ Maritime Festival: November 7-9
As part of the 250th anniversary of the Yorktown Tea Party and Market Days’ Maritime Festival, the Godspeed will join other maritime vessels along the York River at the Riverwalk Landing Piers in Yorktown.
It will be open for public tours on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 7 and 8, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 9, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Festival activities commemorate the 1774 event in which Thomas Nelson, Jr., and other patriots threw two chests of tea overboard a ship on the Yorktown waterfront, joining in the protests that sparked the American Revolution.