Centuries of Military History Unfold in One Weekend at Jamestown Settlement with Re-enactments, Music, and Special Demonstrations of Artillery and Military Equipment
Virginia Army National Guard 111th Field Artillery howitzer firing (Photo courtesy of the Virginia Army National Guard)
WILLIAMSBURG – For four decades, military powers from across time have descended on Jamestown Settlement to present an unequaled, unique chronological display of military history.
The Military Through the Ages event will take place on Saturday and Sunday, March 21 and 22.
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation says more than 500 re-enactors from nearly 40 distinct military units from eight states and Canada will muster on museum grounds, where At Military Through the Ages, visitors will become entrenched in the past and present day in military encampments and get hands-on with re-enactors to experience how military uniforms, weapons, and tactics evolved through the centuries.
According to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, visitors can view a narrated military pass-in-review at 3 p.m. on Sunday, depicting armed forces from 500 B.C.E. through modern-day soldiers with the Virginia Army National Guard. Little ones can take part in Morse code challenges with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion HQ and engage with an ever-popular bayonet dummy from the 3rd U.S. Regular Infantry Regiment. Spectators can help to make inert musket cartridges with the 42nd Royal Highlanders before joining in period dances with the Piper. See sailors perform maintenance on the jolly boat with American Forces, Hampton Roads, War of 1812 and a Nieuport 11 aircraft with the Old Dominion Air Squadron.
View the re-enactment units scheduled to participate in this year’s event at jyfmuseums.org/mta-units.
The Company of James Fort, 1607, Military Through the Ages (Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation)
On Saturday and Sunday at 12 noon, comparative artillery-firing demonstrations will showcase cold steel, black powder and modern weapons ranging from a 17th-century artillery piece to a 105mm howitzer, according to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. Throughout two-day event, see special demonstrations of military equipment used in the air, on land and at sea. Attendees can enjoy listening to live music throughout the weekend event as Ladies for Liberty and 29th Infantry Division Band from the Virginia Army National Guard take to the stage.
Arms, armor and military equipment of 17th-century Virginia can be seen year-round inside Jamestown Settlement’s extensive galleries where permanent exhibits feature artifacts, films and interactives that tell the story of America’s first permanent English colony and of the convergence of the Powhatan Indian, English and West Central African cultures in early Virginia, according to the organizers. Outdoors, visitors can immerse themselves in life of early Virginia in outdoor re-creations of a 1610-14 English fort, Paspahegh Town and three re-created ships that brought English colonists to Virginia in 1607.
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation says residents of James City County, York County and the City of Williamsburg, including William & Mary students, receive free admission to both museums with proof of residency.
