Jamestown Settlement & American Revolution Museum at Yorktown

Call Directions Website Contact the museum

Jamestown Settlement & American Revolution Museum at Yorktown Two museums and endless discovery at Jamestown Settlement and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. Explore more at jyfmuseums.org.

"It's my to***co, and I wanna sell it now!" - Anonymous colonistBeginning in 1651, Parliament passed several Navigation ...
10/16/2026

"It's my to***co, and I wanna sell it now!" - Anonymous colonist

Beginning in 1651, Parliament passed several Navigation Acts to increase profits from the colonies.

These acts required all Virginia to***co to be shipped to England only in English ships, forbidding the colonies from trading freely.

The Acts angered colonists because they could get good prices trading with other colonies and Dutch competitors. However, England’s profits depended on forcing Virginians to buy expensive English-made goods, ship their to***co to English merchants on English ships, and pay customs duties that went into royal coffers.

The Navigation Acts written in the 17th century are the same ones that angered patriots on the eve of the American Revolution.

After the 1650s, these acts were in effect but rarely enforced with vigor until Parliament looked to the colonies to subsidize the economic impact of the French and Indian War (1756-1763). Just as they angered 17th-century colonists when they first took effect, 18th-century patriots saw the acts as significant parliamentary overreach, undermining their rights as British subjects.

Family Frights returns to Jamestown Settlement on October 23 & 24 with sessions from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and 8 to 9:30 p.m.Yo...
10/16/2026

Family Frights returns to Jamestown Settlement on October 23 & 24 with sessions from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and 8 to 9:30 p.m.

Your kids will enjoy face painting and festive spaces, with plenty of candy to go around. Even the ships join the Halloween (not too spooky) fun.

Online tickets only. Grab them now!

jyfmuseums.org/familyfrights

10/14/2026

News update from the Yorktown Battlefield, 1781!

That feeling when everything aligns.jyfmuseums.org
10/13/2026

That feeling when everything aligns.

jyfmuseums.org

10/12/2026

When the planning days run long, Agatha the chicken is always there to keep spirits high.

Development staff are hard at work for this year’s Day.

Join us on Thursday, October 15 and keep history alive for everyone (chickens included).

By the way, your gift also helps keep Agatha fed and living her best 18th-century life.

Can’t wait until the 15th?

Visit the link in our bio to make your Day gift today.

https://host.nxt.blackbaud.com/adaptive-donor-form?formId=a6e64897-0c3c-4ba7-bf9e-3d8efe945fe5&envid=p-qE6Sg5xf0UadADo1nxEMQg&zone=usa

On this Indigenous Peoples Day, we honor and celebrate the 11 recognized tribes of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Among t...
10/12/2026

On this Indigenous Peoples Day, we honor and celebrate the 11 recognized tribes of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Among the first Indigenous peoples to engage in contact with Europeans, their resilience and perseverance have sustained them through centuries of attempted erasure. Today, Virginia’s recognized tribes are experiencing a renaissance in their cultures and their sovereignty. They are still here; they are still strong:

Pamunkey
Mattaponi
Upper Mattaponi
Rappahannock
Chickahominy
Chickahominy- Eastern Division
Monacan
Nansemond
Nottoway
Cheroenhaka Nottoway
Patawomec

How many cultures can you fit on your dinner plate? Southern food is one of the best ways to see (or rather, taste) the ...
10/11/2026

How many cultures can you fit on your dinner plate?

Southern food is one of the best ways to see (or rather, taste) the convergence of cultures in America. Many of the foods we now associate with southern cuisine have their roots in either Indigenous, English, or West African cultures. Corn, beans, and squash were staples of the Indigenous diet and while all have their place in southern cuisine, corn plays the most central role of those three crops.

Cornbread, grits and hominy (which comes from the Powhatan word usekutehemen meaning “crushed by pounding”) are highlights of many southern meals. On the sweeter side of things, pecans were also eaten by Indigenous people and are now used in the famous southern pecan pie. Even the way Indigenous people would smoke their food to preserve it is now essential to southern practices like barbecue.

Speaking of barbecue, if you’re fond of pulled pork, know that that would not be possible without the introduction of pigs to North America by the English and other Europeans. The English are also responsible for another southern staple: the biscuit. Ships biscuits (later known as hardtack) were common on long sea voyages as they could last for months without spoiling but were far from the fluffy biscuits we are familiar with today. Once the English settled in the southern colonies, they were able to add ingredients more familiar to us in biscuits today like buttermilk and lard and yeast to make it rise (baking powder would not be invented until the 1850s).

Enslaved people in the South often maintained their own gardens, growing foods that were common in West Africa, the region from which many of them had been forcibly brought. Okra, collard greens, and black-eyed peas are all examples of southern food staples with West African origins. Even the grand southern tradition of frying food can be traced back to West African cooks frying foods like chicken in palm oil.

While there are many other influences on southern food (namely French, Spanish and Caribbean) and southern cuisine varies depending on where exactly in the south you are, these are the three influences you can find the most at both of our museums. Not just in food, but in all aspects of the culture we know today as American.

The Yorktown Victory Celebration takes place October 17–18 at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.These two days ...
10/10/2026

The Yorktown Victory Celebration takes place October 17–18 at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.

These two days commemorate the pivotal 1781 Revolutionary War victory and feature artillery firings and interpretive programs.

Some activities:
“Meet” Alexander Hamiltion
Take in an 18th-century-style puppet show
Help with laundry for the Continental Army
Enjoy martial music played by the Fifes and Drums of York Town

Included with admission.

jyfmuseums.org/yorktown-victory-celebration

News of the Declaration of Independence reached England on Aug. 10, 1776. King George III and Parliament officially rece...
10/09/2026

News of the Declaration of Independence reached England on Aug. 10, 1776.

King George III and Parliament officially received the document in late August or early September 1776, leading to a formal British response issued on October 31, 1776.

Europe also reached to this news, with printers all across the continent printing and sharing the Declaration. After it was first printed in London on the 17th, it took only a week before it appeared in Hamburg, then on August 30 in Sweden and September 2 in Denmark.

One Danish minister would later write: "the mania of independence in reality has infected all the spirits..."

The kings and queens feared that their subjects would see this act not as a rebellion against a rightful monarch, but as the proclamation of a revolutionary doctrine. (And they were right in their fears. By 1787, and still under control of Austria, Belgium was gaining a strong movement for independence and a new constitution.)

Though news travels much faster today, we can still see the impressive impact this revolution had on the people of Europe. Also, we know that it was the merchant and middle classes that really kindled the embers and later fanned the flames, as they seemed to sympathize with the grievances listed in the document.

Both rulers and their subjects saw it as a revolution of universal appeal. Perhaps it is the greatest tell of all though that neither Russian, Austria, or Denmark aided England, whereas both France and Spain sided with the Americans.

(In the group chat are a few quotes from the leading rulers of the day.)

Address

2210 Jamestown Road
Williamsburg, VA
23187

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+17572534838

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Jamestown Settlement & American Revolution Museum at Yorktown posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Jamestown Settlement & American Revolution Museum at Yorktown:

Shortcuts

Share

Category