H I S TO R I C A L P R O G R E S S
2017 is a pivotal year at Jamestown Settlement
and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.
These two premier living-history museums in two
corners of America’s Historic Triangle offer year-
round experiences, compelling special exhibitions,
events and programs that immerse visitors into
the story of America’s beginnings.
At Jamestown Settlement, visitors can experience
newly developed interactive gallery exhibits
exploring the Powhatan Indian, English and west
central African cultures that converged in the
1600s. As part of a phased gallery enhancement,
touch-screen panels allow visitors to compare
and contrast each culture’s language, religion,
government, economy and family structure.
Jamestown Settlement’s expansive gallery exhibits
debuted in 2006 in time for America’s 400th
Anniversary commemoration in 2007, and are now
being refreshed a decade later with new technology.
Four hundred years after the 1617 death of
Pocahontas in England, her image and legend live
on. Using depictions of Pocahontas from across
the centuries, Jamestown Settlement presents
“Pocahontas Imagined,” a special exhibition opening
July 15 that illuminates the reasons behind her
enduring legacy as well as her impression on
popular culture and art. The six-month exhibition
features Pocahontas memorabilia, advertisements
and interactive experiences.
Outdoors, visitors can examine artistic patterns,
lines and colors in objects found in Jamestown
Settlement’s re-created Powhatan Indian village,
ships and fort. Public lectures in partnership
with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts take place
September 5, September 13 and October 3.
This spring, a Grand Opening Celebration of the
American Revolution Museum at Yorktown culminates
in the museum’s 10-year transformation from the
previously named Yorktown Victory Center. The
American Revolution Museum at Yorktown presents
a renewed national perspective on the meaning
and impact of the Revolution through introductory
film, timeline, expansive gallery exhibits with nearly
500 artifacts, interactive displays, experiential
theaters, and new settings for hands-on interpretive
experiences in expanded re-creations of a Continental
Army encampment and Revolution-era farm.
This new and improved museum features daily
highlights of one of America’s 13 original states
in the order that they ratified the Constitution,
Patriotic festivities include gallery tours, living-
history programs, artillery firings, flag-raising
ceremonies, military musical performances, military
re-enactments, lectures and children’s activities.
The museum’s inaugural special exhibition—
“AfterWARd: The Revolutionary Veterans Who Built
America”—debuts June 10 and follows the post-
war stories of veterans of the Siege of Yorktown
and how they went on after the war to shape
the America we know today. A series of plays,
performances and public lectures June through
November feature Revolutionary War veterans
James Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton, the Marquis
de Lafayette and Henry Knox as well as issues
facing modern-day veterans.
EASTERN HOME & TRAVEL
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