As you cruise around the mid-Atlantic looking for summer fun, drop anchor at Hampton’s bustling port. During its 400-year history, it has attracted adventure seekers from explorers and pirates to astronauts and race car drivers, earning its reputation as a happening destination.
Located near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay where the James, Elizabeth and Nansemond rivers converge, Hampton’s regional network of waterways has played a key role in its growth. In 1607, English Captain Christopher Newport landed here with a ship full of settlers who would establish Jamestown.
Soon after, a maritime defense structure was erected at Old Point Comfort on the peninsula’s southern tip, which served as a strategic military position from the Colonial Era to the Civil War and beyond. Named Fort Monroe after the fifth U.S. president, it was decommissioned in 2011, leaving a gorgeous stretch of sand up to Buckroe Beach and a six-sided fort for the public to explore. Its Casemate Museum includes the cell where Confederate president Jefferson Davis was imprisoned.
Other attractions for history buffs: The Emancipation Oak where Lincoln’s document to liberate slaves was first read in the South, Virginia Air & Space Science Center with exhibits on training astronauts at nearby NASA Langley Research Center, several historic lighthouses, and churches where parishioners have worshiped for centuries. The Hampton History Museum pulls it all together under one roof.
If being on the Bay stirs up fresh seafood cravings, Hampton will not disappoint. The town is packed with eateries that dish up crab cakes, rockfish and other local delicacies. After a hearty meal, stroll around the Phoebus neighborhood or the vibrant downtown and stretch your legs by visiting shops, galleries, breweries, pubs and antique stores. Arts venues include Hampton Coliseum, American Theatre and Charles Taylor Visual Arts Center. Summer festival themes range from pirates to jazz and bluegrass.
WHERE TO DOCK
WHERE TO DINE
