Foods & Feasts of Colonial Virginia 

November 26-28, 2009

 Jamestown Settlement & Yorktown Victory Center

Watch a video about the holidays at Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center.  

Long before microwaves, electric stoves and refrigerators, food was prepared in clay pots and iron kettles over hot coals and preserved by smoking, salt curing and pickling. This Thanksgiving holiday, explore foodways of 17th- and 18th-century Virginia during “Foods & Feasts of Colonial Virginia,” a three-day event November 26-28, 2009, at Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center.  

At Jamestown Settlement, learn how food was gathered, preserved and prepared on land and at sea by Virginia’s English colonists and Powhatan Indians. Visitors will be able to see venison, turkey and other game roast over an open fire, while stews of corn, beans and squash cook in clay pots in the re-created Powhatan Indian village. Visitors can learn how the Jamestown colony was provisioned by hauling cargo aboard re-created ships, and within the re-created colonial fort, learn about the culinary skills English colonists brought to Virginia, including the processing of an entire pig into hams and bacon, and the preservation of meat with salt.

At the Yorktown Victory Center, learn about typical soldiers’ fare during the American Revolution and trace the bounty of a 1780s farm from field to kitchen. Among the highlights, visitors to the Continental Army encampment will see how soldiers turned meager rations of dried beans, salted meat and hard bread into nourishing soups and stews during the war, and on a re-created 1780s farm, witness the bounty of field and garden transformed into stews, pies and breads. Farm interpreters also will share preservation methods of the farm harvest for the long winter ahead. 

Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily year-round, except for Christmas and New Year’s days. A combination ticket to Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center is $19.25 for adults and $9.25 for ages 6-12. Admission to Jamestown Settlement is $14.00 for adults and $6.50 (6-12), and to the Yorktown Victory Center, $9.25 for adults and $5.00 (6-12). Children ages 5 and under are free.

Food preparation in the museums’ interpretive areas is for demonstration purposes only. The Jamestown Settlement Café will offer a traditional Thanksgiving dinner from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, 2009. The menu includes oven fresh roast turkey, homemade stuffing, sweet potato casserole, red bliss mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry relish, assorted rolls and butter, a selection of fresh pies, and a choice of fountain beverage, coffee or hot tea. The cost is $11.95 for adults and $6.95 for children ages 12 and under, plus tax. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, contact the Jamestown Settlement Cafe at (757) 253-2571.

Foods & Feasts of Colonial Virginia
November 26-28, 2009

Schedule of Events

Jamestown Settlement