Hampton, Virginia

Saturday we arrived at the Hampton Downtown Public Piers on the Hampton River.  The docks are behind the Crowne Plaza Hotel and across the river from Hampton University.  There is a city park just upriver from the marina.  Our friends, John and Nancy Crites drove up from Raleigh to join us for a few days.  John and Nancy have been with us on a number of boating adventures.

Hampton is a pretty town with lots of history.  The first colonists landed here 400 years ago before moving upriver to settle at Jamestown and the city itself dates to 1610.  Hampton's downtown waterfront district encompasses the site of the original 17th century seaport that served as a port of entry for commercial vessels from Europe, Africa and the Caribbean.

Hampton is the founding site of NASA and it was here that the Mercury Seven astronauts trained.  The Virginia Air and Space Center and Museum is on the waterfront about a block from the marina.

The museum features a lot of current and historically significant airplanes, space exhibits, NASA memoribilia, and flight and space simulators.  There was a Boeing Stearman very similar to the one that Joe Riggsbee and I rode in recently.

One block over from the waterfront is Queen's Way, a cobblestone street with shops and restaurants.  John and Nancy lead the way down Queen's Way.

There's also a lot of street artwork in the historical district - a sampling below:

We find a great seafood restaurant - Marker 20 where John and I have a couple of oyster shooters and some great broiled seafood platters.