Grab your friends and grab your paddles 🛶. The 4th Annual Paddle Battle is back in Portsmouth for another extraordinary day of paddle racing fun on the Elizabeth River! Participants ages 15+ can compete in stand up paddle boarding and kayak categories, depending upon age/experience level – PLUS by popular demand, a tandem race for […]
Are you a maker at heart? From artisanal skills like painting, weaving, and glass blowing to high-tech endeavors like coding and 3D printing, Maker Fest Portsmouth is fun for all […]
Wear your costumes and explore the Portsmouth Museums and collect treats along the way! Kick off the trail on the Museum Mall in front of the Children's Museum of Virginia […]
It’s the most frightful night of the year, when the Lightship opens after dark, the Fresnel lens glows eerie green, and the ghosts, kraken and zombie fisherman of the Lightship’s past come back to visit. You’re invited to join them, of course. It’s free. But only the bravest will dare. Will you? When: Friday, October […]
Museum Shops & the Portsmouth Welcome Center Special discounts on one-of-a-kind items found at any of the Museum Shops and the Portsmouth Welcome Center. Get ahead on holiday shopping while supporting your local museums! Museum Shops include The Children's Museum of Virginia and The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum. The Portsmouth Welcome Center is also participating.
Speaker: Dr. Linda Upham-Bornstein, Plymouth State University Dr. Upham-Bornstein’s lecture examines the use of urban enslaved labor in the construction of Dry Dock No. 1 at the Gosport Shipyard in […]
Speaker: Dr. Rafia Zafar, Professor at Washington University in Saint Louis In 1990, over a century after the manuscript was completed, God Made Man, Man Made the Slave, the Virginia-born George Teamoh’s 19th-century autobiography, was published. Before its publication, Teamoh’s story was little known, as its multiple, blue-bound copy books in the Carter Woodson Papers […]
Founding of the U.S. Navy Speaker: John V. Quarstein Award winning author, historian, preservationist, Director Emeritus of USS Monitor Center All events are free and open to the public. 2025 SPEAKERS SERIES presents 250 YEARS OF U.S. NAVY HISTORY Saturday, March 22, 2025, 2 - 3 pm Founding of the U.S. Navy Speaker: John V. […]
Speaker: Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Professor at Norfolk State University and founder of the Joseph Jenkins Roberts Center Dr. Newby-Alexander’s lecture will examine the history of Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment. In […]
250 Years of the U.S. Marine Corps Speaker: Shawn Callahan, Ph.D. Director, U.S. Marine Corps History Division All events are free and open to the public. 2025 SPEAKERS SERIES presents 250 YEARS OF U.S. NAVY HISTORY Saturday, March 22, 2025, 2 - 3 pm Founding of the U.S. Navy Speaker: John V. Quarstein Award […]
This June, Portsmouth Museums members get free general admission to Nauticus. General admission tickets must be reserved online in advance. Please use the following link and promo code JUNESWAP: https://104497.blackbaudhosting.com/104497/page.aspx?pid=213&tab=2&txobjid=5e0a1475-e2c0-41c8-b5a1-7bb06452c785 Up to 6 free tickets per member are allowed each day; additional admission tickets are normal cost. If no tickets are available for a specific day, […]
The Dry Dock Affair 1829-1831: African American Labor in America's Shipyard The Dry Dock Affair, 1829-1831: African American Labor in America’s Shipyard examines the history of both free and enslaved Black labor in the Gosport Shipyard during the 1830s. Dry Dock No.1 was completed in 1834 and became the first operational dry dock in the […]