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Attractions
All residents can enjoy quality leisure time on the Virginia Peninsula, resulting in increased productivity and higher retention rates. The Virginia Peninsula provides a diverse cultural offering and plenty of entertaining things to do. Whether you enjoy music, theater, opera or the fine arts, you will be pleased to find them here.
Busch Gardens/Water Country
 Virginia Peninsula residents often find it attractive to buy season tickets or combination season tickets to hours of summer fun. In fact, Busch Gardens—The Old Country begins its season in April and it lasts into October. Visit the Busch Gardens and Water Country USA websites and then come visit them in person. Enjoying this wholesome entertainment right next door is just an added bonus of working and living on the Virginia Peninsula.
Hampton Carousel
Built in 1920, the carousel has been completely restored to its original beauty and is housed in its own weather-protected pavilion on Hampton's downtown waterfront. It is one of only 170 antique wooden merry-go-rounds still existing in the U.S. Visit the Hampton Convention Center and Visitor Bureau website for additional information.
Yorktown Cruises
 Narrative tours and sunset cruises on a 63-foot cruise vessel along the historic Yorktown River, from casual breakfast to formal dining ensuring a successful and enjoyable experience. Also includes sightseeing and fishing tours. Learn more about the Yorktown Cruises by visiting their website.
Ferguson Center for the Arts
 Hampton Roads' newest performance venue located at Christopher Newport University on the Virginia Peninsula. The Ferguson Center for the Arts will host world-class performances ranging from ballet to country music, chamber music to comedians.
“From the beginning, our purpose was to create a world-class center for the arts that would put this community and this center on the national and international arts map,” said Christopher Newport University President Paul Trible. “And we have accomplished just that.”
Hampton Coliseum
 Known as an architectural jewel, the Coliseum is a versatile facility that hosts a variety of events from concerts and shows to wrestling, boxing, basketball and more. Muhammed Ali and hometowner Sweetpea Whitaker are a few of the celebrities and sports legends that have appeared at the business district arena. Learn more about the events and history of the Hampton Coliseum by visiting their website.
Peninsula Fine Arts
 Come explore the creative world of art! You'll never see the same thing twice - touring collections of historical or contemporary works, juried exhibitions and more! Let the kids create their own artwork in Hands On For Kids, an interactive children's gallery, or pick up an original piece by a local or regional artist in the Gallery Shop. Art classes for both adults and children, special programs and events, gallery talks and performing arts events. An affiliate of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Learn more about the Museum by visiting their website.
Virginia Air and Space Museum
 The Virginia Air & Space Center features more than a dozen airplanes and spacecraft, interactive exhibits detailing NASA’s achievements, an Adventures in Flight gallery, a Space Gallery, a meteorite from Mars and a 3 billion-year-old moon rock.
The museum’s collection includes the real Apollo 12 Command Module (launched on its lunar mission in 1969), an F-104C Starfighter (nicknamed ”the missile with a man in it”) and a Pershing II missile. Special traveling exhibits are avialable as well as an IMAX Theater. Click here to learn more about the current exhibits.
Mariners' Museum
 The Mariners' Museum is one of the largest international maritime museums in the world featuring more than 35,000 maritime pieces from ship models, scrimshaw, figureheads to steam engines and more. The museum houses photography collections, a library and archives and special collections.
One of the museum's highlights is The Monitor Collection featuring priceless artifacts from the Civil War ironclad. Visitors can now see the ship's lantern, anchor and some of the crew's personal belongings. Artifacts recovered from the sunken ship will be conserved and prepared for the planned USS Monitor Center slated to open in 2007.
Virginia Living Museum
 Explore the Commonwealth's natural wonders in this newly expanded attraction. Tour living exhibits and habitats housing wildlife and plants from the coves of the Appalachian Mountains to the waters of the Atlantic. See animals in natural habitats including wolves, foxes, deer, eagles, snakes, fish, an alligator, a variety of birds and more. Also explore the skies with a rooftop Meade telescope and planetarium. Read more about our current exhibits and features by visiting our website.
Hampton History Museum
 Imagine the collection of artifacts you might acquire over 400 years. In Hampton, Virginia's case, those objects number to 400,000 and represent our nation's oldest continuous English-speaking settlement.
Exciting tales like the arrival of Captain John Smith to Old Point Comfort in 1610, the demise of Blackbeard the Pirate and the burning of Hampton in 1861 are recounted amongst the exhibits. Click here to visit the website.
Colonial Williamsburg
 Colonial Williamsburg is the nation’s largest outdoor living history museum encompassing 301acres including some 500 public buildings, homes, stores and taverns reconstructed and restored to their 18th-century appearances; tradesmen practicing 30 historic trades and domestic crafts; historical interpreters and character actors; and 90 acres of gardens and greens.
Some highlights are: the Governor’s Palace; the Capitol; DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum and Bassett Hall.
Jamestown Settlement
 Explore the world of America's first permanent English colonists and their Powhatan Indian neighbors at Jamestown Settlement, where a blend of indoor gallery exhibits and outdoor living history bring the early 1600s to life. Indoors, a documentary film and expansive galleries explore the political, social and economic factors that led to English colonization, the culture of the Powhatan Indians who lived in coastal Virginia at the time the English arrived, and the first and often turbulent century of the Virginia colony, when Jamestown served as its capital.
Yorktown
 Yorktown Battlefield is not only a great place to see history, but it's an ideal place to enjoy fall foliage. Join a Park Ranger for a guided walking tour of the battlefield and 18th-century town. Drive through the battlefield and see the numerous fortifications and cannons; the Moore House, scene of surrender negotiations; and Surrender Field, among other sites. Stroll through the historic town and view the many historic sites in the Yorktown, including the Nelson House, home to Governor Thomas Nelson, Jr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence; and the Yorktown Victory Monument.
Buckroe Beach
 Located on the edge of the Chesapeake Bay, Buckroe Beach is ideal for those looking for a long, sandy shoreline and gentle surf. Cyclists and strollers navigate the paved boardwalk and lounge on the grass. Summer concerts can be heard in the outdoor pavilion. There are sheltered picnic tables, restrooms and a fishing pier. Rentals available nearby include charter fishing and personal watercraft.
Huntington Beach
 This park and public beach is near the base of the James River Bridge, a short walk from the Crab Shack restaurant and fishing pier.The beach has shallow water, and is small with a family feel. It has attendants from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The beach area has a large playground, picnic shelters, public boat ramp, snack bar, restrooms and tennis, basketball and sand volleyball courts. On a bluff is Fort Fun, a multi-level wooden structure with maze, haunted castle, bucking bronco, slides, swings and more. There's a freshwater children's fishing pier on Lake Biggins and a spectacular rose garden for adults nearby.
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Amusements