Pirate Essentials

Directions
Downtown Hampton is minutes From I-64. Take exit 267 off the Interstate on to Settlers Landing Road. Turn west and cross over the Booker T. Washington Bridge and you are in the heart of Downtown Hampton.

Hours
Friday, June 3, 2011• 5 p.m. - 11 p.m.
Saturday, June 4, 2011 • 10 a.m. - 11 p.m. - Fireworks @ 9 p.m.
Sunday, June 5, 2011 • 12 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Click here for schedule of events

Map

Parking
FREE parking is available in the Public Parking garage on Settlers Landing Road, a block past the Virginia Air & Space Center. Other areas available for parking throughout Downtown Hampton.

Guest relations
Information Booths and Official Blackbeard Pirate Festival Merchandise are located in Pirate Cove and next to the Crowne Plaza Hampton Marina Hotel.

Restrooms
Portable restrooms are located in Mill Point Park., children's area and on Queensway.

Pirate Cove
Pirate Cove offers a little bit of everything that is pirate, from authentic food to a recreation of pirate camp. Explore a collection of 17th and 18th century period vendors who offer up a variety of rare and exotic wares. These artisans sell everything from pirate memorabilia and jewelry, to clothing and accessories.

The Bunch of Grapes Tavern invites visitors to pull up a plank and enjoy the rustic tavern-style of 1700s Hampton. The simulated tavern is a recreation of Hampton's original Bunch of Grapes establishment from the 1700s and allows guests to dine elbow-to-elbow with pirates and to be served by bawdy wenches.

Blackbeard's Pirate Camp offers a glimpse of pirate life in 1718. Manned by re-enactors, the pirate camp is a perfect way to learn how to use a cutlass, load a cannon, or sing a sea chantey.

Pirate Hunter Camps Carousel Park
The Royal Navy, Marines & Mercenaries hired by Governor Spotswood to hunt pirates set-up camp here. Pirate Hunger Camp is also a good place to catch some authentic sea chanteys.

New This Year!

Thieves Market
The Blackbeard Pirate Festival will offer a NEW shopping experience known as the Thieves' Market to this year’s event. What does a pirate do with their favorite wares after a long day of pillaging the high seas? Sell them of course! The NEW Thieves' Market will showcase a variety of the best handmade arts and crafts that visitors are sure to love.

The Wee Port located in Pirate Cove
The Wee Port will teach little swashbucklers how to behave like a pirate and experience some of their favorite pastime activities.

Battery Point
Battery Point, located along the waterfront, offers visitors the chance to enjoy a variety of entertainment including nautical tunes, traditional pirate folklore and the firing of cannons and musket fire. In addition, guests will be awestruck by the talents of Blood Thirsty Barbara, crew member of Pirates of the Dark Rose. Blood Thirsty Barbara entertains audiences with her unique ability to handle birds of prey.

The Blackbeard Legend Once a bustling seaport, Hampton was the doorway to commerce for the colonies. Between the export of tobacco to England and the import of manufactured commodities, Hampton's waterfront became a prime target for one of the fiercest and most successful pirates of the Caribbean, Blackbeard. Legend has it that when Blackbeard was finally defeated by the Royal Navy, his head was mounted on a post at the mouth of the Hampton Harbor warning all other Pirates of their impending fate. Today, it is Hampton's fame as an important colonial seaport and Blackbeard's demise that the city celebrates. Click here to learn more about Blackbeard & his legend on wikipedia.org