Hampton, Virginia, June 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution, the Hampton History Museum’s newest exhibit explores the story of Hampton during the period. Revolutionary Hampton: Journeys of Liberty opens on June 28, 2025. The exhibit follows the journeys of real men and women as they navigated life and work on the front lines to fight for liberty, including the Battle of Hampton - Virginia’s first battle of the Revolution.
The Battle of Hampton fought October 26-27, 1775 erupted between a British naval fleet and the mariners and town leaders of Hampton. At the heart of the battle were disputes over the meaning of liberty, Patriots fighting unfavorable British trade regulations and for freedom of the open sea, enslaved people seeking freedom from bondage, and British officers and merchants defending the mercantile empire they saw as the best protector of liberty.
Hampton remained on the front lines of the American Revolution, from the Battle of Hampton in 1775 to the American victory at Yorktown in 1781. This exhibit will explore Hampton as the home port of the Virginia Navy, the seafaring exploits of Hampton’s sailors and mariners, the part Hampton played in securing the Commonwealth’s wartime supplies including salt and weapons, and the threat of smallpox epidemics and Hampton’s role as a military medical center.
Personal Stories Add Character to Exhibit
Visitors to the exhibit will follow the stories of individual Patriots, Loyalists, and civilians through the exhibit and an innovative online activity, accessed easily via a smartphone. The exhibit includes hands-on activities, challenging visitors to test their skills as spies, sailors, or military drummers. Some of the people guests will meet include:
Cesar Tarrant
He was an enslaved harbor pilot from Hampton who served in the Virginia Navy. Following his skilled and brave service to Virginia during the war, he was returned to slavery and was one of eight Black Patriots to be freed by the General Assembly.
George Wythe
He was born near Hampton and represented Virginia in the Continental Congress before returning to Virginia to serve in state government and support the war effort.
Walter McClurg
He was a former British naval surgeon living in Hampton. He organized several military hospitals in Hampton throughout the war, supporting troops garrisoned at Hampton and the sailors of the Virginia Navy. He also led efforts to fight wartime smallpox outbreaks.
Joseph Harris
Like Cesar Tarrant, he was an enslaved harbor pilot from Hampton. He escaped to British ships, where he soon became indispensable. Joseph Harris’s fight to be free helped lead to the Battle of Hampton.
Wilson Curle
He was an early leader among Hampton’s patriots. Before the war, Curle advocated for boycotts of British goods. He served as a colonel in the militia and as a judge on Virginia’s Court of Admiralty.
Sukey Godfrey
She escaped from slavery to a British ship early in the war. She, her husband Sam, and their three children lived behind British lines in New York and resettled as free people in Nova Scotia at the end of the Revolution.
Gallery Interactive Experiences
To enhance the visitor experience and engage visitors with the content and artifacts, several interactive activities are included in the exhibit. Visitors can access an online character experience through a QR code to allow them to interact more deeply with the unique Revolutionary story of one of the people highlighted in the gallery. The identity of the character will be revealed through the course of the interactive.
Hands-on activities include a knot-tying interactive for guests to test their skills in tying basic nautical knots and see how they would compare to a Revolutionary War sailor. Visitors will learn the tricks of the spy trade by using a cypher wheel to decode a secret Revolutionary message. The role of music in military life is explored in a snare drum interactive to follow along with a fife-and-drum duo as they play Revolutionary War marching and field music. To get a feel for the time period, there will be several areas throughout the gallery where visitors can touch items similar to the archaeological and other artifacts on display in the exhibit.
Exhibition Artifacts
Dozens of artifacts, including a variety of rarely seen items unearthed during extensive archaeological excavations of downtown Hampton illuminate daily life in this colonial seaside town. The tea services, chamber pots and other household items exemplify the trade goods that came to Hampton from all over the world but had to pass through British merchants first. A French Soldier’s button, British King George halfpenny, and Cowrie shell likely brought by an enslaved African, further illustrate Hampton’s role as a leading trade port. The Revolution transformed Hampton’s economy by disrupting old British trade networks and leading to new global connections.
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Editor’s note: Images and captions are linked here.
Hampton History Museum
The Hampton History Museum is located at 120 Old Hampton Lane in Downtown Hampton. There is plenty of free parking in the garage across from the museum. Open Monday-Saturday, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Sunday 1:00-5:00 p.m. Closed major holidays. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, active military, active NASA, AAA, children 4-12, free to children under 4. For more information, call 757-727-1102, visit www.HamptonHistoryMuseum.org, or like the Hampton History Museum on Facebook and Instagram.
About Hampton, Virginia
Partially bordered by the Hampton Roads harbor and Chesapeake Bay, Hampton, with the 344,000 sq. ft. Hampton Roads Convention Center and the award-winning Hampton Coliseum, is located in the center of Coastal Virginia and the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. Hampton is the site of America's first continuous English-speaking settlement, the site of the first arrival of Africans in English North America, and is home to such visitor attractions as the Virginia Air & Space Science Center, Fort Monroe National Monument, Hampton History Museum, Hampton University Museum, The American Theatre, among others.
Taylor Henderson Hampton Convention & Visitor Bureau 757-728-5316 taylor.henderson@hampton.gov Seamus McGrann Hampton History Museum 757-759-1771 mmcgrann@hampton.gov
