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GOD S PEED Ship replica helps usher in an American celebration
Step aboard Godspeed, the brand-new, 21st-century replica of an early-17-century ship that carried the Jamestown colonists from England to Virginia
Date published: 5/25/2006
By CLINT SCHEMMER A time machine is about to make landfall a little ways north of Fredericksburg. The Godspeed--an embodiment of people's fascination with America's founding days--is due in Alexandria this weekend. And quite a party there will be. Best of all, you're invited. The folks who created this sailing ship from the 17th century and sent it up the Eastern seaboard this week want you to take part in its voyage, albeit vicariously. Step aboard and glimpse an era most of us can scarcely imagine. It'll be as close as you can come to dialing the clock back four centuries and stepping into the shoes of an English colonist crossing the Atlantic to the New World, if only for an hour or two. What better way to kick off summer this Memorial Day weekend? A chance to see this amazing ship won't come again until Aug. 18-20, when the Godspeed is due to anchor at Aquia Landing Beach & Park during Stafford County's Discovery Days Festival. The Godspeed will be accompanied in each port by a free landing party, with live entertainment and nearly a dozen historical exhibits and cultural displays. Alexandria's shindig will occupy much of the city's historic waterfront, fitting for a place that was once Virginia's busiest port. The fun starts Saturday morning and will continue through June 3, when the Godspeed will depart for Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Newport, R.I. The ship's voyage launches an 18-month series of events commemorating the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in America, at Jamestown. As you read this, the Godspeed is probably nearing Mount Vernon on the Potomac--river of John Smith and the early colonists, of the tobacco plantations that propelled European settlement, and of founding families such as the Lees and Washingtons. The $2.6 million replica of one of the three ships that brought the first colonists to Jamestown has undeniable appeal. Last week, as its 12-member crew practiced maneuvers on the James River, passengers on the Jamestown-Scotland ferry gawked at the spectacle, as did recreational boaters and helicopter-borne observers overhead. The square-rigger's launch Monday from its home berth at the state-run Jamestown Settlement living-history museum drew Gov. Tim Kaine, more than 150 well-wishers and international press coverage.
Date published: 5/25/2006
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