Private Tours
Experience the museums up-close and personal on a tour with your own private guide. Museum guests with 14 or fewer people in their party can add a private tour to any admission ticket with advance reservations. Beginning October 1, a premium theme can be added to any private tour. Private tours are offered hourly with the first tour beginning at 9:30 a.m. and the last tour beginning at 2:30 p.m.
Jamestown Settlement Private Tour
Program length – 2 ½ hours
Explore the world of America’s first permanent English settlement and the Powhatan Indian, English and African cultures that came in contact in 17th-century Virginia. Your group will visit expansive exhibition galleries to learn about Jamestown and its people – Powhatan, Pocahontas, John Smith and John Rolfe – and see 1600s artifacts and dioramas. You'll take part in an immersive outdoor living-history experience and opportunities to try on 17th-century-style clothing. Guides engage tour participants in a variety of activities, including spinning plant fibers into cordage in the Powhatan Indian village, playing period games in the English fort, and fully exploring re-creations of the three 1607 ships, including the officer’s quarters. Allow extra time to view the museum introductory film, 1607: A Nation Takes Root, shop in museum stores and dine in the Jamestown Settlement Café.
Jamestown Settlement Premium Themes: “Pretty and Curious Secrets” (Foodways); “Charge Your Pike – Defending the Colony” (Military); “Concerning Linen, Leather and Silk” (Historical Clothing); “All sortes of Herbes” (Gardens); “Art and Culture at Jamestown” (Arts); and “Tales of Yuletide” (Christmas). Available beginning October 1, 2013.
Yorktown Victory Center Private Tour
Program length – 2 hours
Experience the story of the American Revolution and the extraordinary challenges of ordinary people who shaped our nation. A private tour allows your group to explore the exhibition galleries, learn and ask questions about the rare 1776 broadside of the Declaration of Independence, a pair of pistols once owned by the Marquis de Lafayette, and the story of the Betsy, a British ship sunk in the York River during the Siege of Yorktown. Guides take museum guests through the outdoor living-history areas and engage them in a variety of activities: sign enlistment papers in the Continental Army, try on a Regimental coat, and learn about the technology used to fire artillery and muskets, treat injured soldiers and prepare meals at war. At the 1780s farm, visitors can play period games and help tend the fields and crops. Allow extra time to view the museum’s film, A Time of Revolution, and shop in the museum store.
Yorktown Victory Center Premium Themes: “School of the Soldier” (Military); “Shot Heard ’Round the World” (Historical Clothing); “The place where they delight to grow” (Gardens); and “Provisions Scarce” (Christmas). Available beginning October 1, 2013.
Special Introductory Rate: $95 per party plus individual admission for single museum tours, $145 plus admission for a combination tour of Jamestown Settlement and the Yorktown Victory Center. Premium themes can be added for $50 per museum. A private tour is limited to 14 people per party; advance reservations are required and subject to availability. Online bookings must be made three business days prior to scheduled tour date. Book online or call (888) 868-7593 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For private tours reserved less than three days prior to the tour date, a single museum tour is $125 plus admission and combination tour is $185 plus admission. Premium themes are $75 per museum. Call (888) 868-7593 for availability. For cancellations within three days, 50% of private tour cost is non-refundable. Tours can be rescheduled but are subject to availability, and change fees may apply.
