Today's events

We were having breakfast this morning as usual and, as often happens, the Coleman Bridge was preparing for an opening. Two ships had been at the Naval Weapons Station all week, and both were leaving port today.
As usual, my guests jumped up from the table, got their cameras, and went to the deck to watch the event. I tried to give them as much information in advance as I could, and I told them to look at the silouette of the ship, and find the number so we could identify the specific ship that was departing the river.
As it approached us, we were able to identify the ship and to our surprise it was the USS Cole.
The Cole was the ship that was bombed in Yemen in 2000 and the even was a predecessor to the bombing of the World Trade Center September 11, 2001.
The Cole had been here on and off since it was built, but its notoriety in that tragic event made our seeing it even more interesting for us today.


This Sunday, the Watermen’s Heritage Festival is being held down on the waterfront just below me at the Watermen’s Museum. The workboat races can be enjoyed from the deck of the Presidents’ Room.
This annual festival includes displays, activities, programs, wonderful food, and other things related to the present and historic Chesapeake Bay. The festival is free and available from 11 til 5 on Sunday.

Mattaponi Tribe Powwow

As an addition to yesterday's post, the free admission for certain national parks (10 in Virginia) will be in effect this coming weekend, June 20 and 21, as well as the other two weekends I mentioned.

Also this Saturday, June 20, the Mattaponi Indian tribe will have its 14th Annual Powwow at their reservation on the Mattaponi River. The Mattaponi River joins the Pamunkey River (named after another recognized Virginia tribe) at West Point creating the York River. We can see West Point from the decks at the York River Inn.

This is the reservation sitting along the banks of the Mattaponi River in King William County:

The Powwow will begin at 10 am and end at 5 pm with an admission of $5, free for children. American Indian dancing, drumming, food, and arts and crafts will be featured during the day. For more information, call 804 769-8783.

This is an image from the 2008 Powwow.

National Park Service free admission

The National Park Service is offering free admission to over 100 parks during certain weekends this summer.

Colonial National Historical Park which includes Yorktown Battlefield is one of those parks that will waive the entrance fees and some other fees July 18 and 19 and August 15 and 16.

Colonial also includes Historic Jamestowne (the original site of the Jamestown settlement), the Colonial Parkway (no admission ever for that of course), and Cape Henry Memorial, the location of the first landing of the Virginia colonists in 1607 on the oceanfront at Virginia Beach.

The fees usually average $10 per person, so this is quite a savings for those weekends.

You might check your own national park (www.NPS.gov) to see if it offers free admmission also.