1. Charles H. Taylor Arts Center
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (757) 727-1490
Address: 4205 Victoria Blvd.
Description: This building started out as Hampton’s public library and now hosts a series of changing exhibitions throughout the year as well as space on the second floor for permanent collections and classes, lectures, and workshops. The emphasis here is on local artists even though the building is named for the founder and managing editor of the Boston Globe newspaper. He was the father of Grace Taylor Armstrong, who built the library for the city. Her estate leases it to the city to be operated by the Hampton Arts Commission. The center is free and closed on Mon.
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: 100 West Queen St.
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: 600 Settlers Landing Rd.
4. Hampton Carousel
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (757) 727-0900
Address: 602 Settlers Landing Rd.
Description: This is art you can not only touch but can get aboard and ride. The carousel is located in Carousel Park adjacent to the Virginia Air and Space Center in downtown Hampton. It is one of only 200 antique carousels in the United States. It was built in 1920 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company for the Buckroe Beach Amusement Park. The ride features 48 horses and two chariots carved and painted by Russian, German, and Italian immigrant artists. After the park closed, the horses were restored and the ride, with its original mirrors and oil paintings, was moved to the current location downtown. They still prance to the original band organ. There is currently a fundraising drive to give them all another sprucing up.
5. Plaza Roller Rink
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (757) 723-7993
Address: 1924 East Pembroke Ave.
Description: This rink is closed for private parties on Mon and Wed. Thurs is family night here and an entire family can skate for $15 including rentals.
6. Miss Hampton Ii
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (757) 722-9102
Address: 710 Settlers Landing Rd.
Description: This tour boat will take you right over the place where the Monitor and Virginia battled to a standstill. You’ll travel by Fort Wool and be able to check out the warships at the Norfolk Naval Station, and the tour guides will even show your kids where Blackbeard’s head was mounted on a post to discourage piracy. The harbor tour lasts about three hours and includes a stop at Fort Wool for a 30-minute walking tour of the Civil War Island Fortress. Price is $22.50 for adults and $11.50 for kids 6 to 12. Kids under six are free.
7. Air Power Park
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (757) 727-1163
Address: 413 West Mercury Blvd.
Description: This is the place to take kids who are fascinated by flight. Throughout this 15-acre park is an array of airplanes, fighter aircraft, missiles, and rockets to explore. They include a P-1127 Kestrel, an F-86L Sabre, a Mercury space capsule, an A-7E Corsair II, an F-101F Voodoo among the jets, and a wealth of rockets and missiles, including a NIKE SAM, a Jupiter IRBM, and a Javelin Sounding Rocket. There’s also a children’s playground here. Open daily from sunrise to sunset.
8. Newport News Visitor Center
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (757) 886-7777, (888) 493-7386
Address: 13560 Jefferson Ave.
Description: As you motor down I-64 from Williamsburg, stop here for brochures, directions, and general information about any city attraction. It’s open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.
9. Development Office
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (757) 926-1400, (888) 493-7386
Address: 700 Town Center Dr., Suite 320
Description: Another place to obtain a current visitor guide or other information is this downtown office. Your best bet is to call—rather than stop—here and ask to have what you need mailed to you. Staffed 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mon through Fri.
10. Hampton Visitors Center
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (757) 727-1102, (800) 800-2202
Address: 120 Old Hampton Lane
Description: Stop here for brochures on everything from restaurants and accommodations to walking tours and citywide attractions. This also is the place to purchase tickets for a Hampton waterfront cruise, which departs from docks right at the center. Open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
11. The American Theatre
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (757) 722-2787
Address: 125 East Mellen St.
Description: Although not an attraction per se, this refurbished theater is such an important part of the peninsula’s arts landscape that we decided to include it here. Built in 1908 as a vaudeville and movie house, the theater underwent several transformations before closing in the 1990s. In recent years the theater has been the recipient of a $2 million makeover and offers live theater, concerts featuring international artists, classic movies, and children’s programs. The theater, which also houses the Hampton Art Commission’s Great Performers Series, has hosted Sierra Maestra from Cuba, Beausoleil, Portuguese performer Mariza, and John McCutcheon.
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: 60 Pine Chapel Rd.
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
14. Charles H. Taylor Arts Center
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (757) 727-1490
Address: 4205 Victoria Blvd.
Description: On historic Victoria Boulevard, where grand old homes dominate the landscape, sits the Charles H. Taylor Arts Center. Housed in Hampton’s 1926 library, where Victoria intersects Kecoughtan Road, the center displays the work of local artists and photographers as well as traveling exhibitions. The center also is home to the Hampton Arts Commission, which stages the highly acclaimed Great Performers Series at the American Theatre. If you stop in, pick up a copy of the organization’s newsletter, Hampton Arts Calendar, which gives a comprehensive rundown of arts activities on the peninsula. The center is open Tues through Fri from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sat and Sun from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
15. Cousteau Society
City: Hampton, VA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (757) 722-9300
Address: 710 Settlers Landing Rd.
Description: Known internationally for pioneering underwater exploration, photography, and conservation, the Cousteau Society opened an attraction on the downtown Hampton waterfront in 2003. The waterfront gallery showcases the undersea endeavors of Jacques-Yves Cousteau using photography, artifacts, ship models, and film footage. Visitors can see world-renowned underwater photography, models of the research vessels Calypso and Alcyone, and diving equipment from the past and present. Artifacts from Cousteau’s expeditions are also on display, including a hovercraft in which guests can sit and have their pictures taken. The attraction is free and open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, and parking is free in the nearby Radisson Hotel parking garage.