They have voyaged 200 miles down the Potomac, furling heavy sails, securing lines, living in cramped quarters and battling thunderstorms, but the journey is no where near done and it?s all for a very special birthday party ? America?s 400th.
Godspeed, a $2.65 million replica of one of the ships that carried settlers to Jamestown, Va., in 1607, docked Friday at Baltimore?s Inner Harbor for a three-day commemoration of America?s beginning.
Jeanne Zeidler, mayor of Williamsburg, Va., and executive director of Jamestown 2007, said the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation launched the 18-month birthday party to “remind people of the beginnings of democracy, diversity and multi-culturalism.”
Zeidler said he hopes the program will inspire citizen participation like that of the colonists.
She said, “We aren?t just looking at 1607 or 2007, we are looking at 400 years of American history that make us who we are.”
At the Jamestown Experience exhibit, visitors walked through a replicate of the ship?s lower deck. While walking through the cramped room, visitors gawked at small wooden boxes serving as beds and barrels of salted beef looking less than appetizing. Tour guides explained that 51 people had to live in the tight cabin without bathing for 144 days.
The ship?s master, Eric Speth, who is Maritime Program manager for the foundation, said the replicate had modern amenities for cooking added to the lower cabin. To keep the ship tour realistic, visitors could see the upper deck on the ship and experience the lower levels through the historical exhibit.
“It?s a floating 17th-century museum,” he said.
Judith Van Alstyne brought her students from the Washington Science and Technology Academy for “an end of the year treat after studying Jamestown in school.”
Alstyne and three boys from her class watched a live demonstration of knot tying by a foundation educator with a scruffy beard, a sailor?s raspy voice and realistic 17th-century attire.
Nancy and Alan Seitz came to see Godspeed for the second time. The couple spent their honeymoon in Williamsburg and had their picture taken in front of the Godspeed at the Jamestown settlement.
“For our 43rd anniversary, we had to come back and get our picture taken with the Godspeed again,” Nancy said.
Godspeed, America?s 400th Anniversary
» Now through Monday, Baltimore?s Inner Harbor, 401 Light St. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekends, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays
