College Season: Hampton University
- Planet Pluto Travel
- May 13, 2021
- 4 min read
By: Alana DeRose
With mother's day being this past Sunday we head to the east coast with our first HBCU on our list and the college my own mother attended, Hampton University.
Hampton University was found in 1868 in Hampton Virginia, located one hour and four minutes away from Virginia Beach.
Of course with Hampton being an HBCU established during the Reconstruction Era of America it's bound to come with a lot of history and you can find out all about it at the Hampton University Museum.
The museum was also founded in 1868 and is the nation's oldest African American museum.
The museum features exhibits dedicated to African American, African, Native American, Asian and Pacific Islander artifacts. They also have the largest collection of fine arts in any museum by artists John Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence and Samella Lewis.
The Hampton University Museum includes a variety of changing exhibits as well as permanent ones. Some of these are the Children's Curiosity Room for those with kids, the Center for African American History and Life, art and teacher training workshops, lectures and symposium.
However you don't only have to go here for some Hampton history you can also visit the Hampton History Museum.
The Hampton History Museum is located only three minutes away from Hampton University and is open every single day from 10am-5pm Monday-Saturday and 1pm-5pm on Sundays.
This museum is specifically targeted towards the history of Hampton Virginia all the way from 1619 when the new slaves arrived from Africa, to Hampton joining the races on water.
Part of Hampton history is at the Fort Monroe Casemate Museum.
The museum is actually located three minutes away from the Fort Monroe National Monument itself and is nine minutes away from Hampton University.
According to virginia.org, "the casemate museum is housed in casemates or "fortified chambers" within the fort's walls."
This museum just like the Hampton University Museum captures over 400 years of social and military history at the site of Fort Monroe, one of them being the 'Contraband Decision' of 1861 and the cell where Jefferson Davis was held after the civil war.
Fort Monroe was designed to protect the Hampton roads against Confederate attacks as the Union still had control over the fort during the civil war and was an active U.S. army post until 2011.
Admission is free for the museum and is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10am-3pm.
Another place that's mentioned in the history museum is Buckroe Beach.
Buckroe Beach borders the Chesapeake Bay, is six minutes away from the university and used to have an amusement park a part of the property, but sadly it had to close down in 1985 because of declining revenue as people were visiting Busch Gardens Williamsburg instead which is only 30 minutes away from Hampton.
Buckroe Beach Amusement Park Busch Gardens Williamsburg (Currently)
However, you can still have fun even without the amusement park.
At Buckroe you can go swimming (of course), take your kids to the playground, participate in water activities such as jet skiing, kayaking and paddle-boarding. They also have a fishing pier, food carts/trucks, restrooms, a boardwalk and will be adding a floating water park to their amenities.
hampton.gov The supposed floating water park
Now, the education doesn't just stop there with the three museums previously mentioned you also visit the Virginia Air and Space Science Center.
The Virginia Air & Space Science Center is not only a museum but an educational facility that serves as the visitor center for NASA's Langley Research Center and the Langley Air Force Base that is located only four minutes away from Hampton.
The museum features an IMAX digital theater, interactive exhibits such as 'Adventures in Flight', replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer, an Apollo 12 Command Module, an insight look at the sun from pictures by NASA and summer camps that are aeronautic and space themed.
The VASSC is open from Wednesday through Saturday 10am - 5pm and Sunday 12-5pm, then closed on Monday and Tuesday.
So that's about a five to seven hours out of your day you can take to visit this museum and if you plan on staying from opening to closing you will surely get hungry and can visit the Cosmic Cafe.
However, you may not want to eat there or even visit the Science Center so you can visit well known restaurants such as Waffle House, Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse or you can visit some local favorites such as The Barking Dog, Ya's Thai Kitchen, Palm Tree Caribbean Cafe and La Parrilla Mexican Grill.
The Barking Dog is a traditional American restaurant located right near the water and is five minutes away from Hampton University. At this restaurant you can order potato salad, burgers, hot dogs, french fries, onion rings, chili cheese fries, corn dog nuggets, chicken tenders, chicken po'boy, fish sandwich, tacos, baked beans, potato chips and hush puppies. Full Barking Dog Menu
Now, Palm tree Caribbean Cafe is closer as it's one minute away from the university and is a Caribbean restaurant. They have a breakfast menu that serves shrimp or fish and grits, waffles, toast, sausage, omelets, porridge, saltfish and other forms of Jamaican breakfast and traditional American breakfast. They also serve on their main menu porkchops, jerk chicken wings, brown stew chicken, stew peas, jerk tofu, beyond meat burgers, beef patties in spicy and mild, chicken legs, thighs breast and wings, french fries, popcorn shrimp, escovitch fish, callalloo & veggies and red snapper. Full Palm Tree Caribbean Cafe Menu
La Parrilla Mexican Grill is a Mexican restaurant located eight minutes away from the campus, so a bit farther from the first two. However, here you can order nachos, fajitas, seafood nachos, shrimp nachos, soups, salads, chicken & rice, carne azada, chile verde, carnitas, burritos, quesadillas, enchiladas, kid's meals, flan and fried ice cream. Full La Parrilla Mexican Grill Menu
Ya's Thai Kitchen is a Thai restaurant located nine minutes away from Hampton University. Ya's Thai Kitchen serves white jasmine rice, french fries, fried egg rolls in chicken, beef, or veggie; larb salad, pineapple fried rice, pad thai, soup, basil fried rice, curry, pad kapao, fresh ginger stir fry, fried bananas, pork wonton soup, kanom jeeb, fried calamari, thai sweet iced tea, drunken noodle, pad woon sen, whole flounder, cashew chicken, pepper steak and pad phet. Full Ya's Thai Kitchen Menu
"The standard of excellence, an education for life" - Hampton University
Comments