The Watermen’s Museum is a private non-profit museum located on the York River in historic Yorktown, VA. It was founded in 1981 as a part of the 200th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Yorktown. Our mission is to demonstrate the role Chesapeake Bay Watermen, from pre-colonial to modern times, have played in the shaping of our nation. We provide a historical display of exhibits, crafts and methods of their trade, and a look into their lives. The Watermen’s Museum offers school and civic groups 13 different educational field trips and we conduct 8 summer children’s programs in Archaeology, Boatbuilding, Nature Explorer, Marine Explorer, All-About-Boats, Maritime Trades, Survivor Yorktown, and Pirate topics. We also have a volunteer team that operates our Chesapeake Bay boat building program, constructing and refurbishing boats in our Boat Shop, and a boat modeler that works in our main gallery.
