The Hampton Coliseum anchors the city's event calendar with concerts, sports and the marquee Hampton Jazz Festival (June). Directly next to the Coliseum, the Hampton Convention Center hosts trade shows and industry events year-round. The Virginia Air & Space Center on Settlers Landing Road is the official NASA Langley visitor center with rockets, hands-on exhibits and an IMAX theater.
Fort Monroe National Monument on Old Point Comfort is the largest stone fort ever built in the United States and where the first enslaved Africans arrived in English North America in 1619 — the Casemate Museum tells the fort's full history. Hampton University and the Hampton University Museum on the waterfront hold one of the oldest African American collections in the country.
Buckroe Beach and Fishing Pier on the Chesapeake Bay is Hampton's shoreline with a beach, boardwalk and summer concert series. Bluebird Gap Farm runs a free family petting zoo, Air Power Park displays static aircraft and missiles, and downtown's Hampton History Museum covers 400 years of history. The Hampton Cup Regatta brings powerboat racing to the harbor each August; Blackbeard Festival turns downtown into a pirate town in June.
There is more within easy reach: Fort Monroe National Monument at Old Point Comfort; Virginia Air & Space Center (NASA Langley); Buckroe Beach and Fishing Pier on the Bay; Hampton Coliseum concerts and Jazz Festival; Hampton University Museum on the waterfront. Seasonal highlights: spring reopens Fort Monroe walking weather, summer is peak Buckroe Beach and Coliseum season, fall brings crisp harbor walks, winter is quiet with off-season convention rates.
