Story

Susan Constant is a full-scale re-creation of the flagship of a small fleet that brought America’s first permanent English colonists to Virginia in 1607. Together with the smaller Godspeed and Discovery, Susan Constant is on exhibit at Jamestown Settlement, a living-history museum of 17th-century Virginia, and hosts about a half-million visitors every year. Jamestown Settlement is administered by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Built on the museum grounds and commissioned in 1991, the Susan Constant replaced a vessel built for the 1957 Jamestown Festival commemorating the 350th anniversary of the colony’s founding. While no plans or renderings of the original Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery have ever been located, the re-creations are based on the documented tonnages of the 17th-century ships, and Susan Constant’s design incorporates research information that emerged after the first replicas were built.

A volunteer sail training program is offered to individuals of all ages.