Visit historic frigate Hermione in NYC

Visit a Revolutionary Era sailing ship in NYC this July Fourth weekend, FREE. It’s the L’Hermione, a replica of the ship that brought the Marquis de Lafayette and his troops from France to support General George Washington in the Revolutionary War.

Lafayette’s frigate, L’Hermione, will be docked at Pier 15 at the South Street Seaport, July 1-4, for FREE tours, and other events throughout Manhattan, including participating in the Parade of Ships.

There’s also a FREE concert in Central Park and a FREE outdoor movie screening, all celebrating the historic friendship between France and the USA..

FREE tours are 9AM to 4PM daily, except on July 1st when visits begin at noon, after a private arrival ceremony, and on July Fourth, when Hermione participates in the Parade of Tall Ships..

There are no reservations, no tickets.  It’s first come, first aboard.  Note that for the first hour, from 9AM to 10AM, priority  will be given to school groups.

Even if you don’t get aboard the ship, visit the special Heritage Village, featuring Revolutionary Era re-enactors, historic shipbuilding crafts demonstrations, interactive conversations with the sailors, and cultural activities including costumed performances by re-enactors, concerts of period and contemporary music and craft exhibitions.

There’s also a display of Lafayette’s role in the American Revolution and the Hermione’s reconstruction, and a special exhibit from the Région Poitou-Charentes, the region in France where the Hermione was constructed, including sampling products from the region.

L’Hermione is visiting NYC on July 4th weekend, the midway point of an 11-city visit to cities from Yorktown, Virginia to Nova Scotia.

L’Hermione sailed 3,819 miles from France to what used to be The Colonies with an 80-person crew, and returns to France in mid-August. Here’s her New York City schedule:

Wednesday, July 1st,

• Noon to 4pm: Ship visits and the Traveling Exhibit and the Heritage Village

Thursday, July 2nd:

• 9AM to 4pm: Ship visits and the Traveling Exhibit and the Heritage Village
• 8PM:  Break a Mozart: A FREE dance and music show in Central Park, that combines the classical music of Mozart with hip hop dance, performed by the Orchestra des Champs Elysées and the National Choreographic Center of La Rochelle.  The project was born from a shared desire to dialogue between the two different artistic worlds of classical music and hip hop dance. Eleven hip hop dancers interpret excerpts from Mozart’s Requiem and Don Giovanni, for a powerful and original show.  Rumsey Playfield (enter Central Park on 69th St and 5th Ave)

Friday, July 3rd:

• 9AM to 4PM: Ship visits and the Traveling Exhibit and the Heritage Village
• 11AM to 12:30PM: Flag raising ceremony. The event will start at Pier 16 with an unfurling of flags carried by Hermione on her transatlantic voyage. A parade will then march from Pier 16 to Bowling Green. Led by French and American flags, the parade will proceed from Water Street up Wall Street to Broadway and then Bowling Green. At 12 noon, there will be flag raising ceremonies for the French and American flags. The ceremony is led by Lower Manhattan Historical Society, Alexander Hamilton U.S Custom House at Bowling Green.
• 8:30PM: Screening of “Les Demoiselles de Rochefort” in Battery Park. Sponsored by the Poitou-Charentes Region as part of “The Hermione Film Festival”. Les demoiselles de Rochefort (The young girls of Rochefort) directed by Jacques Demy with Catherine Deneuve and Gene Kelly, musical film, 1967, (120 min, remastered digital presentation), presented in partnership with the French Embassy and NYC Parks. This delightful 1967 musical film is a bouncy trifle focusing on two musically-inclined fraternal twin sisters’ (Catherine Deneuve and real-life sister Françoise Dorléac) search for love and those of various characters (including Gene Kelly) who hover in and around their lives in the small town of Rochefort.  At Castle Clinton.  No tickets needed.

• 9:00AM to 3PM: People’s Parade of Ships: Sail-by Salute past the Statue of Liberty. Parade route begins south of the Verrazano Bridge, heads north Statue of Liberty, up to the Intrepid Museum and back down again. Hermione is joined by more than 100 sailboats and motorboats, including two FDNY fireboats and one from the US Army Corps of Engineers.  See the entire list of ships and boats here.
• 11am to 4PM:  Teen-curated Lafayette/Hermione Exhibit on Governor’s Island. Using reproductions of historic documents, artifacts, and works of art, Student Historian Teen Leaders from the New York Historical Society have curated a nuanced installation that sheds light on the lives of both soldier and civilian New Yorkers during the Revolutionary War. Utilized by both American patriots and the British alike during the war, Governors Island sets the stage for the pop-up exhibition. In Nolan Park.  After this one-day pop-up exhibit, it moves to the museum, though September 27th.  For more info : http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/revolution-nyc-war-independence