Colonial National Historical Park, Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown Battlefield, are federal fee areas. Entrance fees are required by law.
However, if your group is an educational institution recognized by a federal, state or local government and is visiting Colonial National Historical Park at Historic Jamestowne or Yorktown Battlefield to satisfy curriculum requirements, you may be eligible to receive a waiver of entrance fees into the park. In order to qualify for a fee waiver, an academic group must meet the following three criteria:
(1) The group must be accredited or hav an educational tax-exemption or be recognized as an educatonal provider;
(2) a group beyond the 12th grade must be earning credit hours; and
(3) the request for a waiver must include a brief statement of how specific park resources will support the curriculum requirement.
Effective January 1, 2009, school groups with all students 15 years old and younger are not required to submit an academic fee waiver. If any of your students are 16 years and older you will need to complete the fee waiver request. To obtain a waiver of entrance fees, federal regulations require that you submit a letter on official school or district letterhead.
Home School Groups: We in the National Park realize there are many families that home school their children. Most states recognize Home School Groups as educational institutions. As such, we will accept a Fee Waiver Request Letter from home schoolers. We understand that you may not have official letterhead. Therefore, just put the name of your home school group (ex. Whomever Home School) at the top of the letter (where a school letterhead would be) to include your address and telephone number. Then complete the fee waiver request as indicated below.
DO NOT MAIL THIS REQUEST TO THE PARK. BRING IT WITH YOU AND GIVE IT TO THE PARK RANGER AT THE VISITOR CENTER INFORMATION DESK OR IF THE SCHOOL GROUP IS VISITING ONLY THE GLASSHOUSE THEY MUST TURN-IN THE FEE WAIVER TO THE GLASSHOUSE STAFF. The letter must contain the following information:
Address letter to the Park Fee Coordinator at P.O. Box 210, Yorktown, Virginia 23690.
Include the date of your visit to Historic Jamestowne/Yorktown Battlefield (Separate fee waiver letters are needed for each site)
State the purpose of the visit. Purpose must relate to educational, not recreational reasons. Please be specific.
Grade level
Number of adults (16 and older) and number of children (15 and under) in the group
Number of buses
Number of vans and/or cars (POVs)
Name, title of contact person
Name of school principal
Name and phone number of commercial tour company transporting group, if applicable
An example of an Educational Entrance Fee Waiver Request can be found at the link above.
Upon arriving at the park, school groups should report to the Visitor Center fee collection desk and check in, this whether you are submitting a fee waiver letter on not. School groups with fee waiver letters will leave the request with the Fee Collector. The group may then be admitted for free. In order to ensure your group receives free admission and is exempt from the recreation fees, all of the above information must be included in the letter. Groups that do not qualify for free admission will be charged $10.00 per adult, ages 16 and above (this fee will be good for both Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown Battlefield) or $100.00 per bus if traveling on a commercial bus. Separate request for fee waivers are required for the National Park sites at Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown Battlefield. Answers to additional questions regarding a waiver of entrance fees for school groups may be obtained by calling (757) 898-2411, Monday through Friday.
The waiver applies only to entrance fees into the park. Educational and interpretive program fees will still apply.
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