On the morning of Tuesday, November 10, the Marine Corps marks its birthday at the Navy Yard with morning colors beside USS Constitution, followed by breakfast and a program inside the USS Constitution Museum. The program honors Marine Lt. William Sharp Bush and features retired Col. John "Buss" Barranco. The next morning, Veterans Day, an active-duty sailor leads a small group aboard the ship before it opens to the public.
Those two mornings are the last busy stretch of the Yard's fall. Also on November 11, the National Park Service's posted fall window for USS Cassin Young closes. From then until late May, the federal sites on the Yard open five days a week, and a Navy Yard resident's winter depends on the places that keep running around that schedule.
The Ship Has a New Captain and a Finished Sailing Season
Constitution heads into winter under new command. On October 22, 2026, Cmdr. Jon-Andrew D. Anderson took over as the ship's 78th commanding officer from Cmdr. Crystal L. Schaefer, who had finished a two-year tour. At the ceremony, Anderson said, "It takes a city to build, rebuild and sustain a ship such as this, keeping her 229 years young," according to the Boston Herald.
The ship's sailing year is already over. The 2026 underway schedule published by the museum ran from a March 28 sail for the commissioning of USS Massachusetts to an October 21 sail for the ship's and the Navy's birthday. Stops in between included Sail Boston's tall-ships parade on July 11 and a Gold Star Families sail on September 25. The schedule lists no more underways after October, so the ship stays at the pier this winter, and the hours it keeps there become the Yard's schedule.
Eleven Days in November Close Out the Fall
The museum's November calendar fills the space between the end of sailing and Cassin Young's last open day. These events are on the schedule:
- Sunday, November 8: Scout Day, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with activities around the Navy Yard. Admission is $15 per scout and $10 per adult or sibling.
- Tuesday, November 10: Marine Corps Birthday Breakfast, starting at 8 a.m. with morning colors at the ship.
- Wednesday, November 11: Veterans Day Tour, a pre-opening tour of Constitution for veterans and registered guests. The Eventbrite listing caps it at 25 people, lists it as 9 to 10 a.m. with doors at 8:30, and requires registration and a physical photo ID for adults.
- Wednesday, November 11: Last day of USS Cassin Young's fall window. The National Park Service lists the destroyer's fall season as October 12 through November 11, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
The Navy lists Veterans Day as one of the holidays when Constitution is open to the public, so the ship keeps its regular hours after the morning tour. The Park Service page doesn't post a Cassin Young schedule past that date.
Monday and Tuesday Belong to the Museum
Off-season hours at the Charlestown Navy Yard Visitor Center run from October 12 through May 28. The visitor center and Constitution follow the same pattern, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and closed Monday and Tuesday. The museum keeps a different schedule, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.
| Day | USS Constitution | NPS Visitor Center | USS Constitution Museum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Closed | Closed | 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Tuesday | Closed | Closed | 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Wednesday to Sunday | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
The museum opens half an hour before the ship and closes an hour after it, which gives Monday and Tuesday visitors at least one indoor stop on the Yard. The grounds themselves are open 24 hours a day all year, so the piers and the walk past Dry Dock 1 stay available whatever the buildings are doing. The Park Service lists free admission to the Yard, and the Navy says Constitution tours are free. The museum uses suggested admission tiers: $15 standard, $25 Pay it Forward, and a reduced tier from free to $10 per person.
Boarding Constitution comes with a few rules worth knowing before you bring guests over. Visitors 18 and older need a physical federal or state photo ID or a passport, and the Navy says it does not accept digital IDs. Every visitor and bag goes through screening, tours are first come, first served with no reservations, and the commanding officer can close the ship for operations or bad weather.
Thursday Evenings and Saturday Middays Fill the Gaps
The federal hours end at 4 p.m., and the Yard's evenings are set by its restaurants and the museum's after-hours programs.
Thursday is the evening with the most going on. Pier 6, at 1 8th St., brought back Pasta on the Pier on Thursday, September 24: a four-course dinner for $30 with locally made pasta from Lilly's and gluten-free options, as reported by Caught in Charlestown. Pier 6's site lists dinner Monday through Thursday from 4 to 10 p.m. and the bar open until 1 a.m. every night, with no separate winter schedule posted.
On Thursday, November 19, the museum holds Raise a Glass to History, a one-hour, 21-and-over evening from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. It includes tastings of grog, whiskey and Madeira, sea shanties, and history from museum Public Historian Carl Herzog. Partners are Privateer Rum, Boston Harbor Distillery and the Boston Area Chantey and Maritime Sing. It ends early enough to walk over to Pier 6 for dinner afterward.
The Anchor calls itself a public gathering space and beverage garden at the Navy Yard, with coffee and tea on the menu. Its site lists fall hours of 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily and says hours are seasonal, without posting a winter schedule.
Saturdays have their own fixed time on the water. Courageous Sailing's 2026-27 Frostbite Racing Series starts November 14 in Rhodes 19s, with a skipper's meeting at 11:30 a.m., the first warning at noon and the last race starting at 3 p.m. The first series races November 14 and 21 and December 5, 12 and 19. Racing resumes January 2, includes a Valentine's Day Regatta on February 13, and holds a make-up day on March 20. Weather can cancel any race day. Sails will be out on the harbor on winter Saturday afternoons, when the ship and the visitor center are also open.
Weekend Ferries Run Before and After the Ship's Hours
The MBTA classifies the F4 Charlestown Ferry between the Navy Yard and Long Wharf as year-round service, and the current timetables took effect August 17, 2026. On the current weekend schedule, boats leave Long Wharf every 30 minutes from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and leave the Navy Yard every 30 minutes from 10:15 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.
Those weekend boats start with the ship's 10 a.m. opening and keep running two hours past its 4 p.m. close. Guests staying downtown can take the ferry over, board the ship, stop at the museum and head back before dark. The Navy doesn't allow visitors to park next to the ship and describes parking inside the park as limited, so for out-of-town guests the boat is the easier way in.
The Holidays That Close the Ship
The Wednesday-to-Sunday schedule has holiday exceptions, and three of them fall in the next ten weeks:
- Thanksgiving Day, November 26: Constitution and the museum are both closed.
- December 24: The museum closes at 2 p.m.
- Christmas Day and New Year's Day: Constitution and the museum are both closed.
Christmas Day and New Year's Day both fall on Fridays this year, so on those holiday weekends the ship is open only Saturday and Sunday. The Navy notes that public visiting dates and hours can change, so check before bringing family over for a holiday visit.
Living near the Navy Yard means your neighborhood runs on the schedules of the Navy, the Park Service and the waterfront businesses around them. If you're weighing a home in Charlestown, or deciding when to list one on the Navy Yard waterfront, The David Green Group can walk you through how the Yard's schedule shapes daily life and value in the buildings nearby. Contact Us.
