On our tenth anniversary weekend trip, we took an afternoon trip to Yorktown Battlefield that is worthy of its own blog entry. Highly-driveable from Williamsburg, Virginia, or any other spot in the Historic Triangle, Yorktown is known as the site of our nation's victory against the British. Tour it with J, and you'll also hear about how Yorktown produced a truce more than our immediate nationhood, and you'll hear about the greater context of the Age of Revolution--and how the world did not revolve around the American Revolution. He'll still inspire you with American history, of course, and you'll leave with a better understanding of the whole shebang and a different sense of gratitude for our nationhood.
For this visit, we did a large portion of the driving tour, walked to the preserved and reconstructed redoubts (earthen forts), and saw the seasonally-open Moore House where the terms of the truce/surrender were negotiated. Little is known about the Moore family, but the site is significant in the history of preservation, as it is the first NPS preservation of its kind, accomplished by a CCC group. The redoubts provoke similar curiosity, and one suddenly realizes "George Washington was here" when walking around them. The NPS Battlefield site also has a small visitor's center that displays Washington's tents from the battle--the real deal. Walking around in the park, while historic, is also beautiful.
If you are also going to Historic Jamestowne within the year, it may be smarter for you to buy an annual admission pass to the local NPS parks. When planning your trip, keep "new" and "old" Jamestown and Yorktown separate in your mind--they are four separate entities. The "new" sites are living history parks managed by the Commonwealth of Virginia; the "old" sites are preserved remains managed by the National Park Service. "New" Yorktown is being redesigned--we're sure to bring you a blog about that next year!
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