New York & the Mid-Atlantic Trips 2 - Full PDF eBook

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MARYLAND

Point

Lookout

StGeorge

Island

Lexinton

Park

Saluda

StMary's

City

Yorktown

Jamestown

Williamsburg

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was more of a whimper

than a bang; Cornwallis’

forces had endured

weeks of siege and faulty

supply lines in the fight

against the Americans,

and Chesapeake Bay,

their source of resupply,

was blockaded by the

French Navy.

There’s two ways of

experiencing Yorktown’s

charms. One is the

Yorktown Victory Center

(%757-887-1776; http://www.

historyisfun.org; 200 Water

St; adult/child $9.75/5.50;

h9am-5pm; pc). The

state-run park is an

interactive, living-history

museum that focuses

on reconstruction,

reenactment and the

Revolution’s impact on

the people who lived

through it. It caters a

little more to kids, but

its cuteness is certainly

balanced out by an

effort to have a candid

conversation about the

course of the battle and

the motivations of the

revolutionaries.

Yorktown Battlefield

(%757-898-3400; 1000

Colonial Pkwy; incl Historic

Jamestowne adult/child $10/

free; h9am-5pm; pc),

run by the National

Park Service (NPS), is

the actual site of the

last major battle of the

American Revolution.

Start your tour at the

visitor center and check

out the orientation

film and the display of

Washington’s original

tent. The 7-mile

Battlefield Rd Tour

takes you past the major

highlights. Don’t miss

a walk through the last

British defensive sites,

Redoubts 9 and 10.

The Drive » Get on Colonial

National Historic Pkwy and take

it 7 miles west. Turn onto SR-

641, which becomes VA-199, and

follow it for 6 miles, then turn

left onto Jamestown Rd. Drive

on this for 5 miles and keep an

eye out for signs to Jamestown.

2 Jamestown

Jamestown was

the first permanent

English settlement

in North America,

although permanent

is a relative term. The

colony was founded in

1607 on a marshy spit

of malaria-stricken

wetlands; the settlers

included aristocrats

and tradesmen, but

no farmers. During

the ‘starving times’

of 1609–10, only 61

out of 500 colonists

survived; forensic

evidence indicates

some settlers resorted

to cannibalism. Future

waves of colonists

proved more competent,

and turned to tobacco as

a profitable cash crop.

TRIP HIGHLIGHT

p

Blue Ridge

Parkway

In Charlottesville, head

west for 40 miles to

reach Staunton and the

mountains of the Blue

Ridge.

r

Bracketing the

Bay

From Williamsburg, head

southeast for 20 miles to

Newport News, Hampton

Roads and shores of

Chesapeake Bay.

LINK

YOUR

TRIP

VIRGINIA.TRIPS.

26

.PENINSULA TO THE PIEDMONT