Doing the Historic Triangle

One of the main reasons we had for renting the car in this area was to visit some of the historic sites for which the area is renowned. The three places we wanted to visit were Yorktown, Jamestown, and Colonial Williamsburg.  Jamestown, which lies around 20 miles due west of Yorktown, was the site of the first English settlement in America. Note, however, that it was not the FIRST settlement. The French and Spanish had settlements way before Jamestown in Florida because the weather was so much nicer! Where would you rather settle?

At the Yorktown battlefield

Yorktown Memorial

Grouper sandwich for lunch!

Larry & Dick at the Waterman's Museum

Model of a skipjack fishing boat

We decided that the best approach would be to do Yorktown and Jamestown in one day, and Williamsburg, which we learned would take a lot more time, on another day.

Field cannon and mortars

We invited the Laceys to join us and we piled into the car and took off for Yorktown. Yorktown was the site of the revolutionary battle where the Americans under George Washington and the French under General Rochambeau defeated the British led by Cornwallis. Although the revolutionary war continued after this skirmish, the battle at Yorktown essentially decided the war's outcome which led to the establishment of the United States. We took a guided tour which was conducted by a young Frenchman. Because the French were so instrumental in helping the Americans win the war, we found his perspective to be very interesting and his presentation and thick French accent was factual and entertaining. After the tour we viewed the exhibits and then took an autotour through the battlefield and town. We ended up at a waterfront pub for lunch and had a great meal. The seafood was so fresh and the portions were huge. We visited a waterman's museum and learned about the boats and methods used for fishing on the Chesapeake. Capt. Larry found this interesting and easy to relate to as he had just finished Michner's Chesapeake right before the trip started. We left Yorktown and rode the Colonial Parkway heading for Jamestown. Somewhere along the way we got off the parkway, because we were no longer seeing signs pointing to Jamestown. We were lost and our predicament was further compounded by the lousy maps we had in the car. We were driving on major roads and highways that weren't found on any of our maps. After driving for an hour and a half, we entered Newport News and knew that we were just opposite Portsmouth on the James River. It was late in the day and were were about 20 minutes from the marina, so visiting Jamestown wasn't going to happen. We made it back to the marina and ordered pizza and dined with the Laceys aboard Confetti.

Governor's Palace

Entrance hall, Governor's Palace

Entrance hall fireplace

The Laceys had planned on spending some time off the boat with relatives and then moving their boat to another marina for the AGLCA spring rendezvous. We decided it would be a good time to visit Colonial Williamsburg. We got started later than we had hoped which was going to limit our time. One probably needs 2 days or more to see most of what Williamsburg has to offer, but we felt we could get the historical gist of things by hitting the highlights. Williamsburg was the first capitol of Virginia and the seat of the first assembly or burgess, and because of Virginia's economic and political stature among the colonial states, Williamsburg played an important role in events leading up to and during the Revolutionary War. As a result, most of the revolutionary big wigs passed through Williamsburg at sometime. The restoration and preservation of the buildings are very well done as are the re-enactments. They even had the Dodge Charger automobile that Washington rode in when he defeated the British and later went on to make Dodge TV commercials! But what makes the visit interesting is interaction with the staff who are dressed and role play in period.

Palace gardens

A re-enactment

A fire fighting water pump, ca. 1759

Virginia's first statehouse

Mention to one that it is a nice day and you may get a response like, "Yes a nice day, and much more bearable than those hot spring days we had in 1751 and '57." We learned of a recipe for oyster ice cream which was made with ice harvested during the winter and the abundant oysters from the bay. Because of our late start, we were late getting through Williamsburg and decided to spend the night in a motel (Jane gets another bath!).

Glassblower working his craft

The next morning we headed down the Colonial Parkway. Just like the brochure said, Jamestown was a 10 minute drive from Williamsburg and how we got lost the previous day we will never understand.We went to Historic

Church built on original church site

Jamestowne which was the site of the original Virginia Company settlement.

Jamestown settlement dig site

We watched a movie and viewed the exhibits. This park is run by the National Park Service and one of the things we found disturbing was the emphasis that was given to the contributions made by the local Indians and African slaves. It's true that without the support of the Indians, the colony would probably have failed in the first few years of its existence. But the slaves were not brought over until after the colony was well established and really contributed little except labor. We felt that to imply that the English would not have gained a foothold in this country without African slaves is a distortion of historical fact. We have found this distorted political correctness in other places, but felt the Jamestown park was a little more blatant. Then again, maybe we were just having a bad day! We toured the grounds and had to battle with throngs of elementary school kids who were out for their field trips. At a group picture around a statue of Pocahontas, one kid remarked that "Pocahontas, Sacagawea, what difference does it make?"

Pocahontas? Sacagawea?

Capt. Larry quickly pointed out that Sacagawea was with the Lewis and Clark Expedition and wouldn't be born for almost 200 years. The kid was stunned. Maybe we are having a bad day, but then again the kid might have learned something. (Capt. Larry really believes he's smarter than a 5th grader!). There are archeological digs being conducted on the settlement site and while we were there, one of the team members found a sword hilt. They said they find things just about every day. We then went to the site of the glass house and watched two glassblowers at work. We decided to pass up Jamestown Settlement which has replicas of the Virginia Company ships and re-enactments, and headed back to the marina.

Our marina friends taking the kids for a swim!