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The following summaries will give you an idea of
the many possibilities that surround the beach. $
Denotes fee or admission required.
Colonial Williamsburg
/ Williamsburg / 757-220-7645 / The foremost
living museum of its kind in the nation, Colonial
Williamsburg is a whole capital city resurrected
from Virginia's colonial period. Over 500 buildings
encompass the mile long Duke of Gloucester Street
including public structures such as the Courthouse,
the Powder Magazine, the House of Burgesses (Virginia's
pre-revolutionary legislature), the royal Governor's
Palace, Bruton Parish Church and the Wren Building
of the College of William and Mary. Shops, craft
and trade structures, homes and out-buildings, along
with costumed interpreters, actors and craftsmen
bring to life the historic period just prior to the
American Revolution. A great place to immerse yourself
and the whole family in the historic events that
established this country. $
Jamestown Island / Jamestown,
James City County / 757-898-2410 / The original,
historic site of Jamestown, the first permanent English-speaking
settlement in North America. Today, visitors can
walk the quiet marl-covered streets of a town that
became the first capital of the English colony. Only
shadows of structures remain except for the church
tower and the reconstructed church adjoining it.
Administered jointly by the National Park Service
and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia
Antiquities, the Island has become the focus of the
Jamestown Rediscovery Project, an on-going excavation
of the original fort site that was just found within
the last decade. These new finds have greatly improved
current knowledge about the life of those early settlers.$
Jamestown Settlement
/ Jamestown, James City County / 757-253-4838 /
Travel back almost 400 years to the early days of
English settlement in the New World. See replicas
of the three tiny ships that brought the colonists
to these shores. There's the reconstructed palisaded
fort and Powhatan Indian village to explore. While
you walk the paths, imagine a small Indian girl who
lived in a village like the reconstruction, who grew
up to become a heroine for the ages, Pocahontas.
Jamestown was home to John Smith, John Rolfe and
Pocahontas, and to indentured servants, cavaliers,
adventurers, craftsmen, farmers and slaves, all who
became a part of America's beginnings.$
Fort Monroe / Hampton
/ 757-727-3391 / The largest stone fort built
in the U.S., it has a unique history. During construction,
Fortress Monroe was partially engineered by a young
Robert E. Lee. During the Civil War, the Fort remained
in the hands of the Union Army and at the end of
the war it was a prison for the  former
Confederate President, Jefferson Davis. During World
Wars I and II, the fort's location gave it crucial
position in defense of the entrance to the Chesapeake
Bay. Free
Yorktown Battlefield
/ Yorktown, York County / 757-898- 2410 / Administered
by the National Park Service, Yorktown Battlefield
is preserved as the site where this country won its
independence from England. This is where Lord Cornwallis
surrendered his troops on October 19, 1781 to the
army of General George Washington. The Surrender
Field with much of the battlefield and several historic
homes in and around Yorktown including the Thomas
Nelson House and The Moore House have been carefully
maintained and all are open to the public. One ticket
from the Yorktown Visitor Center covers it all. $
Yorktown Victory Center
/ Yorktown, York County / Built originally by
the Commonwealth of Virginia for the Bicentennial
in 1976, the museum has gone through several changes
since then. The outdoor exhibits have expanded to
include a living museum which shows how the inhabitants
of the area lived at the time of the Revolution.
There are also military re-enactors, who show how
the soldiers fared in those sparse wartime living
conditions. Museum galleries focus on the reasons
for the Revolution as well as the Revolution itself.
Yorktown's Sunken Fleet, a display about the ship
excavations of the remains of Cornwallis' scuttled
fleet in the York River and A Children's Kaleidoscope,
a hands-on exhibit for children, are most popular
with museum visitors. $
Reserve Early...while
your preferred accommodations are still available.
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