We went to Yorktown for the first time on this trip to Virginia. It was one of the best discoveries we've ever made. It was a stunning place! Its beautiful rolling battlefields have a very special feeling to them. Driving around them while listening to our audio tour and then getting out to walk around and explore felt almost like a religious experience. It's amazing to me that a major battle of the Revolutionary War was fought right there and that so many men lost their lives there. It is hallowed ground, and it definitely feels that way. I absolutely loved this place.
The American Revolution Museum had a really nice outdoor colonial village with Revolutionary War soldiers and everything.
A perfect log cabin.
This dude was legit. I think he may have been a time-traveler from the 1700s.
Finally, all six kids kids in the same picture!
The cannon blast and musket firing they did was boomin'!
This was the Quartermaster General's quarters. That is definitely the position I'd want to have. Acquiring, organizing, and distributing supplies and food? Yes please! That would very much appeal to my innate love of gathering and organization.
The Yorktown Battlefield Visitors Center was really cool. Among other things, it had Lord Cornwallis' Campaign Table.
I took a few pictures of the grounds near the Visitor's Center before we went to dinner.
The real tour of the fields would come after dinner.
The kids enjoyed climbing around on the various cannons.
You can see the York River on the left through the trees.
Sam, living dangerously.
If there were such a thing as tree monsters, I think they'd look something like this.
This mortar is from 1681!
Downtown Yorktown was so pretty and scenic. It's ideally situated right next to the York River.
I absolutely loved it! I'd like to stay at a bed-and-breakfast here for a night or two in the future.
This was where we ate a delicious dinner (seafood for most of us, of course).
There was a nice riverwalk pathway that went along the river and under the bridge.
The last thing we did was the audio tour of the battlefields. This was me and Peter's favorite thing. You buy a CD at the visitor's center and play it in your car and it takes you around to all the sites and tells you about them. You can go at your own pace and get out to explore whenever you want. It's such a family-friendly way to learn about and explore a huge historical site like this. And the CD was really well narrated, with different actors and voices and everything. It brought the past to life very vividly.
There was a special kind of spirit there on those battlefields and in the woods where the soldiers camped. It was an unforgettable experience.
This is my favorite picture of the kids from the whole trip.
(Naomi is the only one missing--she was asleep in the car.)
Deer!
Second Allied Siege Line
The setting sun over the fields was so pretty. These pictures don't come close to capturing the peaceful beauty of that scene!
Peter walking under the tree.
It was here that my camera's memory card reached its full point, so I had to use my phone for the rest of the evening.
This is the Moore House, where Washington and Cornwallis and their men worked out the surrender negotiations in 1781.
More deer!
I thought this was so sad and sweet.
I'm really looking forward to going back again in the years to come!
