Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown
Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Area - Step back in time to experience the exciting ideas and dreams of both great and everyday people on the eve of the American Revolution. The process of defining our country's values and beliefs started in the settlement of Williamsburg, Virginia more than 200 years ago, and it continues to this day.
With more than 500 restored and reconstructed buildings spread across 301 acres of land, and a staff of 3500 archaeologists, researchers, historians, and historical interpreters, Colonial Williamsburg truly presents a different time and place..
Colonial Jamestown offers a wealth of activities for exploring the first permanent English settlement in North America and is jointly preserved and administered by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and the National Park Service-Colonial National Historical Park.
Visitors can share the moment of discovery with archaeologists and witness archaeology-in-action at the 1607 James Fort excavation, tour the original 17th-century church tower and reconstructed 17th-century Jamestown Memorial Church, take a walking tour with a park ranger through the original settlement along the scenic James River, and even "meet" a 17th-century personality.
Today in Historic Yorktown, America’s evolution from colonial status to nationhood is chronicled through a unique blend of timeline, film, thematic exhibits and outdoor living history. An outdoor exhibit walkway details events that led the to American colonies to declare independence from Britain.
Visitors can explore a re-created Continental Army encampment, where historical interpreters depict daily life of American soldiers at the end of the war. A re-created 1780s farm, complete with a house, kitchen, tobacco barn, crop fields, and herb and vegetable garden, shows how many Americansa typical American family lived in the decade years following the Revolution.
Jamestown Settlement
James Fort
Inside the triangular wooden palisade of James Fort, wattle-and-daub structures topped with thatched roofs depict dwellings and a church, guardhouse, storehouse and governor’s house during the period 1610-1614.
Historical interpreters forge and repair metal objects in a blacksmith shop, and near one of the fort’s three bulwarks, demonstrate how a matchlock musket is fired. Interpreters also cultivate food and tobacco crops, undertake carpentry projects using 17th-century-style tools, and periodically engage visitors in domestic activities such as sewing and meal preparation.
Try on armor and play games of quoits (ringtoss) and ninepins (bowling)
Powhatan Indian Village
Explore the Powhatan way of life in a re-created village featuring reed-covered houses, a garden and a ceremonial dance circle. Learn about the world of Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan, powerful leader of
30-some Algonquian-speaking tribes in coastal Virginia. Historical interpreters demonstrate how Powhatans grew and prepared food, processed animal hides, made tools and pottery, and wove natural fibers into cordage.
Try your hand at grinding corn, gardening or playing a game of corncob darts.
Jamestown Settlement Ships
The Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery – re-creations of three ships that brought English colonists to Virginia in 1607 – are moored at Jamestown Settlement’s pier for visitors to explore. Visitors can learn about the four-and-a-half-month voyage from England and take part in periodic demonstrations of 17th-century piloting and navigation.
Try steering with a whipstaff or tiller, climb into a sailor’s bunk and explore the contents of a “see” chest.
A new replica of Godspeed is complete, and a new re-creation of Discovery is under construction. The Godspeed embarked from Jamestown Settlement to lead off the commemoration of America's 400th Anniversary with a sail to six East Coast seaports in May-July 2006.
Yorktown Victory Center
On October 19, 1781, the decisive military campaign of the American Revolution culminated with the British surrender to combined American and French forces under the command of George Washington. The Siege of Yorktown effectively ended the six-year struggle for American independence and set the stage for a new government and nation.
Today at the Yorktown Victory Center, America’s evolution from colonial status to nationhood is chronicled through a unique blend of timeline, film, thematic exhibits and outdoor living history. An outdoor exhibit walkway details events that led to American colonies to declare independence from Britain.
Indoor exhibition galleries recount the war’s effect on 10 ordinary men and women who witnessed the Revolution, highlight the roles of different nationalities in the Siege of Yorktown and explore the story of the Betsy and other British ships lost in the York River during the war. Exhibits also describe experiences of ordinary soldiers, Yorktown’s importance as an 18th-century port and the development of a new government with the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Outdoors, visitors can explore a re-created Continental Army encampment, where historical interpreters describe and depict daily life of American soldiers at the end of the war. A re-created 1780s farm, complete with a house, kitchen, tobacco barn, crop fields, and herb and vegetable garden, shows how many Americans lived in the decade following the Revolution.
This museum of the American Revolution is located near Yorktown Battlefield and Visitor Center, administered by the National Park Service.
Continental Army Encampment
Experience life of a Revolutionary War soldier in a re-created Continental Army encampment. Historical interpreters describe and depict daily routines of a company of soldiers during the last year of the war, and demonstrate military drills, musket and cannon firing, 18th-century surgical and medical practices, and the role of the quartermaster in managing troop supplies.
Explore the soldiers’ tents, try on a military coat, and join in periodic wooden-musket drills. Visitors also may be recruited to join a cannon crew to learn the steps to prepare a cannon for firing.
1780s Farm
The Tidewater Virginia farm offers visitors a unique opportunity to witness a typical rural lifestyle after independence was won and the new nation was taking shape. At the re-created site, which includes a dwelling, a separate kitchen, a tobacco barn and fenced crop fields and gardens, historical interpreters demonstrate the seasonal cycle of work that characterized lower- to middle-class farm life in southeastern Virginia.
Visitors can assist in weeding or watering the garden, comb cotton or “break” flax into fiber, and learn how herbs were used for cooking and medicinal purposes.
Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center
