After spending the night in Richmond, I made my way down Virginia Route 5, also know as the John Tyler Highway with the intention of visiting the James River Plantations; Berkeley, Shirley and Sherwood Forest. Berkley was the home of the Harrison's of Virginia and it was at Berkeley that the William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States was born on February 9, 1773. William Henry Harrison was the first president to die in office and his Vice President John Tyler, who was born just a few miles away at Sherwood Forest became the first Vice President to ascend to the presidency.
Evidently, the recent snows and rainy weather had a bigger impact that I thought, because I arrived only to find Berkley, closed and not available for Tours. I drove on down to Sherwood Forest to also find the gate locked.
With the plantations closed I drove on down Route 5, eventually ending where it all began, Jamestown. I should start off by saying that there are two completely different historical attraction here with two completely separate admissions.
I cost me $16.75 to enter the Jamestown Festival Park which is a recreated attraction, about a mile from the original Jamestown Settlement. The Festival Park features a recreated Indian Village, Replica Fort and full size replicas of the three ships that brought the first settlers to the new world.
After taking in the exhibits in the Visitors Center, I made my way down a paved path coming first to the Indian Village, which featured costumed characters demonstrating the Indian way of life back in the early 1600's. I particularly enjoyed the cooking demonstration.
On down the path is the replica fort with full size replica building and more costumed actors. There were a very large number of elementary school groups visiting and it was very difficult to get into most of the building and the Indian Huts.
After briefly visiting the fort, I made my way down to the water front where I found full sized replicas of the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery. These were the three ships captained by Christopher Newport that brought 104 men and boys to establish the Virginia Colony.
The Susan Constant was the largest of the three ships, while the Discovery was the smallest of the three ships at only 66-feet long and carried only 12 passengers and a crew of 9.
After spending a couple of hours at the Jamestown Festival Park, I opted forgo a visit to the Historic Area, which cost another $14.00
I decided to have lunch in the Park Cafe before heading over to Yorktown. While most everything else is over price, I found the food prices while inflated, was reasonable compared to other similar attractions. Burger, Fries and a Drink set me back at total of $7.87, including tax.
After a quick lunch, I made my way across the Colonial Parkway to historic Yorktown. It was here at Yorktown, 174-years after those 104 men and boys first set foot on Virginia soil establishing the first English colony in the New World, that the Revolutionary War ended.
While I enjoy my tour of the battlefield and surrender site, I think I enjoyed my visit to the Town Of Yorktown more. The historic town has been preserved and many of the original building still stand along Main Street adjacent to the water front.
As I made my way from the Yorktown Visitors Center, I first come to the Yorktown Victory Monument. The Victory Monument was first authorized by Congress on October 29, 1781, however it wasn't until 1881 that actual construction of the monument began. The Victory Monument is the tallest structure in the area, standing 98-feet tall including the 14-foot statue of Liberty at the top.
After leaving the Victory Monument I made my way down main street passing several historic homes including the Dudley Diggs House (circa 1760); the Cole Diggs House (circa 1730); and Grace Church (circa 1697).
It was certainly a beautiful day and I really enjoyed my leisurely walk around historic Yorktown.
By the time I made it back to the car the clouds were moving in from the west and it looks like the forecast of rain for tomorrow was going to come true. Tomorrow may be a good day for museums, I will just have to see what I can find.
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