In 1817, the Baltimore Steam Packet Company, or
the “Old Bay Line,” began regular steamboat service
between Baltimore, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia.
The company’s boats transported mail, crops, freight,
and people along the length . . . — — Map (db m64610) HM
The 2,000 men of Major General Baron Von Steuben’s American Division bivouacked in the woods and fields to the right of the road. They were chiefly Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland units, and some others, such as sixty “Delaware . . . — — Map (db m11123) HM
Near this spot on the afternoon of October 19, 1781 – as silence prevailed among the Allied soldiers and onlookers – all eyes were trained on the approaching British troops. Cornwallis, sending word that he was ill, appointed his second . . . — — Map (db m10661) HM
On the 17th, at about 10 o'clock, the British raised a white flag on their walls, beat a parley on their drums, and the firing ceased on all sides. Then the terms of surrender were agreed upon between Washington and Cornwallis, and on the . . . — — Map (db m28065) HM
The course of the road here is about as it was in colonial times. On October 19, 1781, in the afternoon, the soldiers of Cornwallis’ Army marched this way and filed off into the field on your left. This was the place designated for the formal . . . — — Map (db m10918) HM
”The Taverns are many here, and much frequented, and an unbounded Licentiousness seems to taint the Morals of the young Gentlemen of this Place...amiable Hospitality…seems…to have found no great Footing: Schemes of Gain, or Parties of . . . — — Map (db m83878) HM
This British redoubt is the sole original earthwork remaining from the siege of Yorktown – but it never came under fire. Cornwallis pulled back to Yorktown from this key defensive position on the night of September 30, 1781, and opened . . . — — Map (db m11003) HM
This important position on Washington’s staff was filled by Brigadier General Edward Hand of Pennsylvania. His headquarters here were easily accessible to his commanding officer. Quick and effective dispatch of orders and communications was . . . — — Map (db m11139) HM
The marker is made up of two panels.Panel 1:
The Betsy was built in the port of Whitehaven in 1772 for use in the coal trade. During 1780, the British Navy leased her as a transport assigned to a convoy bound for North America, . . . — — Map (db m100098) HM WM
What remains of the Betsy lies on the bottom of the York River just beyond the end of this pier. A two-masted brig, originally built to carry coal, the Betsy was one of more than a dozen vessels deliberately scuttled, or sunk, by the . . . — — Map (db m64603) HM
Eighteenth century siege warfare meant weeks of labor for the soldiers, not only on the trenches, but in the rear areas where special siege materials were made and stored. In constructing the siege lines, engineers and sappers used quantities of . . . — — Map (db m10868) HM
Washington’s troops built works like these when they opened the Siege of Yorktown. These fortifications, together with those of the French, made a circling line that stretched a mile and a quarter, from the York River to Yorktown Creek. — — Map (db m10963) HM
The Grand French Battery formed part of the first Allied siege line around Yorktown. French and American soldiers worked through the night of October 6, 1781, to establish the line from a point about one hundred yards to your left (across the road) . . . — — Map (db m10839) HM
I desired you to send the Things you used annually to send me … I … shall not import any more necessaries till the hateful acts are repealed. The Ministry promised to get a Repeal of that imposing the Duties on Glass Paper & Colours; But, tell . . . — — Map (db m81772) HM
To your right the British extended their works outward along the York-Hampton Road a principal entrance into Yorktown which they blocked with this “Hornwork.” It was garrisoned by Colonel Abercrombie’s Light Infantry. — — Map (db m10922) HM
Honoring America for the first time
the Olympic Flame arrived here
to begins its journey to
the XIII Winter Olympic Games
January 31, 1980
Yorktown, Virginia
Where independence was won — — Map (db m64641) HM
The low earthworks on either side are part of the French and American advance line. Construction was started when allied artillery fire had sufficiently weakened the British defenses. The line was completed after the capture of Redoubts No. 9 and 10. — — Map (db m10935) HM
On August 14, 1781, Generals Washington and Rochambeau received news that a large French fleet under the command of Admiral de Grasse was headed for the Chesapeake Bay carrying 3,000 French soldiers. There the British general, Lord Cornwallis, was . . . — — Map (db m11016) HM
The Watermen's Museum is one of the Chesapeake Bay's special places linked together by the Gateways Network. Visitors to Chesapeake Bay Gateways experience first-hand the varied stories and adventures shaped by the extraordinary environment of . . . — — Map (db m64645) HM
Native North Americans called the York River Pamunkee, combining two words meaning upland and sloping to describe its high banks. English colonists renamed the river Charles, in
1634, and later York, in 1643.
The river’s . . . — — Map (db m64617) HM
History of the Original Yorktown Windmill
Built in 1711 by William Buckner, the Yorktown Windmill was a guidepost on the York River for nearly two centuries. After retiring from his post as Surveyor General of Virginia, Buckner purchased . . . — — Map (db m77781) HM
On your left is British Redoubt No. 10 partly reconstructed where a fragment of its moat was found in 1956. The remainder of it, as well as parts of adjacent works, was washed to sea during the 175 years of crumbling river banks. — — Map (db m11189) HM
In 1730, a law was passed requiring that all tobacco exported from Virginia be inspected by officials at one of the public inspection warehouses which were located in port towns or along the rivers throughout the colony. Any tobacco not meeting a . . . — — Map (db m64607) HM
"An act for Ports, &c. That from and after the first day of October (1692), all shipps, barques, and other vessells whatsoever, arriveing into, or sayling out of this country for trayd, shall unload and put on shoare, and take from shoar to . . . — — Map (db m78107) HM
In 1976, the Adventure Cycling Association established the TransAmerica Trail as part of the United States bicentennial celebration. The Route 76 bike trail runs from Astoria, Oregon, to Yorktown, Virginia, and covers 4,262 miles.
It is still . . . — — Map (db m64609) HM
An army … consisting of more than seven thousand choice troops, were obliged to surrender their arms to an enemy as much despised as hated; twelve thousand muskets, more than two hundred pieces of iron and brass cannon, and a prodigious quantity . . . — — Map (db m10866) HM
Since the October 19, 1781, victory at Yorktown, Virginia, five U.S. Navy ships have been named Yorktown. The first (1840) was constructed at Gosport Shipyard, the present-day Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The 16-gun ship sloop hit a reef in the . . . — — Map (db m64612) HM
“Resolved, That … Congress … will cause to be erected at York, in Virginia, a marble column, adorned with emblems of the alliance between the United States and his Most Christian Majesty; and inscribed with a succinct narrative of the . . . — — Map (db m10654) HM
Across the York River in Gloucester County is the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), one of the nation’s leading centers for the interdisciplinary research in coastal oceans and estuarine science.
Chartered in 1940 as the Virginia . . . — — Map (db m64628) HM
The approaching Season obliges me to recommend to you … to use your utmost Efforts for furnishing the Virginia Troops with Cloathing. You will therefore … adopt … Measures to send them down immediately – As their Troops are to take the . . . — — Map (db m11066) HM
This lower Chesapeake Bay location has been strategic since early colonial days when a fort was built to protect the colony from warring European powers. In the 17th and 18th centuries, ships loaded with tobacco would form convoys at Yorktown to . . . — — Map (db m64630) HM
General George Washington established his headquarters in this area at the junction of the American encampments to the east and the French encampments to the north. Here he set up two tents: a large one for meeting with his staff and for dining, . . . — — Map (db m10865) HM
General Washington and the French troops under General Rochambeau began the siege of Great Britain's General Cornwallis at Yorktown on September 28, 1781. Cornwallis surrendered his army on October 19 after a siege of 21 days. — — Map (db m66913) HM
Just ahead the road climbs to the level ground above the millpond. The ravine like depression in which it follows represents more natural wear from horses, carriages and wagons than any recent grading. It is a visible reminder that the roadway here . . . — — Map (db m90416) HM
“York-Town…tho’ but stragglingly built…makes no inconsiderable Figure. You perceive a great Air of Opulence amongst the Inhabitants, who have some of them built themselves Houses, equal in Magnificence to many of our superb ones at St. . . . — — Map (db m61611) HM
The earth dam in front of you creates Wormley Pond which existed in 1781 when Augustine Moore operated a grist mill here. American troops marched over the dam regularly as they moved to and from the Siege line. — — Map (db m90415) HM
Initially Yorktown was laid out above the bluffs, but the thin strip of ground here between water and cliff was essential to the town’s commercial life. Port facilities crowded the area – wharves, warehouses and stores as pictured here. These . . . — — Map (db m11007) HM
York County. Area 186 square miles. One of the eight original shires formed in 1634. First called Charles River, which was named for King Charles I. The name was changed in 1643 to York for Yorkshire, England. Cornwallis’s surrender, . . . — — Map (db m2960) HM
Bacon's Rebellion
Edward Baptiste • Edmund Chisman • Henry Freeman, Jr. • Thomas Hansford
Revolutionary War
John Bowles • John Burcher • Edward Dickenson • James Figg • James Musgrove
War of 1812
Tyler Crockett • Carter H. . . . — — Map (db m83885) WM
”..it is hereby enacted…that an house suitable and fitt to hold courts in and as bigg in dimension att least as the present court house now is, be errected built and finished...within the said limitts of York Towne...." Virginia General . . . — — Map (db m83883) HM
Known to the Indians as the Pamunkey, the colonists named it first Charles and then York, both in honor of the Duke of York. While only 26 miles in length, the tidal waters of the York River flow over the deepest natural channel of any Chesapeake . . . — — Map (db m25811) HM
Plants and animals in the York River and its watershed
provide many ecosystem services. Forests reduce sediment runoff and excess nutrients, and provide nesting sites for bald eagles, osprey, and herons. Underwater grass beds sustain the young of . . . — — Map (db m64618) HM
Records indicate that regular ferry service began here
as early as 1647 to cross the river between Yorktown and Gloucester Point. Ferries were licensed by the Virginia House of Burgesses and tolls, equipment, and services were regulated by colonial . . . — — Map (db m64637) HM
Early in October French-American forces closed their grip on the besieged British army in Yorktown and bombarded the town with their combined artillery. Incessant shellfire drove townspeople to seek shelter under this bluff and forced the British . . . — — Map (db m10911) HM
In 1629, the Virginia Council encouraged the settlement of the south bank of the York River. The following year, Governor John Harvey was given a land patent of 752 acres at Wormley Creek, establishing Yorke Village. By the 1650s, settlement had . . . — — Map (db m64601) HM
“It did not seem possible that both armies could gather inspiration from the historic memories that cluster around this memorable field. The traditions of the revolution lingered here awakening in all loyal breasts sincerest hopes for the . . . — — Map (db m10432) HM
“York-Town, Capital of the County of that Name, is situated on a rising Ground, gently descending every Way into a Valley, and tho’ but stragglingly built, yet makes no inconsiderable Figure.” Edward Kimber, Observations in . . . — — Map (db m11035) HM
The “old town” which you enter here is ringed by stout Civil War entrenchments built on top of the British works of 1781. Englishmen, Scotsmen, Welchmen, Hessians, and Loyalist Americans were quartered here while besieged by . . . — — Map (db m11062) HM
With his contempt for the distant English gentlemen who demanded the colonists search for gold instead of focus on building a strong settlement, Smith foreshadows the anger that Americans felt under British rule.
The lowborn colonists who . . . — — Map (db m34005) HM
"This Yorktown, or Little-York, is a small city of approximately 300 houses: it has, moreover, considerable circumference. It is located on the bank od the York River, somewhat high on a sandy but level ground. It has 3 churches, 2 reformed . . . — — Map (db m90957) HM
These pines were planted on 16 November 1981 in recognition of the Yorktown Victory Bicentennial by The Honorable John O. Marsh, Jr., Secretary of the Army — — Map (db m99090) HM WM
Isaac Cornelius Grave Number 497 On August 31, 1861, Isaac and his brother James enlisted in Company C, 100th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. In early May 1864, Lieutenant Isaac Cornelius submitted his resignation but remained with the army, . . . — — Map (db m28111) HM
This monument was authorized by Continental Congress, October 29, 1781, just after the news of surrender reached Philadelphia. Actual construction began 100 years later and was completed in 1884. The original figure of Liberty atop the Victory shaft . . . — — Map (db m10925) HM
In spring 1862, the Confederate heavy artillery batteries on the bluffs at Yorktown, as well as those positioned along the waterfront on both sides of the York River, effectively blocked the U.S. Navy’s attempts to bypass Magruder’s 2nd Peninsula . . . — — Map (db m10439) HM
18th century commerce moved by water whenever possible. Yorktown’s waterfront reflected this. Tobacco warehouses, ship’s chandleries, grogshops and wharves lined the waterfront … Among them passed the diverse array of merchants and sailors, planters . . . — — Map (db m11009) HM
Because of its location, Yorktown is susceptible to damage from storms such as nor’easters and hurricanes. One such storm played a role in the outcome of the Siege of Yorktown. On October 16, 1781, under intense fire, the British Army attempted to . . . — — Map (db m64608) HM
When British General Cornwallis established a fortified
base at Yorktown in August 1781, his forces included a
squadron of four warships and about 50 merchant and
transport vessels. When the British surrendered on
October 19, much of the fleet . . . — — Map (db m64602) HM
While the Boston Tea Party of December 1773 is famous,
a lesser known protest against the Tea Act also occurred in Virginia. On November 7, 1774 some concerned citizens of York County openly boarded a ship in the harbor and dumped two small chests . . . — — Map (db m64635) HM
For over 100 years, one of Yorktown’s most prominent
landmarks was a tall, wooden “smock” windmill that stood at the edge of the steep bluff near here. A rotating cap with sails sat atop the tower and could be turned with a long tail . . . — — Map (db m64639) HM
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