Day 55 – Yorktown Site of Final Battle of American Revolution, Yorktown Site of White Sand Beachfront, Fredericksburg KOA Site of Urban Style Camping at its Lowest – June 15, 2018

We couldn’t get another two nights in Toana, so we booked Friday and Saturday at a KOA in Fredericksburg – more on that later. In the meantime, we drove back south on the Colonial Parkway to visit the Yorktown Battleground site. The Colonial Parkway is a charming road that runs through the ‘Historic Triangle’ of Jamestowne, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. I believe it was built back in the 1930’s and it has that look that you associate with automobile/highway ads in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s with bucolic stretches of concrete roadway winding through the countryside.

The Yorktown visitor center has exhibits that include two actual tents used by George Washington during the Revolutionary War. It seems that when his wife died, the tents were passed along to her great granddaughter, who happened to be the wife of Robert E. Lee. During the Civil War, Mrs. Lee had to abandon the Arlington House and she entrusted the tents to her slave, who saw to it that the tents were preserved and passed along. Apparently, the tents continued to be used for special occasions throughout the 19^th century, until they found their way to a museum. It’s amazing to see these items that have survived so many years.

We also walked through part of old town Yorktown and visited the Nelson House, which was once owned by one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Nelson, Jr. The house has the original floors, wood wall paneling, fireplaces, and even a few pieces of furniture from back in the day. It even has cannonball damage sustained during the siege of Yorktown by Washington’s army, along with some graffiti carved into the bricks by Union soldiers during the Civil War battle of Yorktown.

We took a short drive along the waterfront in downtown Yorktown and were surprised to see a white sand beach and hundreds of sunbathers gathered at the water’s edge. From the bluff up above, you don’t even see any of the shoreline below. It was quite a contrast to all the historical stuff up above.

We took Highway 17 north through the Tidewater Trail section of Virginia, which follows the Rappahannock River up toward Fredericksburg. The first thing you do is cross the York River (including the requisite toll) and roll through a series of small towns. The terrain alternates between long sections of cornfields and farmland, and curving sections of woodland.

After a long day of driving, we arrived at the KOA in Fredericksburg. It’s a nice clean campground, but I must say (and I’m trying to be charitable about this) the camping clientele is an interesting group. For now, I’m tossing back a few brews and getting relaxed for what I’m sure will be an evening filled with personal sound systems, packs of unruly dogs barking, and boisterous colloquial disquisitions.

Next: Civil War Historical Stuff