Another day trip worth taking if you are in the Williamsburg, VA area is a drive over the York River (Bridge is a $2 toll going east) from Yorktown to Gloucester County and finishing the day back at the Yorktown Battlefield Colonial National Park. We had visited Yorktown several years ago (I shared in a post then) but had gotten to the Park after the Visitor's Center had closed. We had never been to Gloucester. It was another fun day full of our country's history.
Gloucester's Historic District Court Circle
Just west of the Court Circle the Botetourt Building was built in the late 1770s and was a roadside tavern or ordinary and was known as "John New's Ordinary". In the 1915 two sisters ( Emily and Ada Cox) bought the hotel, began renovating it, and operated it until 1955. It is now a museum for local history. You can check out Gloucester's Chamber of Commerce website to read more about it.
Always on the lookout for lighthouse when we are near the coast, we finally found the New Point Comfort Lighthouse ("just follow Highway 14 to the end"). My picture isn't great partly due to the overcast skies, but if you look hard.
Back in Yorktown, we decided to visit the Colonial National Historical Park of Yorktown Battlefield. Check them out here.
We got there too late to take a guided tour, but we did watch the 15 minutes movie they show, toured the indoor museum and saw General Washington's actual tent he used there that had been preserved by the Robert E. Lee family, and then took the seven-mile battlefield auto tour and then most of the nine-mile allied encampment auto tour.
Here are some photos I took along the trail....
Terms of surrender were negotiated in this house by officers of both sides for Cornwallis's army to surrender.
The next day, Oct 19 1781, Cornwallis's army marched onto this field and laid down its arms, ending the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.
Some of the surrendered cannons...
To finish our day (since we had a late lunch), we drove down the street and had dinner.... at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Yorktown & Green Mountain Coffee Shop. Yummy!
There is more to see of Historic Yorktown that I will share with you in another post. (We didn't get started early enough that morning to get everything in.)
Gloucester's Historic District Court Circle
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| Colonial Courthouse (1766) Gloucester's Historic District |
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| Debtors Prison (1810) over a portion of a much earlier structure |
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| Jail (1870), earlier one was burned during Civil War (with restrooms on ends added later) |
Just west of the Court Circle the Botetourt Building was built in the late 1770s and was a roadside tavern or ordinary and was known as "John New's Ordinary". In the 1915 two sisters ( Emily and Ada Cox) bought the hotel, began renovating it, and operated it until 1955. It is now a museum for local history. You can check out Gloucester's Chamber of Commerce website to read more about it.
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| Botetourt Building |
Always on the lookout for lighthouse when we are near the coast, we finally found the New Point Comfort Lighthouse ("just follow Highway 14 to the end"). My picture isn't great partly due to the overcast skies, but if you look hard.
Before we went back over the York River, we detoured briefly off the road in Gloucester Point to eat a late lunch at York River Oyster Company, A Shell of a Good Time! The food was so delicious! My husband had the Oysters "YROC"efeller and he said they were the best oysters he had ever eaten. I really wanted fried shrimp, but it wasn't on the menu. (Battered Shrimp was available in a seafood platter but not anywhere else.) Our waitress noted my disappointment and came back to tell me the chef said he would make me a dinner with 6 jumbo shrimp and two sides. OMG, it was so good. I managed to eat 5 of them and gave the 6th one to my husband.
Back in Yorktown, we decided to visit the Colonial National Historical Park of Yorktown Battlefield. Check them out here.
We got there too late to take a guided tour, but we did watch the 15 minutes movie they show, toured the indoor museum and saw General Washington's actual tent he used there that had been preserved by the Robert E. Lee family, and then took the seven-mile battlefield auto tour and then most of the nine-mile allied encampment auto tour.
Here are some photos I took along the trail....
Terms of surrender were negotiated in this house by officers of both sides for Cornwallis's army to surrender.
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| Augustine Moore House |
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| Surrender Field |
Some of the surrendered cannons...
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| Yorktown Victory Monument |
To finish our day (since we had a late lunch), we drove down the street and had dinner.... at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Yorktown & Green Mountain Coffee Shop. Yummy!
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| Coconut Seven Layer Bar |
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| New York Chocolate Chunk |
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