Yorktown Battlefield
Walking the siege lines where the Patriots advanced on the British at Yorktown is just so cool. It's difficult to describe the emotions of walking in the footsteps of our nation's past. The NPS does a great job laying out a self-guided map with several stops to drive to and explore. The most moving part of this tour, in my opinion, is Surrender Field where 7,000 British soldiers laid down their weapons and surrendered to the American and French. A small sampling of the trophies of war (cannons) are on display at this site as well. The white farm house in these pictures is the Moore home - where the British and Americans met to negotiate terms of surrender.
Historic Yorktown
Similar to Colonial Williamsburg, you can simply walk the streets of Historic Yorktown. On a much smaller scale and without historians or the living history aspect, it still feels like you've stepped back in time. We love reading the signs to discover historical significance of structures in Yorktown, a town seized and occupied by the British during the infamous revolutionary battle. In the Nelson house, where Cornwallis would have been during the siege, cannon balls can still be seen embedded in the brick exterior. The very impressive victory monument stands overlooking Chesapeake Bay here as well.
American Revolution Museum at Yorktown
This was another extremely well crafted museum, full of artifacts and information about the revolution. We also enjoyed the reconstruction of an army encampment and 1700's farm. Historians here shared with us what daily life on the farm and in the encampment would have been like.