Williamsburg & Yorktown, VA
August 2002

(Click on a picture to enlarge)

Go to our main page


First in Williamsburg. Here is Tara pointing at the Capitol building on the cool map



The Williamsburg Visitor's Center. Now you know why the daily ticket costs $33



Waiting in the courtyard to hear Thomas Jefferson speak



Thomas Jefferson taking one of his many bows



Thomas Jefferson holding the hand of some squatter from the western territories



Long shot back to the governor's palace



The inner garden of the palace



And more (these pictures don't do it justice)



And more, specifically some of the hedgework



Another topiary shot



In the palace's (heavily remodeled) basement



The stairs leading out of the basement



Tara peeking out of the stairs you just saw



Happiness in the garden



Great front shot of the governor's palace



This is a shot looking from the governor's palace, down the main fairway



In front of the church, looking down main street



And looking the other way



Inside the church, during the mini-service they have at noon



Another



And another



One more, looking from the altar back outside



Happiness in the church courtyard, next to a freaky tree



More of the courtyard/graveyard. Imagine how spooky this place would be at night



Side shot of the church steeple from the courtyard



Home Depot circa 1769



A couple cool and very friendly draft horses



Now over to nearby Yorktown, VA. This is at the French battlement memorial



Same cannons, but from a different angle



The Yorktown Victory Monument. This thing is huge. For those who are rusty on their history, Yorktown is considered the pivotal battle in the revolutionary war, and is where Cornwallis surrendered to Washington. While it wasn't the final surrender to end the war, it was a blow the British couldn't recover from. Apparently the statue on this monument was hit by lightning and replaced once.



Yorktown Victory Monument plaque



A deer buck grazing happily very close to us. How close?



This close. Did I mention that we were actually upwind from them too?



The grave of revolutionary war general and signer of the Declaration of Independence, General Thomas Nelson Jr. This is something you don't see everyday



According to history, this cave is where Cornwallis hid during the seige of Yorktown. Some locals apparently decided to decorate it in a modern "7-11" motiff



Same cave, but now you see it's barred off. Of course, that doesn't stop cups and bottles



Outside the cave



This is from the end of a pier on the York river, looking back toward the monument way in the background



On the roof of the Yorktown Visitor's Center. Anyone with even a hint of revolutionary war buff in them can't help but get some chills here. This is the very place where the world was changed forever. The signs you see point out various battlements around the battlefield



A "redoubt" is basically a patch of ground, sometimes dug down a bit like a foxhole, protected by a ring of sharpened logs



Conversely, a battery is where artillery (cannons) were fired from



Looking toward British redoubt #9



And here's the main French battery to the right



Here we see some reenactors preparing a cannon for firing later during a presentation



And again, the victory monument keeps us in perspective. For reference, the pier the other shot was taken from is to the right of the monument in this shot



Gloucester Point is across the York river. Cornwallis was going to retreat to there during the seige, but weather prevented him from doing so. Just one more small thing that went our way that day. Who knows what would have happened if Cornwallis had escaped



The York river is over there, really it is



Happiness on the roof of the Yorktown Visitor's Center



The reenactors about to fire the cannon (they are ramming it now)

Go to our main page