Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown

The eras in American History are beginning to dissolve and become overlapping transparencies.  We camped at Chippokes Plantation State Park on the south shore of the James River in Virginia.  It was founded as a plantation in the 1620's.  Across the river is Jamestown Colony, the first permanent English settlement in North America, settled in 1607.  The first 10 years in Jamestown were very tough and the majority of the colonists died and as we now know, some resorted to cannabilsm when they were starving.

Jamestown succeded due to persistence and the introduction of tobacco which became the first cash crop of the new world.  Jamestown was situated on a island surrounded by swamp.  As it grew and prospered, the site became a liability. Williamsburg became the new economic and political center of Virginia. Williamsburg is a living history site portraying life in the 1740's and was also a bastion of Loyalist support during the Revolutionary War.  At the east end of this peninsula between the James and York Rivers is Yorktown Battlefield, the site of the end of the Revolutionary War when Lord Cornwallis, leader of the British Army, surrendered to Gen. Washington.

But wait, there's more!  In 1862, General George McClellan landed his force of about 70,000 Union soldiers at Fort Munroe on the Peninsula to began his campaign to take Richmond.  His force marched and fought on the old Yorktown site and occupied Williamsburg.  McClellan advanced to within 20 miles of Richmond before he snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and retreated to Washington to sit and brood about his unrecognized brilliance.

Colonial Williamsburg

Fife and Drum Corps

The original building of the College of William and Mary designed by Sir Christopher Wren.  Thomas Jefferson  graduated from William and Mary and lived in this building when it was a dormitory.

One of my four basic food groups - peanuts drying after digging

Jamestown Colony

Jamestown colony from the ferry

The car ferry across the James River.  Runs 24 hours a day carrying up to 50 cars and free.  Amazing!

Jeremy with the powder monkey from an artillery battery of the Continental Army. The powder monkey was responsible for the gunpowder charges for a single cannon.