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LIBRARY PLANNING AND RESOURCE PRESERVATION NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MARO LIBRARY PLANNING AND RESOURCE PRESERVATION NATIONAL PARK SERVIbE MARO HISTORICAL INFORMATION COLONIAL NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK YORKTOWN VIRGINIA aoL.orjoj September 1968 OR6Ir3J9O2OC 710 Iz CCL tws TA.BLE OF CONTENTS jtttroduction Colonial National Historical Park Yorktown Virginia Jamestown The Narrative Script for Jamestown Where Nation Began Inscription Jamestown Tercentenary Monument What Happened to the Three Ships The First Residents of Jamestown Yorktown Battlefield The Narrative Script for Yorktown Where the American Revolution Reached Its Climax Information About Cannon On the British Line Walk Surrender Field Flags The Canadians Who Fought at Yorktown The Civil War in the Yorktown Area Civil War Action in the Yorktown Area The Yorktown National Cemetery Yorktown Tour of Yorktowns Historic Main Street Yorktown Monument Yorktown The Dudley Digges House Old Houses of the Blow Estate The Old Customhouse Notes on Grace Church The Swan Tavern and Its Kitchen The Archer House 10 The Moore House Architecture II The Lightfoot Family in Yorktown 12 The Nelson Family 13 The Nelson Family II Cd64t/P0fA/-4 Thar COLONIAL NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK YORICOWN VIRGINIA GENERAL INFORMTION The 7000-acre Park includes Jamestown site of the first permanent English settlement in America Yorktown scene of the final and climatic battle of the American Revolution Colonial Parkway 23mile scenic and historically rich road which connects Jamestown Williamsburg and Yorktown Cape Henry Memorial quarter acre area which marks the approximate site of the first landing of the Jamestown settlers It is located within the Fort Story Military Reservation Facilities at Jamestown Visitor Center nvseum 17-minute theater program and information services are available here Theater seats 211 Townsite the Old Church Tower Statehouse remains and the excavated ruins of early houses taverns and shops may be seen on one-mile self-guided walking tour Island Drive fivemile drive or shorter loop of three miles winds through the Islands 1500 acres of woodland and marsh Exhibits interpret both the land and its people Glasshouse glassblowing demonstrations by costumed workmen are conducted daily in period-type Glasshouse near the ruins of the original glass furnace of 1608 Admission $1.25 per car Fifty cents per person for bus groups Children under 16 years of age and educational groups are admitted free Hours 800 am to 500 p.m during the fall and winter with lengthened hours in the spring and summer Facilities at Yorktown Visitor Center an observation deck museum 17-minute theater program ship exhibit and information service are available here The theater seats 192 Battlefield and Town Tour self-guided drive of five ten or fifteen miles includes Redoubts and 10 the Moore House open mid-April through October American French and British fortifications Surrender Field Washingtons Headquarters and American and French camping areas and the National Cemetery The Town of Yorkt portion of the tour includes the Yorktown Victory Monument Cornwallis Cave Grace Church and number of 18th century houses and buildings Admission the only charge is 50c per person fee at the Moore House for those 16 years of age and over Educational groups are admitted free Hours the Visitor Center hours are 900 am to 500 p.m in the fall and winter with lengthened hours in the spring and sumaer Itch of the battlefield and town tour drive remains open 24 hours day Guided tours are available for educational groups which make advance arrangements Picnic Areas Yprictown Beach Picnic Area complete with restroom facilities water fountains and 30 tables is located behind the Victory Monument Ringfjeld Picnic Area is about miles from Yorktown on the Colonial Parkway The site contains 130 picnic tables restroom facilities and water fountains Great Neck Picnic Area is on the Colonial Parkway between Williamsburg and Jamestown Restroom facilities water fountains and 100 tables are provided Cooking facilities are not provided in the picnic areas but charcoal grills may be used Open camp fires are prohibited The Colonial National Historical Park was established by an Act of Congress in December 1930 It is administered by the National Park Service U.S Department of the Interior Jamestown is administered jointly by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and the National Park Service Address Superintendent Colonial National Historical Park Post Office Box 210 Yorktown Virginia 23490 Telephone 703887-2241 The Narrative Script for JAMESTOWN Where Nation Began An introdutory orientation program shown regularly on daily basis in the Jamestown Visitor Center of Colonial National Historical Park Written by Phyllis Roberts Supervised by Arthur Smith Photography by Thomas Williams John Crane Voiced by Guy Sothern Produced by National Park Service through staff of Colonial National Historical Park INTRODUCTION Although Jamestown as modern city does not exist today the cite and nina of the Jamestown of history do remain for you to see and ponder They are in the care of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiqttities and the Naci3nal Park ServIce of the United St2tes Dep.trtment of the Interior who wecome y.u Out of begr.tios here starting with CAIC arrival of the first settlers in 1607 has come our NatIon of today The Visitor Center there you are now is bu the introduction to Jamestown Before leaving you may find the museum exhibits of iaterest They are directty across the lobby If you move to the right on entry the story will follow chronoioically National Park Service attendant is at the desk to help you From the raised terrace around the base of jhe monuirtent you can view much of the site of old James Towne marked path leads from thca terrace to the Old Church Tower the Memcriai Cross old foundations Statehouse re mains monuments and memorials You will walk over reopened and redefine4 streets There are oil paintings recorded labels and markers to help you This is here old Jamestown stood as Virginias capital for century The reaches of the Island can be seen from motor drive which begins at the park ing area where you left your car It is but five mile drive On leaving Jamestown and upon recrossing the isthtnus thre is the Glasshouse and beyond it Festivtl Park with its full scale reconstructIon of James Fort Le ships the Indian Lodge and other dis plays Refreshments too are available at Festival Park But this ladies and gentlemen is Jamestown and now for your enjoyment the program Where Nation Began England spoke the words Go she said Go and establish and gain Unlock the treasury of the New World and secure the glittering path to the Orient Kindle your religion in the savage heart Gather fruits of the teeming frontiers before they spill into other hands One hundred antI forty-four Englishmen with n3mes like Brooks Archer Ford Midwinter Webbe1 Smith became the voice of the words The words were translated into the act trans lated into three ships the Susan Constant the Godspeed the Discovery Translated into voyage over the shadowy seas Into Jamestown Into the country whose name we are still saying The time was 1606 The great frontiers spun like an ornament before the eyes of the Old World The age of opening horizons Ideas and bold deeds were partners in the search One hundred and forty-four Englishmen were bcing drawn into this fierce orbit of history They came to new continent where the track of the white man could be rubbed out as though he had never been there at all Sir Walter Raleighs little Roanoke Island Colony of 20 years before kept forever the secret for their disappearance The voyage of the one hundred and forty- four Englishmen brought them to the Virginia Capes in April of 1607 After fearful trip their three ships rode gaily. -- on the waters of the Chesapeake The first sight of land was dazzling to the sea weary eyes One of their party Captain Percy wrote of Fairemeddowes and goodly tall Trees with such Fresh-waters running through the woods as was ravished at the first sight thereof They planted cross called the site Cape Henry decided it unsuited to their designs and for two weeks they probed the wilderness ltd then having fourl the place that was to become the site of the first permanent English settlement in the New World they rode the spacious aisle of the James to their destination and went ashore Here is the place they said Jamestown None of their kind met them The trees grew into high silent barrier Beyon4 that lay the mysterious shape of the new continent few red men watched unseen but felt from the thick arbors of vine and twisted foliage bird called from deep in the forest Even that Englishman whose head was crowded with drean of easy riches must have felt sense of awe Of Genesis They set to work to build for an Englishman im.st have roof over his head The material was at hand but the hand was unpracticed Notwithstanding they built fort The fort was shaped like wedge threesided thing with bulwarks at each corner Inside the bulwarks were the stout English cannon from off the ships man they had discovered could stop forever with an arrow in his back Like giant picket fence the palisades enclosed their rude huts the storehouse the chapel This was their home in the New World the first pioneer stockade As the frontiers unlocked and another room opened this was part of the heritage The fort would move westward be replaced move on Forty of the Englishmea sailed away to carry the news cf .Jamestotm home