Continuing my tidewater visit, next up was the federal Yorktown Battlefield Park and Museum. This is different than the state museum, which is close by. This is actually on the main Yorktown battlefield. I was a bit disappointed in the state park. So, I had to round out the visit and go to the federal park.
This museum is quite old, but it has been recently updated. The museum itself is limited, but covers the battle through a few films and some artifacts and narrative. Once you finish that, you dan decide to walk the battlefield or take the set directed driving tours.
There are two tours. One for the Colonial lines and the other for the British lines. You get to drive around and see the locations positions of various headquarters and units. It is all basically park land, so you are just guided to the spot, but these are very few actual references. This changes when you get to redoubts nine and ten (the main fighting area of the battle). Here, the two redoubts and surrounding trenches are there to walk around. There are some concrete simulated barricades and narrative maps.
You can then drive up the road to the Moore house where the surrender was negotiated. You can walk the ground, but the house was not open while we were there.
You can get the whole thing done in a few hours. Since it is drivable, it is a nice stop if you are trying to rest your feet from the other locations!
- Manteuffel