Jamestown to Yorktown: Virginia's Colonial and Revolutionary Road

On 14 May 1607 Edward Maria Wingfield chose this peninsula about 40 miles inland for a fortified settlement. The fleet of Susan Constant, Discovery and Godspeed had sailed under Captain Christopher Newport. The first years were brutal: two-thirds of the settlers died before the supply ships of 1608 arrived. Jamestown became England's foothold in America. Today you can see the site of the original 1607 James Fort, the 17th-century church tower and the Archaearium museum of excavated finds.

Visitor guidance: Historic Jamestowne offers ranger tours, and archaeologists often work on site in view of visitors.

When the Jamestown Capitol burned in 1698, Virginia's government moved inland to Williamsburg. Here, on 29 May 1765, Patrick Henry gave his Caesar-Brutus speech against the Stamp Act, and on 29 June 1776 Virginians declared independence and wrote their first constitution. The government left for Richmond in 1779. The building you see now in Colonial Williamsburg is a reconstruction that opened on 24 February 1934.

Visitor guidance: Part of Colonial Williamsburg, on Duke of Gloucester Street.

On 23 March 1775 the Second Virginia Convention opened in this church. Among the 120 delegates were Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Patrick Henry rose in support of raising a militia, and his speech ended with the words "Give me liberty or give me death!" The vote went his way. The church receives visitors, with guided tours from its churchyard gift shop.

Visitor guidance: Guided tours start from the gift shop in the churchyard.

Built around 1725 on Temple Farm, this house became the setting for the end of the war. General Cornwallis requested a cease fire on 17 October 1781 and picked the house for surrender talks, probably for its neutral and convenient location. His representatives and Washington's met here on 18 October to negotiate the Articles of Capitulation, which were agreed and signed on 19 October.

Visitor guidance: The house stands in Colonial National Historical Park.

At 2:00 pm on 19 October 1781 the allied army entered the British positions, the French on the left and the Americans on the right. Cornwallis claimed illness and stayed away. The surrender finally took place when Major General Benjamin Lincoln accepted the sword of Cornwallis's deputy. About 8,000 soldiers, 214 artillery pieces and 24 transport ships were captured.

Location precision: The pin marks the Yorktown battlefield area; the exact ground of the ceremony is not fixed by the source.

Visitor guidance: Walk the battlefield in Colonial National Historical Park.

Five days after the surrender, Congress resolved to build a monument to those who fought here. It took a century: construction began in 1881, the centennial year, and the crowning figure was set on 12 August 1884. The column stands within Colonial National Historical Park at Yorktown.

Visitor guidance: On Main Street in Yorktown, within the park.