Friday-----Caching in Yorktown

Friday we visited Yorktown to see some of the historic sites, and boy did we see some, and do some caching. We left about 9:00 am and were there in just a few minutes as we drove the Colonial Parkway which goes along the York River through a very picturesque setting of forest and river overlooks. We crossed the river on the Coleman Bridge and started our caching below the bridge finding 3 caches in that area with the most interesting being at Tyndall's Point Park where they had several historic markers and earthworks redoubts. The most interesting thing in the park was an old Parrott Rifle used during the Civil War (1861-1865) recognized by its wrought iron jacket and its rifled barrel (see pic). We did several more caches on that side of the river and came upon Powhatan's Chimney which according to legend is all that remains of a house Captain John Smith built for Indian Chief Powhatan at Werowocomoco a capital village of the chief. The chimney was almost completely destroyed in a storm in 1888 and was rebuilt using Marl the original material obtained from a nearby island in the 1930's (see pics). After that cache we went to Achilles, VA and got skunked on another cache so we headed back over the bridge to Yorktown and the Yorktown Battlefield. We did 4 virtual caches first, the most notable being "The Cave" a bluff overlooking the river that the townspeople hid from the incessant shellfire in and also forced the British General Lord Cornwallis to move his headquarters to a nearby cave in the same bluff while York was under siege in 1781(see pic). We stopped at the top of the bluff overlooking the York River to see the Yorktown Victory Monument that was authorized by the Continental Congress, October 29, 1781, just after the news of the surrender reached Philadelphia. Construction began 100 years later and was completed in 1884. The original figure of Victory was severely damaged by lightening and was replaced by a new work in 1956. The shaft of Maine granite is 84 feet tall and Liberty adds another 14 feet (see pic). We finished the day with a few other caches in the Battlefield of Yorktown area, and several more at places like Wawa, St George's Episcopal Church, Skiffles Creek Redoubt and Endview Plantation. We headed home and made a pizza for supper and ohhhhhhhhhhhh yes I thought everybody might like to see how much gas is here in Virginia. Love to all and see you soon.