About Your Visit

The Yorktown Visitor Center is on the southeast edge of Yorktown. Literature is available here, and attendants, on request, will outline self-guided tours of the battlefield. The center is open daily except Christmas Day.

The Moore House is open daily, except during the winter season, and there is an attendant on duty to assist you. There is a nominal admission charge which is waived for children under 12 years of age and for groups of school children 18 years of age or under when accompanied by adults assuming responsibility for their safety and orderly conduct.

No regularly scheduled guided tours of the battlefield are offered, but arrangements for guide service, especially for educational groups, may be made in advance. There is no charge for this service.

Yorktown Day (October 19) is observed each year with a special program and patriotic exercises.

In Yorktown there are several small restaurants, a number of tourist homes, and two small hotels. There is a picnic area of limited capacity along the river below the Yorktown Victory Monument, but trailer courts and organized camping facilities are not available.

Administration

The Yorktown Battlefield is a part of Colonial National Historical Park, which also includes the major part of Jamestown Island, together with some of the adjacent area, the Colonial Parkway, and the Cape Henry Memorial at Cape Henry, Va. The park was first established as a national monument by Presidential proclamation in 1930 and given its present designation by act of Congress in 1936.

The battlefield, except for areas in private ownership, is administered by the. National Park Service of the Department of the Interior. At present, park holdings in the battlefield embrace about 4,175 acres.

Headquarters for the entire park are in Yorktown, and all communications relating to the area should be addressed to the Superintendent, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown, Va.

Closely Related Areas

Other areas in the South included in the National Park System connected with the Revolutionary War are: Kings Mountain National Military Park, S. C.; Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, N. C.; Cowpens National Battlefield Site, S. C.; and Moores Creek National Military Park, N. C.

Closely related to Yorktown and Jamestown, both geographically and historically, is Williamsburg (Virginia)—a national shrine of out standing significance and interest. Much of the heart of the old 18th-century section of the city has been restored, or reconstructed, including the palace of the royal governors and the capitol building. Arts and craft shops have been developed, as well as an extensive educational program, making it possible to observe and study many aspects of life as it was in the 80-year period when Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia after the removal of the seat of government from Jamestown in 1699. The restoration of the town is being made possible through the generosity of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and it is administered by Colonial Williamsburg as a nonprofit, educational, and inspirational shrine "That the Future May Learn from the Past."