Recently, we were lucky enough to visit the Yorktown Victory Center in Yorktown, VA. The Yorktown Victory Center is being transformed into the
American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. The museum will hopefully be completed in 2016 and will be amazing when finished. If you've never been, I would suggest a trip to the area....so much history to see and explore.
We visited the Yorktown Visitor Center on the day we arrived in the historic triangle area of Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestowne. When we arrived in the area we ate a quick meal at a local restaurant and then walked along the beach. The beach had been flooded the day before from a hurricane that had come through the area earlier. The water was choppy and it was very windy!
The kids enjoyed dipping their toes in the water and collecting a ton of seashells. They even found a baby turtle that had washed up during the store. Sadly, his shell had been badly damaged.
After our stroll along the beach, we headed over to the Yorktown Victory Center. It is a wonderful hands on learning center for children and adults! First you'll enter the facility that is still being worked on. I have to say once the museum is completed it will be amazing. It already has some wonderful exhibits about the American Revolution. Uniforms to try on, swords to lift and hold, and various artifacts to see are just a few of the things you'll find in the museum.
After visiting the museum, we headed out into the living history museum. Here we got to visit a 1780's farm and an army encampment. The site had reenactments, actors strolling about, and a lot of fun hands on activities for the kids to participate in.
The kids could enlist in the army and make a decent wage. They had an opportunity to help fire the cannon. It's really loud! Of course a real cannon ball wasn't shot out. I doubt the neighbors would have liked that very much.
They were able to see how life was like for a young man in the army.
Walking around the farm provided us with an up close view of how life was very different back then. So much was done by hand. We definitely have it a lot easier now!
As we left for the day, we were treated to the wonderful sound of drums. We think the local high school has a drum and fife group. We could hear the music drift down the hills as they marched through the town.
It would it be so beautiful to sit on your porch, watch the waves roll in, and hear the sound of beating drums. Peaceful!
It was a wonderful reminder of why America and freedom are so important. Our fore fathers fought and died for our freedom. We should never take that for granted.
God Bless America!
