Free Admission to Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown Battlefield – Nov. 9-10

Colonial National Historical Park to Waive Entrance Fees

Over Veterans Day and Civil War Sesquicentennial Weekend

Free Admission to Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown Battlefield

November 9-10

All National Park Service sites, including the Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown Battlefield units of Colonial National Historical Park, will offer free admission for all visitors  November 9-10 over the Veterans Day and Civil War Sesquicentennial weekend.  The free entrance is in honor of all U.S. veterans and current members of the U. S. Armed Forces.

A number of special programs will recreate the period after the 1862 Peninsula Campaign in which Yorktown was transformed into a Union garrison known as Fort Yorktown. Programs will include troops as well as sutlers and other civilian impressions. As part of the garrison impression, there will be an encampment along Yorktown’s Main Street with troops that will follow the historic daily garrison schedule to include Courts martial and sentencing, mail call, guard mounting, drill target practice, Church Service, Retreat and Parade and access to the Nelson House. Demonstrations in the Nelson House will reflect that structures historical use during the Civil War as a hospital, including grand rounds in a hospital ward, surgical procedures and sick call. Artillery, Infantry and Calvary demonstrations will also be part of the weekend programming.

Colonial National Historical Park includes both Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown Battlefield.  Historic Jamestowne is jointly administered by the National Park Service and Preservation Virginia and preserves the original site of the first permanent English settlement in the New World.  Yorktown Battlefield interprets the final major battle of the American Revolution, the victory of General George Washington’s army which secured independence for the United States.  The Colonial Parkway continues to link the sites in its 23 miles, and is today recognized as an “All-American Road.”

Visitor centers at both Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown Battlefield are open daily from 9-5.  Access to Historic Jamestowne is available daily until4:30 p.m.  For a full schedule of programs and more information, please call (757) 898-2410, or log on to www.nps.gov/colo.