April 25: To Yorktown

We had great service at the Deep Creek lock this morning, and were the only boat going through heading North. The lock master told us stories of the work they did during Hurricane Floyd with 7 foot waves inside the locks. The lock doors sustained $1.2M of damage, but they were able to hold back water surges from the Dismal Swamp to protect Portsmouth. We soon said goodbye to the still beauty of the countryside.
If I name all the things I have seen today, can you guess where we were next? Huge steel lift bridges, aircraft carriers, battleships, a helicopter, cranes, barges, tug boats, coast guard boats, a strange water going military tank, ocean going freighters loaded with steel girders and tractor trailer containers. Yep, you’re right. We were in Norfolk. We stopped at the Tidewater Marina, a low two story tan and white building, flanked by several docks full of yachts behind a breakfront. It reminded me of a place my family had stayed on a similar trip 40 years ago. We refilled our water tanks and picked up 300 gallons of diesel fuel before heading out into Baltimore Channel, the wide waterway leading to the Chesapeake Bay.
We rounded Fort Story and the abandoned Cape Henry light house at the First Landing State Park, and went over the Hampton Roads tunnel and were surprised to see the Bay amazingly calm. When we checked the depth gauge, it read 70 feet deep, and we could barely see land, but the water was glossy and just gently rolling (NOTHING like the Pamlico Sound!).

This afternoon we docked at the Riverwalk Marina in Yorktown and took in the historical sites. Tom got our bikes out and we took a 14 mile ride around the Revolutionary battle fields of Yorktown. We cycled around the paved walkway that led through the encampment areas each marked with their commanding officer and regiment. We saw where George Washington’s tents were set up and where the spring was that provided their water. Lord Cornwallis had fortified Yorktown for the British as his base for controlling the Chesapeake Bay. In October of 1781, George Washington led a combined force of American and French soldiers to defeat the British at the battle of Yorktown, the deciding victory for the revolutionaries. We also rode through the town on our way home. We saw the Grace Episcopal church that dates back to 1667 and the Nelson home which was built in 1712. General Thomas Nelson was Commander of the Virginia Militia and later signed the Declaration of Independence. It was a beautiful ride, the weather was perfect, we needed the exercise, and it was interesting to get the refresher on our country’s history. I am so glad we came to Yorktown.