Seeing the Sights Before We Leave

The area that we are currently in is known as the Historical Triangle. Located within the Virginia Peninsula the area which composes the Historic Triangle includes the colonial communities of Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown. Joining these three historic areas of Virginia is the Colonial Parkway. The Parkway is a lovely driving path through a heavily wooded area which is designed to shield visitors from the trappings of modern life…like the Naval Weapons Station at Yorktown with its two loading piers which often are occupied with US warships. However, putting aside all thoughts of modern day, it is very easy to sit back and appreciate nature while traveling along the Parkway. We saw lots of water foul and the marshlands as they must have looked to the colonists upon arrival in the early 1600’s.



Having already visited Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown, we headed to Jamestown. We spent the entire morning walking among the archeological digs that are ongoing at Jamestown and taking a guided tour of the colony. The afternoon was spent at the Jamestown Museum on the colony grounds which house an unusually large and extremely interesting collection of artifacts that have been excavated from within the colony grounds. It is amazing to see what nature had preserved underground these past four hundred years. We literally ran out of day before we finished viewing all there was to see. It is our hope to travel up the James River to see Jamestown from the water when we return in the spring.


We could not leave the area without a trip to the Williamsburg Winery. We opted to take the hour tour to see first hand the workings of a local winery. An interesting note that we discovered during the winery tour was that each colonist family in Virginia was mandated by law to plant a vineyard upon arrival from England in the hopes that Virginia would provide vineyards like the south France. While the grapes flourished, the quality of the wine was never even remotely near that of France, so the farmers of Virginia turned to tobacco as the cash crop of choice.



We drove into the Norfolk/Portmouth area to see the warships up close and personal. We were able to tour the USS Wisconsin which is part of the Nauticus Museum in Norfolk. It was both humbling and exciting to board the USS Wisconsin to feel what it must be like to live aboard what is such a huge ship while at the same time experience the teeny tiny living quarters of the crew. The Natuicus Museum contains an excellent collection of nautical memorbilia unique to the waters and history of the Chesapeake. It was certainly an afternoon well spent.


Before leaving the area, we took a walking tour of the Portsmouth area. We spent several hours walking the area which is full of old homes which are being restored and maintained.

Crew Member DTLB Comes for a Visit

Lolligag crew member DTLB has the patience of Job as she made plans for her long overdue and much deserved vacation aboard the Lolligag. It was everyone’s original intention and hope that she would be joining us in the Bahamas during the early winter months of 2008. However, a severed finger by this Deck Monkey in January 2008 changed the plans of everyone involved. So we reviewed her work schedule and the places that she has previously visited and the logical conclusion was that she join us to see and visit Williamsburg and the historical sites therein.

Captain Mark and I picked her up from the Richmond airport and we all began four days full of laughter, sightseeing, wonderful shopping (purchasing), eatery exploration, all the while ending our days with good wine and more laughter.



Since none of us had visited the historic Village of Williamsburg, this seemed the perfect place to start our tourist activities. WOW, is the best description of Williamsburg. Yes we knew that it was a city of restored historical building and that people wore, ate and used implements of the early 1700’s but still we were thrilled and impressed by the authenticity and attention to detail that we found in every aspect of Williamsburg.



I think what shocked us the most was the fact that people actually live in the homes within the Village. I guess I thought it was just a re-created village museum but that is hardly the case. Everything that is created, made or used in Williamsburg is done exactly as it would have been done in colonial times.











The town of Yorktown is located directly across the York River from our marina so we ventured to the town for some serious shopping and lunch dinning. Then it was on to the Yorktown Battlefield for a historical tour which surprised us all by being so informative and interesting. We all commented that we wished our US history classes in high school would have been this much fun!

Unfortunately, a small craft advisory was in effect for our area so we were not able to take Linda for a boat ride. However, she was able to see a warship that was docked in the York River not too far from our marina.

We even drove to downtown Washington, DC for dinner before our visit time expired. We are most fortunate to have our friends (crew members) join us along our journey. Sharing the Lolligag’s adventures is one of the most special aspects of being able to make a trip like this and we are very glad that DTLB made the long awaited and special effort to visit us.