I personally would not do that. You would be cutting all three sites to the point of . . . well, why bother really.

Spend the day at Williamsburg (and pay admission) - or do Jamestown & Yorktown. Don't try to do all three. Even just Yorktown and Jamestown is a pretty full day.

If you only have one day - do what makes sense for one day.

Agree. There is no way you can see anything of all 3 in one day. Esp - although you don;t say when you are arriving - if it's this fall - the days are already getting shorter.

We spend 2 full days in Wmsburg - and still didn't see a lot.

To do all 3 you would spend most of your day in the car.

Well, I'll dissent. I am not an enthusiast of that period of history, so if a day is all one has, I think it's possible to get a taste of all three sites. They are not all that far apart, in a not very traffic-y area, too, which helps. Definitely don't pay admission at Colonial Williamsburg since time is short, just stroll around until you've had enough and move on. If time and money permit, you could have lunch or dinner at one of the CW-run restaurants to extend the experience. I enjoyed the recorded tour at Yorktown, particularly because without it just looks like a big grassy area if one is not very familiar with the battle. But you can fast-forward through parts of it if time runs short.

Sadly, geography is my weakness and it's been years since I lived in the area, so I hope someone else can suggest the ideal order in which to visit all three. Good luck!

" I am not an enthusiast of that period of history"

Then IMO a better use of time would be to skip them and do something you'd enjoy -- not rush through them to tick off a list.

The two sites at Jamestown alone would take at least 3 hours - and more is better. Same w/ Yorktown.

janisj, I am not the OP! Please try to follow the thread. And keep in mind that the OP said s/he realizes one day is not enough, but that's all there is. So would you rather s/he stay in the hotel all day??

Newbe: I'm having no problem 'following' the thread. I know you aren't the OP. Was commenting about your advice being predicated on not enjoying colonial history. IF that was the case, why go there at all?

Then I went on to explain (for the OP) that just doing the Jamestown/Jamestowne/Yorktown/Yorktown sites would absolutely fill a day.

If you knew I am not the OP, why did you advise ME to skip it and do something I'd enjoy? Are you seriously asking why anyone would go to CW if they are not an enthusiast of the period?? Loads of people do, and they have a ball.

Besides, I never said I'd not enjoy it, only that as a non-enthusiast, a brief visit would suffice for me, and, IMO, the OP.

My point, which was an obvious one, is that a person who is not an *enthusiast* of the period might get quite a lot out of a whirlwind visit to all three sites in one day, and certainly more than if they'd just not bothered.

There is nothing really at Jamestown that you can see without investing at least a full morning.

You can walk around Williamsburg for the other half of the day.

But poor old Yorktown will have to be left out.

You aren't talking about 3 sites here, you are talking about 5:
Colonial Williamsburg, Historic Jamestowne NP, Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown Battlefield, and Yorktown Victory Center so you have to accept the fact that you are only going to skim the surface of these amazingly historic sites.

This is what I'd do (if, and only if, I had one day):

Arrive in CW at 7-8am and get breakfast at Aromas on Prince George St. CW first thing in the morning is magical and you'll need the early start. Walk down Duke of Gloucester St. and over to and down Nicholson St. Before you leave the area, cross the street and walk around the Wren Building at W&M.

Hop on the Colonial Parkway behind the Inn and drive to Yorktown NP. Stop by the visitor center, drive through the battlefield and walk through the town stopping for lunch at Carrot Tree or down on the riverfront.

Get back on the parkway and drive to Jamestown NP. Do the museum, the driving loop, the archeology site, and the glass blower if you have time. I suggested Jamestown at the end of the day because sunset over the James is stunning.

Bring your National Parks Pass or pay for both sites when you arrive.

Realize you are missing a lot of fascinating history covering 250 years. (So I'm a little confused about what "that period" of history actully is.)

You'll have to skip the Victory Center and Settlement on this trip.

Good plan Birdie!!

IMHO the Victory Center is much more fascinating than the Battlefield itself - especially if you don;t have the background to what you're looking at.

Also - do consider the weather. Have an alternate option in case you get bad weather.

Permit to throw in my two cents.

For me, the important thing to remember is that Colonial Williamsburg, Historic Jamestown NHP, and the Yorktown Battlefield are all DIFFERENT approaches to connecting to earlier history. It may turn out that you'll be able to jettison one or two of them simply because you don't expect to find their approach that interesting.

Colonial Williamsburg attempts to recreate life in that town in the 1700s. You'll find people in period dress telling stories from that time period as if they were yesterday, dramatic recreations of big events, and artisans showing skilled work from that period. I happen to like this "living history" approach, but others may find it cheesy.

Jamestown NHP makes no attempt to re-create anything, and there is absolutely no living history. Instead, it's an active archeological site. The main attraction is the museum with its thousands of artifacts dug up over the last ten years. Building locations have been preserved, and there is some attempt to show what they might have looked like. I'm fascinated that Jamestown was considered "lost" for over two centuries, and was only found because someone had an original idea: why not look for it! But, again, some may find a collection of artifacts boring.

Yorktown Battlefield has neither recreations nor artifacts, but it DOES locate a rather significant place in the history of English speaking peoples. Specifically, the battle that pretty much forced Great Britain to admit that it could no longer hope to keep America as a colony; severing the direct political and social connection between the two peoples. Once again, a place with little more than markers that state, "This happened here" may be of little interest to people.

If you're like me and conclude, "Wow, I'd like ALL THREE of these!", then I can't help you. You said right from the start that one day simply isn't enough. Thus, you're just going have to either ignore one or more of them, or decide to have a "If it's 2 pm, this must be Yorktown" type of visit.

PaulRabe descriptions are good to help you decide which sites to visit -- but he did omit two of them: Jamestown Settlement and the Victory center. Those two are as important as the other three - and probably more interesting if you have kids.

Also realize, depending on where you are starting from, you'll have to factor in about 2 hours driving time (i.e. Williamsburg > Jamestown > Yorktown and back to Williamsburg). If you are starting from, or headed to, somewhere farther away you need to add more travel time.

I guess I should have mentioned: the reason I had nothing to say about Jamestown Settlement or the Yorktown Victory Center is because I've not been to either. Well, I did go to the latter in 1976, but I don't think my opinion should count for anything. So either may be exactly what you're looking for, but I'd have no idea.

Driving times are:

Williamsburg>Jamestown 15 min

Williamsburg>Yorktown 20 min

I agree - but I was talking about the total drive time - the round trip/loop Williamsburg > Jamestown > Yorktown > Williamsburg (or to where ever they are staying) would take 90 mins to 2 hours.

Williamsburg > Yorktown - 20 min
Yorktown > Jamestown -

Screw up! Sorry.

Williamsburg > Yorktown 20
Yorktown > Jamestown 35
Jamestown > Williamsburg 15
---
70
Which leaves a good 20 minutes to get back to your hotel. Most of the hotels are 10-15 minutes from CW if you are not staying on property. That is not the 2 hours you originally warned about. It is a silly argument and I don't mean to belabor the point but the truth is that there is very little travel time between tourist sites in Williamsburg. It's a small town.

I also want to add that travel on the Parkway is a large part of the tourist experience.

IMHO Victory Center - which is interactive history, has films, and a huge number of exhibits, explains the run-up to the battle, the battle itself and the eventual British surrender to Washington. IMHO it's a lot more interesting than the battlefield itself - and also a good choice if you get weather that is less than optimal.

Thank you everyone for your replies even if it has caused a little confusion. To help, I will give a little more information. We are staying just outside Richmond( near the airport ) as part of a longer trip. Yes, we do only have 1 full day to see the sights but whilst not history buffs, we would like to see a little of the area from where our fellow countrymen first settled. I appreciate it will be just a quick visit and no way will we be able to do it justice. We would like to see the ships moored at Jamestowne settlement and think we may do what Birdie suggested which was to arrive early in CW and spend the morning their just walking around. We could then drive to Jamestowne settlement and perhaps do the Jamestown ferry to Surry, I have heard this is worth doing?
I really do wish we had longer but I cannot change the time we have so would rather see a little than none at all.

Your plan is fine given what you have to work with.

At Jamestown Settlement, skip the tours and the reenactment and walk directly to the water to see the ships. On your way, notice the brick tower that commemorates the Queen's visit for the 350th (I think) anniversary of the settlement. It is of the same era and architectural approach as Guilford Cathedral: chunky.

Then, visit the Museum, which is fantastic. When I said you needed half a day here, this is what I was talking about. Endlessly fascinating exhibits on colonialisation, early Virginia, the trading companies in London and so forth. The cafe is also quite good by US museum standards.

You could take the ferry to Surry. I like ferries, and it is nice enough. The drive back to Richmond on that side of the river is one of the straightest segments of highway in the eastern US. It might also be considered among the most boring, but Surry is the peanut capital of Virginia, hence the world. And peanuts fed hams. So Worth IT!

Thank you Ackislander. Any suggestions on places to eat on way back to Richmond?

No, not on the way, but if you are willing to drive into the edge of the city from the airport on US 60 (through some non-salubrious neighborhoods at the end) Millie's Diner on East Main has food far better than its name would suggest. It is worth a special trip. I do not believe they take reservations -- check their website -- but it is worth the wait.

For something completely different, get on I 64 to its junction with I 95N. Take that to the Boulevard Exit and go toward the city and the Museum District. On North Boulevard, on your left is Buz and Ned's Barbecue. I don't like their pulled pork because they put sauce on it, but everything else is fantastic.

I was wrong about the long straight road. That is US 460, and you are likely to come north on VA 10. Sorry.

The drive up to/from Richmond on route 5 is much nicer (tho slower) than 64 and passes several of the old plantations along the James river.

OK, so your travel time will be the 2 hours that janisj suggested, LOL.

I have to agree with emalloy that the drive on Rt 5 will be nicer. You can't see the plantations from the road but the countryside is beautiful. The ferry ride is nice too but it will be a pretty boring ride up to Richmond from there.

If you take the Rt 5 route, you can stop here for dinner:

http://www.charlescitytavern.com/

Thanks for the suggestions,one final question. Can you take the ferry over to Surry and then straight back again so that we can return on Rt5?

Millie's does not take reservations except for parties of 6 or more very early (I think it's before 6:00)

Here's the website: http://milliesdiner.com/

Also Lulu's (their sister restaurant is very good)
http://www.lulusrichmond.com/

I'd go to Comfort before Buz & Ned's. (disclaimer, I have big issues with Buz himself, who is an ass)
http://comfortrestaurant.com/

You could come back on the ferry, but how long you would have to wait depends on when you are there.

I didn't even think about that because I HATE to backtrack.

I didn't suggest Comfort or many other wonderful places because I was under the impression that the OP wanted to eat on the way back. I couldn't help with that so I thought of places easy to get to from the highway. If they came up 195, they could of course easily get to anywhere in Carytown and then back on the highway.

>>Can you take the ferry over to Surry and then straight back again so that we can return on Rt5?<<

Probably but not a guarantee. The ferry ride is about 20 minutes and the ferries leave approx every 25 minutes. You will encounter some commuter traffic leaving the Jamestown side between 4-6 pm.

I like Birdie's suggestion of the Charles City Tavern.

Are you staying near the airport b/c you have a flight out?

For an hour-by-hour listing of what is happening at Colonial Williamsburg, check out

http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/plan/calendar/#EventSearchResults

Just put in the day of your visit and click "Find Events". Click on an event of interest to see whether it requires an admission ticket or not.

Frankly, I don't see the point of visiting CW if you do not experience some of the events (especially since you will not see the insides of the buildings). The outside is pretty to look at, but you don't get any idea of the context or significance of the place without some interpretation of it.

For what it's worth, here is an idea of timing from the visit I made to Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown with my sister's family (including two almost-teen children) last year. These are based on the time stamps on the pictures I took with my digital camera.

I spent an entire day with them at Colonial Williamsburg (including visiting the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller museum in the evening, so it was a FULL day!). They spent at least one additional day there after I left. But that is neither here nor there for your visit!

As to the rest of the trip:

JAMESTOWN (1 day)

Historic Jamestowne: 3.5-4 hours (including visitors' center, museum, ranger-led tour of the site, and exploring on our own)

Going from Historic Jamestowne main site to Glassblowers (including eating the picnic lunch we packed): 1 hour

Glassblowers: Over 1 hour (obviously you would not have to spend that long there)

From last picture at Glassblowers to entrance to Jamestown Settlement: 30 minutes (but it took less than that to go between them, but I don;t remember how long)

Jamestown Settlement: 3 hours (mostly visiting the re-created settlement, with only about 30 minutes in the museum)


YORKTOWN (1 day)

At Yorktown Battlefield we did a ranger-led tour and looked at exhibits in the visitors' center. I just took a few pictures of the kids on the cannons outside, so don't have much to go on, but we left the visitors' center area at noon.

We drove around the battlefield some and went to the town of Yorktown to see it (and enjoyed watching the swing bridge open to allow a Navy ship to pass ). All that was only about an hour, I think (we ate a picnic in the van as we drove).

Then we dropped my sister and the kids at Yorktown Victory Center, where they spent the rest of the day, while my brother-in-law took me to the airport. He went back to join them after he dropped me off, so that's half a day or so. I can't give you any input on it, as I did not visit it.

It seems based on your postings you are dropping Yorktown from your itinerary.

If not, I don't see how you can possibly visit all 5 sites in 1 day, especially if you want to get any context about them. The ranger-led tour at Yorktown was especially valuable for understanding the battle. Had we not done that, the visit would have been much less interesting and informative.

Whatever you do, check out the websites of all places before you go so you have an idea of what is happening and when.

My DD lives in Portsmouth, VA.
I can not tell you how often I have been to all these wonderful sites...but let's just say a lot.

Do one thing, and do it well.
Williamsburg can take days to see IMO.

I know I'm kicking a dead horse - but -

Nothing at all wrong w/ only having one day. Happens. But to try to squeeze 2 or 3 days worth into that one day . . . .??

If one just has a day, do what makes sense to see/do/enjoy in a day - not run here and there and everywhere and not see much at any of them. Nothing says one day near Williamsburg means you have to see everything.

Even dropping Yorktown like it seems you are - you're really not going to get much out of the other three sites - especially w/ driving from Richmond and back. Why not slow down and smell the roses (and the history)

BTW, I want to add that walking around Williamsburg is your best bet.

Thanks everyone for all your thoughts and ideas. Because we can't change the amount of time we have, we are just going to have a walk around CW and then drive to the Jamestown settlement and spend a few hours there. I know it does not do the area justice but hopefully will give us a taste for a return visit sometime in the future to do it properly.
Thank you

That sounds fine, Stargatesg30, with the limited amount of time you have. Just make sure you walk both DoG St and Nicholson and take the Parkway to Jamestown.

You'll enjoy it. We did the same thing when we visited and it was fine. Of course, I live in VA so I keep up the pretense that I can always go back and do Yorktown. But after walking around CW I haven't ever had the urge to go back and pay for a ticket.