For the next few hours, I thoroughly enjoyed being a bike touring tourist!I walked up the earthworks that were erected for siege warfare. The sun was out, the temperatures were mild and it was an absolutely gorgeous day. I sat down and looked out over the battlefield and pondered the precarious position that the British found themselves in. At their back was the York River and at their front was the French and American Forces just capturing redoubts that put them in point-blank-cannon- firing-range.
I then rode into the historic town of Yorktown. Some of the houses still bare signs of warfare.
I ventured over to the Grace Episcopal Church and walked around the adjacent graveyard. I found the grave of General Thomas Nelson, Jr. He died at the age of 50. Yet, in what we would consider a short life, I couldn't help but think about all he had accomplished. He was the governor of VA. He fought in the Revolutionary War. He signed the Declaration of Independence. Just as his grave announces, "He gave all for liberty." I wonder the mark my life will leave?
I then went for a ride on the battlefield roads.
Along the way, I stopped by Surrender Field. The place where the British forfeited their arms and surrendered to the combined French and American forces. As I stood there looking out over that field while a recording of the event echoed in my ears, it wasn't hard to be transformed back over 200 years.
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