Colonial Sightseeing

With the realisation we were likely to be here in Deltaville for most of the week we investigated the feasibility/cost of hiring a car. When we considered it in Annapolis it was a shock to find the – albeit modest – headline price doubled when you added in the “optional” damage cover (and “damage” includes tyres and windscreen) and then some on top of that when opting for a Sat Nav (absolutely essential as some of our biggest falling outs have been over navigation and map reading!). What I ended up doing was taking out an annual 3rd party insurance policy to cover damage and excess which I calculated would pay for itself after 5 days of hire. Our first trip in the hire car was to Wal-Mart to purchase the cheapest possible Sat Nav which, again, should pay for itself in about the same number of hires. Given the three hours of sailing it took us to get out of Kilmarnock, into the shipping lane of Chesapeake and then back to the shore and into Fishing Bay Harbour It was a shock to see the signpost at the end of the road pointing to Kilmarnock…..11 miles away!
En route we listened to a news report about the stricken cruise ship where the passengers were suffering severe deprivations: only cold water, no toilets, dried milk, and only spam and PopTarts in the way of food. It could have been a description of life aboard SS Zarafina….except those lucky beggars on Carnival Splendor had PopTarts.
Yesterday (Wednesday) we visited Jamestown (the first English settlement), Williamsburg which became the capital after Jamestown and Yorktown the site of the decisive battle of the War of Independence. In the 30’s a 23 mile parkway was constructed to link the three sites on the peninsula, specifically to ensure no modern structures impinged on the historic significance. (Such sensitive treatment hadn’t always been evident – in the past a businessman had decided the battlements in Yorktown would make a good golf course….! The guide told us it probably wasn’t such a bad thing; otherwise it might have had the 1920’s equivalent of a Wal-Mart built on it.)
As an aside I once met a guy who had worked at Disneyland Paris and he told me the character you were assigned was on the basis of the costume fit. He looked me up and down and pronounced I would probably have been given the job of Pluto. There is also a retail area (isn’t there always?!) and the stores maintain the character – at least externally – impossible to imagine how Stephanos Pizza & Subs could maintain the authentic Colonial look inside.
There were examples of cannon - both original and reproduction - and she told us that at the height of the battle 1,700 cannon balls and missiles fell onto the (not large) town in a single day. The British Commander didn’t attempt a retreat when he had the chance because he had been assured war ships and reinforcements were en route from New York. They were delayed because of bad weather and by the time they arrived it was all over. It wasn’t the last battle of the War but it was decisive.
http://www.britishbattles.com/battle-yorktown.htm
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