Markers of History

The third and fourth mark­ers I’m post­ing today (this one and the “Cheatham Annex” marker to be posted later today) were both at the same pull-off along the Colonial Parkway.

Colo­nial Park­way mark­ers
Bellfield Plantation

Loca­tion: Colo­nial National His­toric Pkwy, York­town, VA 23691

Vis­ited: July 4, 2009, 12:05pm

Tran­scrip­tion of marker: The Bellfield house site and grave­yard are located some 300 yards to the east. This was the home of two early Virginia gov­er­nors, Captain John West in 1632 and Edward Digges who bought the prop­erty from West in 1650. Here Digges pro­duced supe­rior tobacco and led attempts to develop silk cul­ture in the colony.

My impres­sions: I will admit that I did not under­take a thor­ough search, but one of my dis­ap­point­ments with this marker is that it men­tions the prox­im­ity of the home site and grave­yard but doesn’t spec­ify if they are vis­i­ble or not from the road, etc. And on a curv­ing park­way, some hints as to how to face east would have been appre­ci­ated. That said, I do find it inter­est­ing that we have two gov­er­nors own­ing the same home. I won­der how often that sort of thing has led to the cre­ation of “offi­cial res­i­dences” where a cou­ple of office­hold­ers liv­ing in the same home, and at some point it is sold or willed to be a res­i­dence for the holder of the same office.

Colonial Parkway mark­ers
York River

Location: Colonial National Historic Pkwy, Yorktown, VA 23691

Visited: July 4, 12:00 noon

Transcription of marker: Known to the Indians as the Pamunkey, the colonists named it first Charles and then York, both in honor of the Duke of York. While only 26 miles in length, the tidal waters of the York River flow over the deep­est nat­ural chan­nel of any Chesapeake Bay tributary.

My impres­sions: There is a lot of over­lap in the con­tent of this marker and the “Z marker” for York County we found ear­lier in the day, in the his­tory of the York River. This marker, though, extends the his­tory back before Europeans arrived and includes the sci­ence tid­bits about the length and depth of the river. (And my apolo­gies for the qual­ity of the photo; the text is blur­rier than I would have liked.)

Colonial Parkway mark­ers
Naval Weapons Station

Location: Colonial National Historic Pkwy, Yorktown, VA 23691

Visited: July 4, 2009, 11:55am

Transcription of marker: The piers extend­ing into the York River, just to the right, serve a major Navy instal­la­tion. Since its estab­lish­ment in 1918, then as a Mine Depot, it has served our coun­try in two World Wars and the Korean con­flict as well as in peace time.

My impres­sions: Not a whole lot to say about this, but it does always sur­prise me when his­toric sites and mark­ers are in close prox­im­ity to mil­i­tary areas. I made a def­i­nite deci­sion to forego any attempt at a photo of the sign and its sub­ject, given that. But that history/military com­bi­na­tion seems to come up a lot for the Colonial NHP. Not only does it hap­pen here along the Colonial Parkway, but also at the Cape Henry Memorial in Virginia Beach.