Artillery Park At Yorktown.

[Robert Gray]

Park of the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery on the lower wharf at Yorktown, Va., May 1862.

Photo credits:
National Archives (NARA-524501)
Library of Congress (LC-DIG-ppmsca-31498)
Unknown

 

[Lubliner]

I lived near Yorktown as a young child. I remember visiting there about 1960 when I was six. The mortars and earth formations amazed me, as well as the spikes angled out from them.
I was reading last night a bit about the Yorktown embattlements. I did not realize that Yorktown had a population of only 150 or so at the time of the civil war. It had more living there during the revolution. As for being a nice point to harbor in, this surprised me.
Lubliner.

 

[Northern Light]

Impressive!

 

[Bloody7th]

I'd love to see a "now" photo of this area, would be interesting to compare.

 

[Lubliner]

I'd love to see a "now" photo of this area, would be interesting to compare.

From the closest angle I could find.

Lubliner.

 

[Belfoured]

From the closest angle I could find.
View attachment 519121
Lubliner.

Nice work.

 

[7thWisconsin]

IIRC, the Revolution basically killed Yorktown.
Wasn´t the 1st Conn. one of the most important (or the only) heavy artillery regiments with the AoP?

 

[Lubliner]

In all three picture the Cornwallis cave is nearby along the beachfront, off to the left and a bit behind the camera.

On the picture I posted the bridge is an extension from midtown Newport News at the entrance to the Mariner's Museum, across Warwick Blvd. The route from there is US Route 17 and is 13 miles away and then crosses the York River into Gloucester, which can be seen at the distant far right in both photographs.
Lubliner.

 

[NFB22]

I am somewhat curious if one the homes here, is the Archer House that currently stands on the Yorktown waterfront.

The structure that now stands is a refurbished version of a home built on the foundation of an earlier house that was one of many owned by the Archer Brothers in Yorktown in the colonial era. Naturally the shoreline has changed vastly through years of hurricanes and erosion.

Obviously, the refurbished version of the home that now stands has different features from the original photo but also has similar features

This is near "Cornwallis' Cave" and I have to wonder if possibly the photographer was on that elevated position.

The view moving up the street right past the Archer House

 

[Johnny_Reb_1865]

I may have found a lost camp in Gloucester.

 

[Lubliner]

I am somewhat curious if one the homes here, is the Archer House that currently stands on the Yorktown waterfront.

That is it in the picture. I have two photos to share from online. The first is the Archer House from way back, and the second is a view from Cornwallis Cave during the war. You can see the Archer house on the left close to the waterfront, mid-picture. The beachfront has not really changed that much due to conservation efforts to keep the beach. It is the foliage and surrounding countryside that nature has reclaimed.

 

[7thWisconsin]

I was part of the 1981 bicentennial commemoration of the Siege and Surrender at Yorktown. Still on my short list of best reenactments I´ve ever done. Beautiful little town and big lovely battlefield park. I´ve toured there several times, both before and after the bicentennial event. The last time was about 20 years ago. We took a ranger walk around the Hornwork, and were pretty close to where I had camped. Our oldest daughter said ¨You were here for the reenactment, right, Dad?¨ The Ranger was very gracious and asked me to share some of the things I remembered about it. Possibly more than any other time, I got a little tiny insight into what other old soldiers may have felt revisiting the fields of their youth.
(And somebody has to say it: Cornwallis didn´t really hide in a cave during the bombardment. It´s just a great story.)