11 Historic Things To Do In Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown: America’s Historic Triangle (2024)
Want to know all the best things to do in Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown (also known as America’s Historic Triangle)? We’ve got you covered with everything you need to know!
There are so many historical sites in Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown, also known as America’s Historic Triangle.
You can’t really do it all in one day, but you could see it all over the course of a long weekend.
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Historic Things To Do In Williamsburg, Jamestown, And Yorktown
The best way to see and do as much as possible is with the America’s Historic Triangle pass.
It gives you 7 day unlimited access to Colonial Williamsburg, Historic Jamestowne, Jamestown Settlement, the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, and Yorktown Battlefield.
👉🏼 Click Here To Book Your America’s Historic Triangle Pass Today!
Now that that’s out of the way, here are all the best historic things to do in Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown.
1. Colonial Willamsburg
I had visited once (maybe twice) when I was about 9 or 10 years old, but JP had never been, so it was fun to see it again as an adult.
It is free to park at Colonial Williamsburg.
They have a free shuttle that you can take from various parking lots to various places on properties.
It is all a walk-able distance as well if you don’t want to take the shuttle.
It is also free to get into Colonial Williamsburg and walk around, but you’ll need to purchase an admission ticket if you want to tour inside any of the buildings.
👉🏼 Click Here To Book Your Colonial Williamsburg Admission Today!
2. Governor’s Palace Tour
There are two buildings that you must tour when you visit Colonial Williamsburg and the Governor’s Palace is one of them.
It is a replica of the original building that once stood there.
You’ll learn that there have been many fires over the years in the area.
The original foundation still stands and you can see a clear line from where it was re-built.
Guided tours run continuously through the Governor’s Palace where you can walk through various rooms inside, as well as explore the gardens in what is essentially the backyard.
After the tour you’re able to spend as much or as little time as you’d like on the grounds before moving on to your next stop.
Another fun fact about the Governor’s Palace is that you’ll notice all the rooms are very vibrantly painted.
This was seen as a sign of wealth at this time since it was expensive to make paint that color and to make enough to cover the entire room.
3. Capitol Building Tour
The second building you’ll want to tour is the Capitol building.
This is another building that has burned down several times and was re-built as a replica on top of the existing foundation.
The Capitol also runs continuous tours throughout the day.
Again, you’ll need to have purchased an admission ticket to be able to tour the building.
4. Haunted Williamsburg Tour
This is a guided tour through Colonial Williamsburg at night where they share old and new ghost stories about the area.
This is a one hour walking tour and each guide has a different route and different stories that they like to share.
We did our tour from 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm, so by the time our tour ended it was pitch black outside.
👉🏼 Click Here To Book Your Haunted Williamsburg Tour Today!
5. Yorktown Battlefield
From the visitor center, you just have to follow the signs in numerical order to know where to go next.
There is an app you can download to give you a guided tour of the area as you go, which I highly recommend.
👉🏼 Click Here To Download Your Self-Guided Audio Driving Tour Of Yorktown Battlefield Today!
Most stops along the route have parking lots where you can get out and roam around.
Others just have places where you can pull off the side of the road if you want to get out.
We did this in the middle of the day on a Wednesday and only ran into a few other people the entire time.
It took us just under 2 hours to do the entire tour.
The beginning half of the driving tour takes you to battlefields that are set up with cannons, fencing, and dirt trails to help see how battles would’ve played out.
Later on in the driving tour, you’ll go through a more wooded area and see some historic buildings.
6. Historic Jamestowne
If you’ve never visited this area before it can be a little confusing because they have a place called Historic Jamestowne and Jamestown Settlement.
Historic Jamestowne is the actual archaeological site of Jamestown.
Jamestown Settlement is a replica of what Jamestown would have been like and is a living history museum.
With our National Park Annual Pass, we had reduced admission for only $10 per person.
The photo below of the tree is roughly where the landing site would have been in Jamestown.
As you exit the park, there is a building where they do glass blowing demonstrations.
They have a gift shop there as well where they sell everything from the demonstrations and other relevant souvenirs.
7. Jamestown Settlement
Jamestown Settlement is a living history museum made up of a replica of Jamestown and the Powhatan Indian Village.
We separated our visit over the course of two different days since they aren’t open very late.
On our first visit, we explored the settlement and watched a cannon demonstration.
On our second visit, we were able to explore the ship.
In this video on our YouTube Channel you can see the cannon demonstration and other parts of our visit here.
👉🏼 Click Here To Book Your Jamestown Settlement Admission Today!
8. The Revolutionary War Museum at Yorktown
The Revolutionary War Museum at Yorktown is an indoor museum and an outdoor living history museum.
The inside part of the museum opens a bit earlier in the day, but there is no photography or videography allowed inside, so we don’t have any photos or videos of this part.
This museum was really nicely done and immersive though.
There is a video reenactment of the battle of Yorktown that is in a small theater, but with an IMAX type screen and it really feels like you’re there.
We were the only ones in the theater and it was a really cool experience.
I recommend doing the Yorktown Battlefield driving tour before visiting the museum because then you will have been to all the places they’re showing you.
After about an hour after opening, the outdoor exhibits opened.
Outside they have a living history museum of the military camps as well as local farms that would have been around at the time.
We had cold/rainy Spring weather while we were visiting, so the campfires were really nice and smelled really good.
On the farm they actually cook meals throughout the day from an authentic 1700s cookbook and they do cooking demonstrations.
In this video on our YouTube Channel you can see more of our experience at this museum.
👉🏼 Click Here To Book Your Revolutionary War Museum At Yorktown Admission Today!
9. Williamsburg Winery
We noticed while driving around that there was a wine trail in the area, but we didn’t have enough time to visit all the wineries.
Williamsburg Winery seemed the most appealing to us and it was close to our resort.
So I honestly didn’t have high hopes for the wine in this area since we’re used to California wine.
Not that one is better than another, it’s just what our palettes were used to.
But we were pleasantly surprised.
They had full bodied red wines that were fruit forward and not too dry tasting, which is what we generally look for in wines.
We did 1 Red Wine Flight and 1 Reserve Wine Flight.
My personal favorite was the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Limited Release from the Reserve Wine Flight.
Where to Eat Around Williamsburg, Jamestown, And Yorktown
There are plenty of historic places to go when you’re here.
The food is no exception.
10. King’s Arms Tavern In Colonial Williamsburg
You can’t go to Williamsburg and not eat at one of their historic taverns!
King’s Arms Tavern originally opened in 1772 and the experience you’ll have there today is authentic in every way.
Recipes have been slightly updated to match today’s tastes, but everything else is the same.
Their signature dish is Peanut Soupe.
This isn’t something we would normally think to order, but our waitress highly recommended it and said it was what they were known for so we had to try it.
It came with a breadstick/crouton for dipping and it was just amazing!
Our meal also came with bread service that came with several toppings.
For our entrees, JP had the Tavern Dinner which included Herb-Garlic Crusted Prime Rib of Beef, Horseradish, Herbed Fingerling Potatoes, Popover, Au Jus, and choice of dessert (the Peanut Soupe also came with this meal).
I had the Beef Tenderloin which included Blackstrap Molasses Bacon Butter, Sunchoke Yukon Gold Potato Mash, Cabernet Demi, and Caramelized Cipollini Onion.
I can’t find the dessert menu, but I want to say we had something like a Bread Pudding.
11. Old Chickahominy House
It is a 1700’s style dining room that has been in it’s current state since the 1960s.
For lunch I had Chicken & Dumplings since that is one of my go-to meals.
JP had a bowl of Chili and we shared a side of Virginia Country Ham on Hot Biscuits.
Neither of us had ever had that before and didn’t think anything of it when we ordered it.
It is very dry and salty, but in the best way possible.
I look forward to eating it again if we’re ever in the area again.
It was a pretty cheap meal too – we spent $38.14, including a tip of at least 20%!
Where to Stay In Williamsburg: Historic Powhatan Resort
For this visit, we chose to stay at the Historic Powhatan Resort.
We have an entire post linked above about why we chose this resort, the perks of staying here, our favorite amenities, etc.
In this video on our YouTube Channel can see a full walkthrough of a one bedroom upstairs unit.
👉🏼 Click Here To Book Your Historic Powhatan Resort Stay Today!
Conclusion: Historic Things To Do In Williamsburg, Jamestown, And Yorktown
There are plenty historic things to do in Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown.
This area known as America’s Historic Triangle has a variety of historical sites, activities, and restaurants for everybody.
