After our last buffet breakfast at the Williamsburg Lodge (tomorrow we go someplace else) we set out by bus down the Colonial Parkway to Yorktown.
Our first stop was the National Park Service visitor center, where we looked around outside a bit and then went in and watched their video (good but a bit outdated) and spent time in the museum and the shop.
Paige talks about the battle.
The bus took us over to Redoubts 9 and 10.
It is certainly cooler today, but still hot enough to want to talk in the shade. That is Redoubt #10 in the background.
We walked over Redoubt #9 too before getting back on the bus.
Our next stop was Surrender Field.
Normally there is an excellent audio recording here, telling the story of the dramatic surrender, with sound effects and everything, but it is broken, so Paige had to read the text to us. Still very good, but not so dramatic.
I did tape most of the narration (I missed the first few words) last summer, and I am putting it up on youtube. I'll post the link when it is done uploading.
Since we started the week with ideas about what it means to be an American, the surrender at Yorktown, which effectively marks the end of the American Revolution, seemed an appropriate moment to stop and reflect on what we had learned, and what the victory means. We wrote our reflections after we heard about the surrender. I wrote a poem, but I don't like it. I like the one from 2008 better. But that post reminds me how much better the wifi is this year!
We took the bus through the town of Yorktown, stopping to look at a few sites, and then we went back to Williamsburg for lunch at Sheild's Tavern.
After lunch we were back at Bruton Heights for lessons on the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. This is a new section of the week, last year we ended at Yorktown.
Then each of the value tensions groups had a chance to present their projects. Everyone did a good job, some with humor, some with more serious approaches, but all with thought. Each of the groups demonstrated the ways their particular value tension came up during the week, and how different events show attempts to bring these tensions into balance.
The tensions are:
Equality vs. Freedom
Unity vs. Diversity
Common Wealth vs. Private Wealth
Law vs. Ethics.
We had a little time after that to walk around, or do whatever before returning to Shield's Tavern for dinner. The menu was different than lunch, but we ate in the same room!
Now we are all packing up. We check out first thing tomorrow, although we still have half a day of program left before we all leave the 18th century behind and return to our regularly scheduled 21st century summers.
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