Williamsburg & Vicinity

Just about everywhere you look (see below images), you are going to see various examples of colonial architecture. Not all of these buildings are "original" - some are restorations and some were built as re-creations.
For a good article on how Williamsburg was rebuilt/restored, click here

Walking about Williamsburg (see below images) is entertaining all by itself, you are going to see various individuals dressed in a colonial manner, shops & restaurants where colonial decor & clothing is in use, etc. The entire area is very walkable, note that cars are not allowed in the "colonial area".

Click here to view a Google Images set for Williamsburg.

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Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 437,994; in 2019, it was estimated to be 449,974. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city in Virginia and the 44th most populous city in the nation. Located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia Beach is included in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. This area, known as "America's First Region", also includes the independent cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk, as well as other smaller cities, counties, and towns of Hampton Roads.

This visit came about as a day-trip from our hotel in Hampton, VA primarily because it was a beautiful day and secondarily because we had visited here often in the past.

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Staying near the Hampton, VA Convention Center allowed us a considerable amount of flexibility in that there were a number of interesting places to visit. Our first expedition was to drive to the Norfolk side of the James River/Hampton Roads to visit the USS Wisconsin Museum. The Museum complex is on the Elizabeth River (north shore - Norfolk side), and even though there is no parking there, a public parking garage is immediately across the street on West Main Street.

The Museum is comprised of an indoor exhibit showing various aspects of the Wisconsin's design, construction, WW2 actions, Korean War actions and it's Desert Storm action. The ship itself comprises the second portion of the Museum, and portions of the ship are designated as "public accessible".

NOTE: There is no parking available on the museum property, however there is a parking lot across the street; West Plume Street Garage, 135 West Plume St, Norfolk, VA 23510. If you arrive via Waterside Drive, watch for East Plume Street and you will see the garage on the corner of Waterside Drive & East Plume Street.

Image is the property of the U.S. Navy.

All of the above images are the property of Just Traveling Thru, LLC.

This is a beautiful ship and in very good condition, considering that it was commissiioned in 1944 ! This class of ship is not likely to ever be built again, so I have included below a list of the ship's specifications. Note that the armament was extended in 1988 to include missles, which were used during the First Gulf War. Click here to visit the Wikipedia Page.

During the eight months the Wisconsin spent in the Persian Gulf during the first Gulf War, she flew 348 UAV hours, recorded 661 safe helicopter landings, steamed 46,000 nautical miles, fired 319 16 in (406 mm) rounds, 881 5-inch (127 mm) rounds, 5,200 20 mm Phalanx CIWS rounds, and launched 24 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

For a complete Wisconsin ship's history, click here

Class and Type:

Iowa-class battleship. Click here for this class's Wikipedia Page

Displacement:

45,000 long tons (46,000 t) light

57,500 long tons (58,400 t) wartime full load

Length:

887 ft 3 in (270.43 m)

Beam:

108 ft 2 in (32.97 m)

Draft:

37 ft 9 in (11.51 m) (full load)

Speed:

33 kn (38 mph; 61 km/h)

Complement:

1,921 officers and men

Sensors and processing systems:

AN/SPS-49 Air Search Radar

AN/SPS-67 Surface Search Radar

AN/SPQ-9 Surface Search / Gun Fire Control Radar

 

 

Electronic Warfare & Decoys:

AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite

AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Decoy System

8 × Mark 36 SRBOC Super Rapid Bloom Offboard Chaff Rocket Launchers

 

 

1943 Armament:

9 × 16 in (406 mm)/50 cal Mark 7 guns

20 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal Mark 12 guns

80 × 40 mm/56 cal anti-aircraft guns

49 × 20 mm/70 cal anti-aircraft guns

 

 

1988 Armament:

9 × 16 in (406 mm)/50 cal Mark 7 guns

12 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal Mark 12 guns

32 × BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles

16 × RGM-84 Harpoon Anti-Ship missiles

4 × 20 mm/76 cal Phalanx CIWS

 

 

Armor:

Belt: 12.1 in (307 mm)

Bulkheads: 14.5 in (368 mm)

Barbettes: 11.6 to 17.3 in (295 to 439 mm)

Turrets: 19.5 in (495 mm)

Decks Armor:

Main 1.5 in (38 mm)

Second 6.0 in (152 mm)

 

 

16-inch/50-caliber Mark 7 gun

These guns were 50 calibers long—or 50 times their 16-inch (406 mm) bore diameter, which makes the barrels 66.6 feet long, from chamber to muzzle. Each gun weighed about 239,000 pounds without the breech, and 267,900 pounds with the breech. They fired projectiles weighing from 1,900 to 2,700 pounds at a maximum speed of 2,690 feet per second with a range of up to 24 miles. At maximum range the projectile spent almost 1½ minutes in flight. Each turret required a crew of 79 men to operate. The turrets themselves cost US $1.4 million (WW2 costs) each, to which the cost of the guns had to be added.

Click here to visit the Wikipedia Page and read more about these incredible weapons.

Yorktown and the Battlefield Center are located just a few miles from I-64, so we decided to visit that area as we drove back to our cabin at Lake Anna, VA. As you can see in the images below, the Battlefield has some military items that represent weapons utilized by Washington's Continental Army.

The town is most famous as the site of the Revolutionary War siege and subsequent surrender of General Charles Cornwallis to General George Washington and the French Fleet on October 19, 1781. Although the war would last for another year, this British defeat at Yorktown effectively ended the war. Yorktown also figured prominently in the American Civil War (1861–1865), serving as a major port to supply both northern and southern towns, depending upon who held Yorktown at the time.

You can easily see how in our provided Yorktown Map, that the Battlefield Center is located immediately adjacent to the Village of Yorktown, and we initially just walked over to see the Battlefield Monument. However, we then realized that lunch sounded like a good idea, so we took our car into the village, parked next to the river and found a nice restaurant. We selected Carrot Tree Kitchens and enjoyed our lunch.

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Below you will find a set of useful links that we utilized while researching this trip. Each link listed will bring you to the relevant website.

 Links for Williamsburg & Vicinity 

• Williamsburg Article on the 'Wikipedia' site
• Things to do & see in Williamsburg
• Google list of Williamsburg Restaurants
• Google list of accommodations in Williamsburg

 Other Useful Links 

• Battleship Wisconsin Museum Site
• Virginia Beach Info
• Yorktown Battlefield National Park
• Busch Gardens Williamsburg
• Colonial Jamestown

 

 

 

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Note: All images on this page are the property of Just Traveling Thru, LLC unless otherwise noted.

Note: If you are interested in our European Travel Tips & Warnings, Click here. Or to take a look at our methods for Trip Planning click here.

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