Cape Henry

This past weekend I got to visit a NPS site in Virginia that I'd never heard about.  Now I won't claim that I know every NPS site in the state--but most I've heard of, either through a study of the Civil War or in my visits to Virginia since I met my wife in 2010.  One site (Fort Monroe National Monument) is so new that the last time I visited it the location was still on an active military base and not a NPS site--the rumour was that it would be turned over to the local authorities.  I want to go back to get a stamp in my passport book now, ;-).  But the site that I visited this weekend was Cape Henry Memorial.

It is a small site, with only a few signs.  It is on the grounds of another military base (the Joint Expeditionary Base East--or Fort Story).  Thankfully my father-in-law has a military ID still, so when we visited we didn't have to have our vehicle searched.  As I said, the site is technically managed by the National Park Service, but no park service employees are on-site " and there are no facilities or special services available. The National Park Service "Passport" book stamp for Cape Henry Memorial is located at the NPS Yorktown Battlefield Visitor Center gift shop and when open at the Cape Henry Lighthouse, operated by Preservation Virginia."  I did manage to get a passport stamp from the lighthouse--though come to think of it I should have noticed the stamp when I visited Yorktown last year.  Before last year though I didn't know about Colonial National Historical Park.  Jamestown and Yorktown aren't independent parks--but managed as part of CNHP, apparently along with Cape Henry.

There wasn't too much at the site, but neither was there nothing.  Two lighthouses are visible (see picture above).  The older one is the one on the right.  At first glance it appears to be a nice structure, but when you dig into the history it is revealed to be even more fascinating.  The following is from the website of Preservation Virginia, which owns the lighthouse:

Authorized by George Washington and overseen by Alexander Hamilton, the construction of the Cape Henry Lighthouse was one of the first acts of the newly formed Federal government. The octagonal sandstone lighthouse was designed by New York architect John McComb and was in active use for nearly a century before being replaced by a new cast iron lighthouse still standing nearby. It is one of the oldest surviving lighthouses in the United States. 

Preservation Virginia acquired the Cape Henry Lighthouse in 1930 when Congress deeded the lighthouse and 1.77 acres of land to the organization in order to preserve it and make it accessible to the public. Over the years it has restored the lighthouse and its surroundings including repairing the lantern after damage from Hurricane Barbara in 1953, repairing the damaged original Aquia sandstone, and restoring the surrounding dunes.

A large cross is located adjacent to the parking lot.  It is a replica of a wooden cross placed to commemorate the first landing of English settlers in Virginia (that would found Jamestown a few miles up the river) on April 26, 1607.  The stone cross was erected in 1935 and has a plate that tells its story fastened to the base:

The area has much more history to offer.  Not only was it the site of the first landing, but it is also very near to where the battle of Yorktown was fought--especially the naval component.  It was off these shores that the French fleet under Admiral de Grasse fought the British fleet and prevented them from connecting with the land-based forces of Lord Cornwallis and thereby facilitated the British surrender to the American and French forces under George Washington.  It is therefore quite appropriate that a statue of the admiral stands a short distance from the cross.

Another stone display explains the battle with a helpful diagram and text.  Old Point Comfort was apparently one of the original boundaries of the colony of Virginia and today is the location of Fort Monroe.

 In the picture below you can see the area where all three of these monuments/displays are located.

As you walk to an overlook or the other path to beach itself you walk along boardwalks almost overgrown with vibrant green vegetation.

Some places the plants are creeping onto the boardwalk itself, or even through its boards.

The flower along the left is along the overlook boardwalk while the flower in sand on the right is from the beach-bound boardwalk.

There were also some signs that explained more of the history as you walked towards the beach itself.  They weren't near the cross and statue, so I didn't see them the first time that I walked around the area.

 For some reason I can't get these three pictures to arrange in the same order as they are on the panels above.

I had to grab a fence shot as I walked down to the beach--it just screamed "beach scene" to me.

Last are a couple shots of the ocean from the beach at Cape Henry.   I haven't gotten much opportunity to see the ocean over the past few years (since I moved from California), so I enjoyed the time--and we didn't eat on the beach so we didn't have to worry about sand in our food, ;-).

~Matt