The MoBiles: Gloucester, Virginia (State #20)-Chesapeake Bay RV Resort

I had a great time in this area and would love to come back some time. I will tell you why, but first I will start with the campground.

We stayed at Chesapeake Bay RV Resort for two weeks. It is another Thousand Trails campground. We had a very nice site near the water of the Piankatank River that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The campground had the usual amenities of a Thousand Trails but just like the last, it was DEAD during the week. Many people come on the weekends but because we are usually out exploring as a family, we don't really get to experience that.

The only thing the nearest little town of Gloucester Courthouse had to do was stroll through the small historic area (and what you see here is pretty much all of it). They have a yearly daffodil festival but sadly we missed it by a week.

When we weren't out and about, the kids had a great time on the basketball court

and we were amazed to watch the bald eagles that perched in the nearby trees and soared over the lake.

So now to tell you why I loved this area. In our homeschooling, we have been studying the Colonial Period and the Revolutionary War. So it was awesome that we were just 30 minutes to an hour away from Jamestown (the first permanent British settlement), Colonial Williamsburg (the second capital of Virginia (1698)), and Yorktown Battlefield (the last major battle of the Revolutionary War). History came to life for us!

Our first outing as a family was to Historic Jamestown. Admission was $5 per adult because we are National Park Pass holders.

While we did not expect to, we spent hours here. One of our favorite things was inside this 100 year old church building whose entrance is this bell tower that is over 400 years old.

The favorite was a character dressed as Anas Toddkill, one of the original Jamestown settlers. He was fabulous, albeit a little difficult to understand at times due to his old English. He gave amazing insight to life in the colonies and was a great basis for starting our exploration of Jamestown.

Volunteers at the park were also great. They knew so much and were so willing to share it. Interestingly, they only discovered that the fort had not been eroded away, as previously thought, as late as 1990. Archaeological digs are still taking place.

The fort walls had been reconstructed. Graves were marked and there were various monuments and statues. They also had an archaerarium in addition to the visitor's center. And there was the glass blowing house where we were able to watch them make jars and candlestick holders.

The kids also earned their Jr. Ranger Badge ;)

I was so interested in this place that I bought a book titled, Jamestown, The Perilous Adventure to learn more about it. It is a young adult non-fiction book with just the right amount of information for me. And to my surprise,the kids listened as I read aloud all 176 pages. And they would request “Keep reading!” when I would finish a chapter.

We could have spent more time there had the weather not been rainy and wet and if we weren't planning to check out Yorktown Battlefield National Park.

Not really thinking about the fact that some of these places actually close at 5pm, we made it to the Yorktown Visitor's Center about 45 minutes before closing time. That gave us enough time to watch the introductory video, pick up some information and explore the visitor's center. And by the way, the $5 we paid at Jamestown included entrance to this park as well.

Then since we could do it on our own, we took a self guided tour of the battlefield. The rain was still coming down so we had to do all of the exploring from our car windows.

The next day, we went to Norfolk. Our first stop was the Naval Station Norfolk. It is the largest naval base in the WORLD! We took a bus tour of the base. We saw and heard about various types of naval ships, including aircraft carriers, and many of the facilities on the base. (I should say that it was definitely more interesting than this one boring picture! Ha Ha)

Afterwards, we went to the Children's Museum of Virginia (free with our museum pass). It was a great children's museum. They had so many different themed rooms to explore. The favorite, also probably because we have not seen one before, was the bubble room. You could stand inside the bubble frame, pull it up and put your whole self inside a bubble! So much fun!

And there was an awesome train display!

It was difficult to decide what all we wanted to see in the area. The National Parks' Historic Jamestown and Yorktown were easy picks because we knew they would have great historical information and would be reasonably priced. But there were several other interesting options too, including the Jamestown Settlement and Colonial Williamsburg. We decided we just had to see more!

So during the week, I took the kids back to Yorktown Battlefield to revisit some of what we had seen in the rain and to complete their Jr Ranger Badge.

(the Moore house where Cornwallis's surrender was negotiated)

(Surrender Field)

Then after a couple of hours there, we traveled over to Jamestown settlement. It is a recreation of Jamestown about a mile away from the original site but the most awesome thing to see here is the replica boats of the Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed that brought the original 104 settlers. It is hard to imagine living in these small boats for over 4 months. I am not sure if the space in the biggest ship, where the settlers had to live and sleep, was even as big as my entire RV!

(the Susan Constant)

But that was not all that this place had to offer. There was a Powhatan Indian Village

where we ground corn into meal,

watched tools and pottery being made, saw how fur was removed from the hides and explored the tents. The kids were so impressed with the structures the Indians built and how they were organized. They commented how smart the Indians were (and just let me add that we have never suggested otherwise to them).

There was also a Jamestown Fort area. We checked out several of their buildings and learned some about their weapons and how they made clothes. We also watched a blacksmith make nails, which the kids got to bring home for a souvenir.

Then on the weekend, we all went to Colonial Williamsburg. One could easily spend two days there and still not see all that they have. We toured several buildings,