"Migrating by Mercedes - part 3" North Virginia Beach Travelogue by grandmaR

Chart of the battle

I'm putting the Fort Story and Cape Henry stuff under North Virginia Beach. Fort Story is on Cape Henry, which is the northernmost point of the south shore of Hampton Roads.

After we check into the Fort Story Inn, they tell us that local calls are 35 cents each - they have public internet, but you have to pay for it. I had a hard time logging onto the internet from the room and used the 800# for a little while. After I did that, of course, I could log on with the regular number.

We went to dinner at the Beale St. BBQ (review under Virginia Beach restaurant tips). We each had a wet half rack of ribs and the total bill was $38.43 counting the tip. Rachael Ray ($40/day) has nothing on us. One of my teeth has been bothering me. It hurt a bit to chew at dinner.

Saturday Nov. 27th - moonset over Hampton Roads

We got up in the a.m. (the full moon was just setting) and got dressed and went up to the meeting room where they said there would be a free continental breakfast. This was coffee, orange juice or apple juice, donuts, bread (and toaster), and various kinds of cold cereal and various kinds of milk. No tea or tea bags although one of the guys used the coffee maker to make hot water. So we each had a donut and some juice. It was free so I can't complain.

We have about 140 miles to go today from here to Duck, and we aren't supposed to check in before 4 pm, so I've figured out a time wasting route which wasted a bit more time than I intended through getting lost a couple of times. I find that the mapping program is VERY difficult to use from a moving car if you don't know where you are because if I can see the detail I can't see which direction I'm supposed to be going on the route.

View from the Ft. Story Inn

The Cape Henry Inn at Ft. Story is open to anyone who has a military ID (active duty, retiree, DOD) and they take reservations up to a year in advance. The rates are on a sliding scale depending on the time of year. This time of year it is $29/night. In March when we come back I think it will be $35, and it goes way up in the summer. From our room we could see the Bridge Tunnel and ships anchored waiting for tugs or pilots. See the Intro picture.

Old Cape Henry Lighthouse

We checked out about 8:15, and our first destination was the lighthouses at Cape Henry on Ft. Story. There is an old brick lighthouse which is open to be climbed from 10-4 in the winter, and the new black and white checkered lighthouse which isn't open. The lighthouses are pretty easy to find. (Lighthouses tend to stand out.)

New Cape Henry light

There were a lot of informational signs, but those proved to be about Ft. Story itself and not the lighthouses. Ft. Story has some units stationed there from the army, navy, and marines for something they call JLOTS (Joint Logistics Over The Shore). Bob stayed in the car while I photographed the lighthouses.

Monument for first colonists landings

He did get out to look at the two monuments one a cross put up by the Daughters of the American Colonists commemorating the first landings of the English colonists in VA in 1609 (put up in 1935), and..

The inscription on the bottom on the cross says:

"Here at Capt Henry first landed in America upon 26 April 1607 those English colonists who upon 13 May 1607 established at Jamestown, Virginia the first permanent English settlement in America"

Bob looking at French Admiral deGrasse's monument

..and one put up in 1976 in honor of the French Admiral deGrasse. That monument says:

"Francois Joseph Paul de Grasse

"This statue, a gift from France, is placed here overlooking the waters where Admiral Comte de Grass successfully engaged the British Fleet on September 5, 1781. The "Battle off the Capes" prevented cruicial reinforcements from reaching Cornwallis, thus hastening his surrender.

"Dedicated in grateful rememberance of the decisive contribution of Admiral de Grass to the winning of American independence

"October 17, 1976."

There were explanations of the battle that we had seen the movie about at Yorktown the preceding day. Bob also walked up to the top of the dune line where there was another display about the naval battle.

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