Most visitors to Yorktown, Virginia concentrate on the Revolutionary War-era Battlefield, but the adjacent town itself, with its many historical buildings from the same time period, is well worth visiting.
So if you've parked your car at the Battlefield Visitor Center (not to be confused with the Yorktown Visitor Center on the opposite side of town!), you can walk from there into the town itself, taking a short cut path across a foot bridge and onto Comte de Grasse road. If you prefer to drive, take Comte de Grasse road, which is one way, until it hits Water Street, and turn left. You'll find free parking garages on your left at the other end of town, by the Watermen's Museum.
However, anybody who is reasonably mobile can walk the entire length and breadth of historic Yorktown with no problem. Sites are that close together. Just be sure to wear headgear to protect against the sun, and carry a bottle of water, as it does get pretty hot during the summer months.
But let's start from the Battlefield Visitor Center. You'll see signs pointing to the footpath, that take you via a footbridge over "Tobacco Road" far below – the path that townspeople took in the 1700s to load tobacco onto the ships in the harbor.
As you come to the junction between the path and Comte de Grasse road, on your right you will see the Yorktown Victory Monument. With its backdrop against the York river, it is a beautiful, tall statue, with construction finished in 1884, to commemorate the victory of a hundred years before.
Here you have a choice between going straight, along Main Street, or taking Comte de Grasse down to the waterfront. I recommend that you go straight on Main Street. It is closed to car traffic during the day (except for government vehicles such as mail trucks and National Park service vehicles).
On Main Street are many historic homes - some of them not open to the public, but with explanatory signs in front of them. On the corner of Nelson and Main is Thomas Nelson House, which used to belong to that patriot's family. (Thomas Nelson was governor of Virginia, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.)
This house is usually open year-round, with a NPS staff member on hand to answer your questions. The first floor is furnished in the style of the 1700s...the second floor is open but the rooms aren't furnished. However, you get a good view of the fireplaces and walls, and so on.
Continue on to Read Street, and turn left to see the Poor Potter Archaeological site. It is the remains of a Colonial pottery factory operated by William Rogers from about 1720 to 1745. You'll keep walking past the National Park Service office on your left (there's no brochures or visitor center in there, but there are people who can answer any questions you might have), past a few other buildings, and then on the left, up a bit of a hill is the building over the site. Again, it's open year round, staffing permitted. If an NPS person isn't there, you can still gaze in through plexiglass windows to see the archeological dig there. And there are plenty of huge signs there that explain the significance of the site.
After you've gazed your fill, return to Main Street. On the left hand corner of Main and Read you'll see the Custom House and the Museum on Main.
The Custom House was built circa 1720, and like the Nelson House, is one of the few buildings in town to survive both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. It is operated by the Daughters of the American Revolution and is typically open only on weekends.
The Museum on Main is currently open only on the weekends, from April to September. It has exhibits of Yorktown from earliest times to the present day. It's an adjunct building for the larger York County Historical Museum.
Continue on to where Main Street deadends against Ballard Street, and on the corner you'll see the York County Historical Museum, which is located in the bottom level of York Hall. It has plenty of exhibits also. It's open every day but Monday, from 10 to 3.30, except on Sundays when its only open from 1 to 3.30.
Of course as you walk past these historical buildings you'll see a few shops and restaurants as well.
Take a right onto Ballard Street, and walk down to the waterfront. On your left, across the street, is the Watermen's Museum, which depicts the history of life on the Chesapeake Bay, and is well worth a visit. Continue walking to your left on Water Street. (It's a one way road, headed in the direction you're walking, and its lined with shops and broad sidewalks.) Riverwalk Landing, newly built after the disastrous flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina many years ago, houses many shops, and restaurants.
But you're interested in the historical buildings, so keep on walking, past the white sandy beach on your left, and the pier where the schooner Alliance takes visitors out into the York River for a fee (during the right season.)
Keep on going all the way to the end of the historical area, until you reach Comte de Avenue. Just before you turn onto Comte de Grasse, on your right hand side, will be Cornwallis' Cave. Legend states that Cornwallis was found hiding here at the end of the siege of Yorktown, but that's probably a spurious tale. More likely it was used by a British gun crew to defend the river from the French Fleet.
Continue up Comte de Grasse road, until you reach the Yorktown Victory Monument, and from there walk back to the Battlefield Visitor Center.
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