News Release

Colonial National Historical Park Celebrates Independence Day

Yorktown Battlefield Park Rangers

National Park Service

News Release Date: June 25, 2023

Contact: Rachele Karlovetz, 757-898-3400

Yorktown, VA--- On July 4, 2023, celebrate a fee free Independence Day in historic Yorktown, where American and French troops defeated the British in the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War. 

Colonial National Historical Park is partnering with York County to provide activities throughout the day. Highlights include a parade through town in the morning, self-guided tours of the Nelson House in the afternoon, and fireworks in the evening. More information and weather-related event updates can be found at VisitYorktown.org.

While normally an entrance pass is required to visit Yorktown Battlefield, Jamestown Island, and the recreational stops along the Colonial Parkway that makeup Colonial National Historical Park, entrance fees will be waived on July 4, 2023.  “While collecting fees are incredibly important for maintaining the park and providing visitor services, this year we also want to have a fee free day to recognize Independence Day with our community and partners."- Superintendent Jerri Marr

Entrance fees are an important source of revenue in national parks to improve the visitor experience, including recreational opportunities. Recreation fees help the park fund important work and projects at Colonial National Historical Park. For example, fee dollars have supported the York River shoreline stabilization project along the Colonial Parkway, the restoration of cultural landscapes within the park, repair work of historic cannon carriages, and painting and restoring picket fences in historic Yorktown. In addition, funding is used for visitor safety including providing additional traffic safety patrol and signage where needed. To purchase a park pass, visit recreation.gov. 

Colonial National Historical Park administers two of the most historically significant sites in English North America. These sites represent the beginning and end of English colonial America. Jamestown Island, the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America in 1607 which is jointly administered with Preservation Virginia, and Yorktown Battlefield, the final major battle of the American Revolutionary War in 1781.

Situated on the Virginia Peninsula, these sites are connected by the 23-mile scenic Colonial Parkway. Colonial NHP also includes Green Spring, the 17th century plantation home of Virginia's colonial governor, Sir William Berkeley, and the Cape Henry Memorial, which marks the approximate site of the first landing of the Jamestown colonists on the Atlantic Coast in April of 1607. To learn more about the park, visit www.nps.gov/colo.  --NPS--