The Colonial Parkway is one of America’s most significant scenic byways. This All-American Road represents European colonization and the birth of a world superpower. Native American tribes were changed forever. And Virginia’s economy developed and profited from slavery for almost 250 years. Just 23 miles long, the parkway connects three major American historical sites: Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown.

Today, the city of Williamsburg is a top tourism destination. Located in southeastern Virginia next door to Newport News, it’s three hours south of Washington, DC and an hour east of Richmond. If you’re coming from Virginia’s capital city, State Route 5 will take longer but it’s a very pretty drive that follows the James River.

The Colonial Parkway starts southwest of Williamsburg in Jamestown. In 1607, English colonists sailed up the James River, landed on James Island and founded Jamestown, named for King James the First, ruler of England at the time. A five-mile loop drive around the small island shows what the harsh environment was like: marshy, heavily forested, hot and humid summers, icy cold winters.

Today, there are two sections to visit. Jamestown Settlement focuses on life in 17th-century Virginia. Galleries include portraits, documents, toys, furnishings, tools, weapons and ceremonial and decorative objects. Jamestown Settlement is also a living history museum where performers in period costume, called interpreters, forge in a blacksmith shop, make wood and leather products, sew and cook meals. In addition to a re-created fort and Powhatan Indian village, replicas of Discovery, Godspeed and Susan Constant, the three ships that brought the first Englishmen, are docked nearby.

Jamestown Settlement is a good setup for the other section, Historic Jamestowne, where the original 104 colonists, all men, founded the first permanent English settlement in North America. The archaeological site overlooks the James River, and you can wander past excavated buildings, peer into current digs and walk through the rebuilt church. Its brick tower is the only surviving above-ground structure from 17th-century Jamestown. An indoor museum, The Archaearium, exhibits arms and armor, tools, coins, tobacco pipes, religious objects, food remains and Virginia’s largest collection of colonial period American Indian artifacts.

Between Historic Jamestowne and Jamestown Settlement is the Glasshouse, where you can watch modern glassblowers create 17th-century-inspired objects, which are then available for purchase.

From Jamestown, the Colonial Parkway passes through wetlands and woodlands on the 10 miles to Williamsburg. Completed in 1957, the parkway itself is a national treasure. Built by the National Park Service, this meticulously crafted, two-way road has no center line. It’s also designed to preserve the natural landscape so it looks much as it has throughout history. Thus, both modern city and historic Williamsburg can barely be seen from the parkway.

Colonial Williamsburg is big, featuring more than 500 original and reconstructed buildings and 90 acres of gardens and green spaces. In 1699, the colonial capital was moved from Jamestown to Williamsburg. Then, in 1780, Virginia’s capital moved again, this time west to Richmond. The Revolutionary War was underway and leaders, including Governor Thomas Jefferson, thought Williamsburg was more vulnerable to British attack.

The city evolved into a quiet backwater, a fading beauty filled with decaying historic structures. In the 1920s, the movement began to restore Williamsburg to its 19th-century glory. Today, it’s the largest living history museum in the U.S. with costumed interpreters demonstrating cabinetmaking, blacksmithing, wig making, candle making and many other crafts using historically accurate tools and methods. There are roving fiddlers, fife and drum corps and actors portraying Thomas Jefferson, Martha Washington, Gowan Pamphlet (the first-known ordained Black Baptist preacher) and Oconostota, a Cherokee leader.

Over the years, Williamsburg has been criticized for whitewashing slavery and ignoring colonization’s impact on Native Americans. Some think it feels like an amusement park. Even so, there’s no cost to walk the streets and see for yourself. Admission is only required to enter buildings and experience programs.

Williamsburg also includes more than 70,000 pieces of art. Some are on display in town while others are found at two extraordinarily photogenic museums, housed in the same complex and adjacent to the historic area. The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum showcases 17th- through early 19th-century textiles, metals and clocks. It also includes the world's largest collection of American South furniture and one of the biggest assemblages of British ceramics outside England.

Quirky and playful are themes in the 7,000 pieces displayed at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum. From the 18th century to present day, art is in the eye of the beholder from tobacconist and carousel figures to quilts, paintings, pottery and toys. Admission to both museums is included in a Colonial Williamsburg ticket.

Continuing east on the Colonial Parkway, it’s twenty minutes to the Yorktown Battlefield, the final major fight of the Revolutionary War. Designed to be driven, the battlefield has a clearly marked vehicle tour. Walking trails lead through batteries, past cannons and across redoubts. In 1777, the French joined the Americans’ battle for independence. In the fall of 1781, General George Washington’s troops and his French allies trapped British forces at Yorktown. Two days later the British gave up the fight at Surrender Field. The United States officially gained freedom at the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown is also a must-see where leg shackles from slave ships, weaponry, portraits, life-size statues and numerous period artifacts chronicle the times. Outdoors, there’s another living history museum with a working Revolution-era farm. The re-created Continental Army encampment features musket demonstrations.

With so many dates, locations and famous names to digest, it takes a solid two or three days to fully explore this historic triangle. There are numerous campgrounds and all kinds of hotels, motels and Airbnbs in the Williamsburg area and so obviously, the earlier you book, the closer to the main attractions you’ll be. Summer and other times when school is out are busiest. Pricing at the sites and museums is complicated, too, so research before you go.

Researched and written by Greg Phillips. Original itinerary created for RVshare and then adjusted to include all travelers.