Machicomoco State Park and Fort Monroe National Monument

 Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Machicomoco State Park

Here is a video made by the park service that gives a really good overview of the park.

Machicomoco (Ma-chi-co-mo-co) is one of the newer state parks, dedicated in 2019. There is an old house there and large fields of crops. The land is flat and easy to hike or ride bikes. This park is dedicated to the Virginia's Indigenous peoples. We drove through the campground and it is mostly open sites in full sun. This is a picture of site #3, and to us it is the only site that offers any privacy or shade.

Here is a map of the campground. There are 13 tent sites, 14 Water and Electric sites for RV and 3 Yurts. You can reserve your spot HERE.

This is a picture of the open-air interpretive pavilion that provides information on the culture, landscape and movement of Virginia Indians through displays and a walking path in the landscape.

This is a wide shot of the field where the Oyster Trail is located and the trail we decided to hike based on the suggestion of the park ranger. The trailhead is at the base of the steps at the open-air interpretive pavilion.

At one point there was a wooden walkway out to the waters edge that allowed us to observe the local wildlife.

 

  

 

Here are some shots of the wildlife we observed. There was a crab on the wooden walkway, some great egrets flying around and the "snails" on the log. We just stood there in the drizzling rain and watched for several minutes and were in awe of God's creation.

We stopped at the selfie booth on the trail and made our selfie. Yes it was raining, but we have never let that stop us.

We walked on and there was an overlook that was higher up and looked out over the York River and you can see that the rain was picking up. 

We headed back up the trail to the Timberneck House and because the rain was getting harder, we headed back to the parking lot and drove on to our next destination. Below is the hike we tracked using my Casio G-shock watch with built in GPS.

Our hike on the Oyster Trail was about .77 miles and took us 32 minutes, we did stop and gaze at the wildlife.

Trails

The park has a 3.3 mile paved foot/bicycle trail that circles the main road on the park site. A footpath of gravel, oyster shells and mown grass can be found at the interpretive area and totals .7 of a mile. The natural trail runs 2.4 miles from the interpretive area, through the car-top kayak launch, and near the campgrounds at the trailhead parking lot.

Fort Monroe

This is a National Monument dedicated by President Obama in 2011 and entry is free. We started at the Visitor Center and it was raining "cats and dogs". We walked around reading the history and obtained our free tickets to the Casement museum. While we were inside the rain stopped and the sun came out and we were able to enjoy our afternoon. 

Here is one of the canons that was used in the defenses at the fort at one time.

This is a replica of the disappearing guns that were used at the fort and the metal rails are still on the ramparts of the fort (see below)

The word casement refers to the living quarters that were built into the walls of the fort. This room was the prison cell of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy. 

Here is an example of the quarters that someone may have assigned to them. Keep in mind the walls were surrounded by earth and stone, buried beneath the fort walls. 

This is what the outside of the casement looks like. The door with the sign over it designates the door to Jefferson Davis cell. 

After we visited the Casement museum, we went up the steps to the top of the fort wall and walked the entire wall.

The oldest structure is the lighthouse which is still standing and can be seen from the wall with no problem.

Here is a view of the flag from the bottom looking up.

A view from the top of the wall of one of the entry/exit points through the wall.

We really enjoyed our visit to Fort Monroe.

Our hike at Fort Monroe was just over a mile and it took us about 40 minutes.

Kiptopeke State Park and Cape Charles, VA

 

Tuesday, May 27

Woke this morning around 6:15 and went to the Collier Shower House only a short walk from our camp site. This shower house is a much better facility than some of the more expensive campgrounds we have been to. 

We ate a good breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, cauliflower hash browns, toast and fruit. After breakfast we both read our devotions and bible. We finished cleaning up and headed out for the day.

To get to our destination, we had to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. I have always wanted to cross this and just never had the opportunity. It is amazing to ride on this bridge over this body of water and then go through 2 tunnels that are under the bay. We stopped at the overlook on the other side and took our picture.

Here is a video of our drive through one of the tunnels. The speed is 4X the original and the audio has been changed.

Kiptopeke State Park

When we entered the park, we asked about some of the things to do. So our first stop was the fishing pier and we walked around it and look at the wildlife, the fishermen and the concrete ships.

These ships were really eerie to see and I bet they are even more so up close. The history of these ship is unique especially since we did not even know that they had built ships out of concrete. 

While we were walking around the pier, we noticed a bird diving under the water. It would come up with a small flounder and then swallow it whole. I believe it was a Cormorant, and we just watched that bird out fish all the fisherman on the pier. 

We left the pier and headed to the trailhead and picnic area. we ate our lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and vegan chips with a glass of water. We decided to take the Baywoods Trail, it is .8 miles long and easy.

This was a nice relaxing walk with by beloved wife and we just talked and enjoyed the sounds of the birds chirping all around us. I did spot a pine warbler and identified it with the Merlin app on my phone. I was not able to get a picture of it because it was so small and fast. 

About halfway down the trail, we took a side trail called the Peregrine Boardwalk. This is a wooden walk from the Baywoods Trail to the beach and it takes you over a small gorge and on to the beach. 

We stayed on the beach for a little bit and Amy was able to pick up some very large shells on the shore. 

We also saw a lot of holes in the sand and realized they were homes to crabs. We found one crab dragging grass into his hole.  

We headed back and finished the Baywoods Trail and made the decision to take the Park Rangers advice and visit the downtown area of Cape Charles, VA. Before we left, we took our picture with the State Park sign. Don't forget when you visit a Virginia state park to log in in Trail Quest.

Cape Charles, Virginia

The historic downtown area for Cape Charles is a beautiful place to enjoy some shopping, ice cream and even stay the night if you want. We parked at the top of the street and walked down to the beach and then walked back up the other side. 

There are a lot of unique shops and businesses to shop and you can see what I was looking for!! 

We stopped at Brown Dog Ice Cream and grabbed a mid-afternoon snack. Amy had the Dreamsicle and I had Salted Caramel. If you have your dog with you, they have frozen treats for them as well. 

At the end of the street is the fishing pier and the Cape Charles LOVE sign. Even though it was raining, we went out and took our picture in front of the sign. 

We had to say goodbye to Cape Charles and headed back across the bay and to our camp. There were two shops we enjoyed and even purchased items in. They are the Boardwalk and Table & Tonic

For supper we had a healthy Chicken Alfredo and Garlic Cheese Biscuits.

Healthy Chicken Alfredo 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 large chicken breast
• 1 box of Green Giant Frozen Broccoli
• 1 bag of Birds Eye Veggie Pasta Rotini Alfredo

Directions

• Cook Broccoli in microwave and set aside
• Heat cast iron skillet on camp stove.
• Cut Chicken into bite size pieces and coat with Mrs. Dash and Salt
• Cook Pasta in microwave.
• Put chicken in frying pan and cook slowly.
• Chop broccoli up into smaller pieces and add to chicken when it is nearly cooked.
• Once chicken is done, put in a mixing bowl and add cooked pasta and stir
• Serve in bowls, makes 2 servings.

 

We were both tired from the days activities and after cleaning up from supper, we went inside. I journaled and then painted my memory ornament for the day. It has been a good day, despite the rain.