Yorktown Beach Flooding: October 3rd, 2015

On Saturday, October 3rd, 2015 we went out and hit the beaches of Gloucester Point and Yorktown, Virginia to take a number of pictures to show the flooding or, shall we say sea level rise, hitting our shores.  Above is a slideshow of various areas around the Yorktown River Walk area and include street flooding during the high tide.  When we first went over to the area, there was some standing water in the road but as the tide came in so did a lot of water that caused some issues for the various vehicles that decided to tempt their luck and drive through the waters on the road.  You can see what we are talking about at towards the end of the slideshow.  We also played around with some of our camera features which is why some of the pictures seem off color compared to the majority.

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Gloucester, Virginia History: Extremely Old Tombstone Headings

Ware Episcopal Church, Gloucester, Virginia

Tombstones of gloucester, virginia 1 from Chuck Thompson

Gloucester, Virginia is one of the oldest areas in the nation when it comes to early English settlements.  Its as old as Jamestown, Virginia as it was once a part of Jamestown back on 1607.  Later it was a part of Yorktown, but records show Yorktown being even younger than Gloucester which is just the way things get recorded.  For that matter, everything from North Carolina to Massachusetts was all a part of Virginia.  For the record, the American Indians or what is commonly know as native Americans which turns out are Chinese immigrants, were here before English settlers and so was Spain.  But its the English who were successful at settling the area.  (Politically correct history reporting is a pain in the ...).

  The main focus here is maintaining history.  Above is from the College of William and Mary that recorded the headings of old Gloucester tombstones.  Many which can no longer be read.  Some blame acid rain for not being able to read these headings, I blame nature.  Water is the worlds finest solvent.  It has nothing to do with so called acid rain.  (I refuse to argue politically correct areas when there is no real science behind it.)  There are many folks who like to wander through old grave yards and read the Tombstone headings and there are also family who can no longer read what the tombstones once said, so for these reasons, we have decided to reprint the information.

  Anyone is free to print out the above pages for historical research and or family posterity.  You may also download free copies of the above from our Slideshare site.  You have to be a member of Slideshare and if you are not already, then you can join for free.

Above:  The Godspeed.  One of the 3 ships that came from England to Virginia in 1607.  Jamestown Yorktown Foundation re creation.

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A Whirlwind of Events

The past several months have been a whirlwind of spectacular events all around the Hampton Roads and surrounding areas.  Above is a picture taken Friday evening, June 7th, 2015 of the L'Hermione in Yorktown.  It was the maiden voyage from France to the United States and Yorktown was the first stop.

L Hermione at Yorktown, Virginia 2015 from Chuck Thompson

We scanned in the brochure that was given away at the event as well as a copy of the boarding pass.  Take a look to learn more about the L Hermione.

We spend 4 days in Yorktown taking pictures of all the events and shows going on.  We took over 3,000 pictures and some HD video that we still need to process and get up.  The above is some art we created from the event.

The weekend before that was the Hampton Blackbeard Pirate Festival.  3 days of non stop entertainment.  We only went on Sunday for a few hours but still managed over 700 photos from the event.  We have them up on Google + and Flickr.

If you are a history buff, the events are non stop fun.  Pirates are the most fun to work with when it comes to photography.  Many of them are real hams.  Above is a few of the folks from the Motley Tones.  The female is Ring Tone pictured above and in the background purposely  messing up the photo is Flintz Tone.  I love those names.  They have real character.  You can visit their website at
http://motleytones.com/

The weekend before that was several great events for history buffs.  Civil war reenactments in Yorktown and American Revolution reenactments in Gloucester at the Courthouse Circle.

We managed over 1,500 photos between these two events.  Talking about a lot of shooting.


And a few weeks prior to these was a Pirate invasion in Yorktown.

At this one we only created about 300 photos total.  We were there more for the enjoyment of the event than to shoot anything.  But I just can't resist taking a bunch of pictures anyway.

Virginia is graced with a host of incredible places to visit and events to attend throughout the entire year.  For us, we love history so that is usually where you will find us the most.  We make a lot of friends at these events and share our works as much as possible.

And then there is always the fun of taking pictures where ever you are.  Events or not.

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L Hermione Frigate, Last Chance on Sunday June 7th, 2015 To See Her In Yorktown, VA

The L Hermione Frigate from France is here in Yorktown, Virginia for one more day.  If you have not come out to see this ship yet, you need to come out by Sunday, June 7th, 2015 to see her.  She is stunning.  This is a recreation of the ship that the Marquis de Lafayette came over to the Continental United States on.  She cost an astounding $36 Million to build and took about 20 years.  An amazing floating and sailing museum.  The crew are as nice as can be.  This is her maiden voyage from France and the first time she has ever been seen in the United States and we are the fortunate ones to see her first in the US.  

  That in and of itself is history.  So far we have over 1,500 photos of this ship that we will be getting online over the next few weeks.  Until then we have put up an initial 72 photos on Google Plus and Flickr.  Throughout historical Yorktown and the Riverwalk are a bunch of reenactors creating an atmosphere that simply should not be missed for anyone with even a passing interest in American history.   

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Kalmar Nyckel, What Happened To Their Visit In Yorktown?

On Friday evening, June 6th, we posted a story about how the Kalmar Nyckel was supposed to be visiting Yorktown for the weekend.  Well, it turns out that due to circumstances beyond the control of Captain Morgan and the crew, the ship was in dry dock awaiting inspection after a good deal of work was completed on the ship, making sure the ship was once again ready for it's summer voyages.

  Thanks to the US Coast Guard who stepped up and made a late Friday evening visit to conduct that inspection, the Kalmar Nyckel was finally released back the the waters to sail down to Yorktown, Virginia.  The bad news is that they were already scheduled to be here by Friday evening for Saturday and Sunday open deck tours and evening sailing cruises.  We waited to go see the ship on Sunday and left Gloucester at about 12:00 PM in  order to make the free deck tour before shut down at 1:00.  We learned at about 12:30 from the folks who are part of the dock crew in Yorktown about his delay.  As we were being told about the delay and that no one knew when they would be coming in, we saw what we thought was the ship coming in.  Picking up our cameras we were able to confirm that is was in fact the Kalmar Nyckel on it's way.  It finally arrived at about 1:30 PM on Sunday.

We took this photo at about 1:00 PM that showed it was the ship in question.  The zoom in was at 500 power or 80x optical.  So yeah, that is an incredible distance.   The reason why the picture seems grey.  So no deck tours were available but they did manage to get out one evening cruise that departed at 4:00 PM as scheduled.  They had to leave soon afterward to go to their next destination.  The crew was not happy about not being able to stay and see everyone who came out, but they at least were able to come in for awhile.

  It's been several years since the Kalmar Nyckel has been in the area.  Let's hope for a full weekend next year.

One of the most notable differences this year is the updated paint job on the back end of the ship.  This is a very fresh look.

The back of the above picture is harder to see than the other one.  This picture was taken a few years ago or the last time the Kalmar Nyckel was in the area.  If you look at the fish, you can see that they are different colors and also Nemo's shroud is now painted where it wasn't before.

All pictures here shot and provided by C Thompson of TTC Media and are under copyright protection.

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Kalmar Nyckel In Yorktown This Weekend, June 6th - 8th, 2014

(Photos copyright:  Chuck Thompson of TTC Media, All rights reserved.)

The incredible Kalmar Nyckel is in town this weekend over at the Yorktown Riverwalk dock.  A superb sailing museum depicting the colonial era of America.  The ship will be here from Friday evening through Sunday evening.  Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 AM until 1:00 PPM the ship will be available for free deck tours.  In other words, you are welcome to board the main deck of the ship and take a real steo back in time to view what life was like for settler's coming to the new world.

  There will be evening sailing tours along the York river for those who wish to purchase a ticket.  Adult prices are $60.00 each and children under 17 is $40.00 per person.  Voyages last 3 hours and start at 4:00 PM.  Maximum number allowed per tour is 49 guests.  Reservations are required.  Please call; 302-429-7447 for more information about the Kalmar Nyckel.  Visit them at http://www.kalmarnyckel.org  

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