Colonial National Historical Park Colonial National Historical Park is located in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia and is operated by the National Park Service of the United States government . Over 3 million people visit the park each year . Colonial Parkway . The park includes the Colonial Parkway , a scenic parkway linking the three points of Virginia ' s Historic Triangle : Jamestown and Yorktown and running through the historic district of Colonial Williamsburg . The Colonial Parkway is located in James City County , York County , and the city of Williamsburg . Jamestown . The park includes the original site of Jamestown known in modern times as Historic Jamestowne . Located in James City County at the southern end of the Colonial Parkway , it encompasses the area of Jamestown Island and is adjacent to the Commonwealth of Virginia ' s complementary attraction known as Jamestown Settlement . Yorktown Battlefield . At the northern end of the Colonial Parkway , in York County at Yorktown , the park operates the Yorktown Battlefield . The Nelson House , which was built around 1724 , may have served as Cornwallis ’ s headquarters during the final battle of the Revolutionary War , and the battlefield was the site of the British defeat . Both the house and the historic siege earthworks were restored in 1976 . The Moore House is located in the eastern part of the park and is where surrender negotiations took place in 1781 . Nearby , the state - operated Yorktown Victory Center and the Yorktown Riverwalk Landing area are located . Green Spring Plantation . Sir William Berkeley , who held the colonial governorship during the longest periods of any individual , used his Green Spring Plantation as an experimental farm to attempt to develop sources of income for the colony other than cultivated tobacco and traded furs . The preserved portion of the site of Green Spring has been largely untouched since the second dwelling there and dependencies were destroyed during the American Civil War ( 1861 – 1865 ) , promising a rich archaeological dig area to follow upon recent discoveries at the Park ' s location on Jamestown Island . Cape Henry Memorial . The Cape Henry Memorial , site of the first landing of the Captain Christopher Newport and the soon - to - be Jamestown colonists in 1607 , is located in the city of Virginia Beach , Virginia at Cape Henry . Open to the public , it is located off U . S . Route 60 on the Navy base Joint Expeditionary Base East . Administrative history . Colonial National Monument was authorized on July 3 , 1930 . It was established on December 30 , 1930 . On on June 5 , 1936 , it was redesignated a national historical park . The cemetery at Yorktown was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service on August 10 , 1933 . Jamestown National Historic Site , is co - owned by the National Park Service and Preservation Virginia ( formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities ) and administered by the NPS , was designated on December 18 , 1940 . Preservation Virginia owns containing the remains of the original 1607 fort . The National Park Service owns the remaining of the island which contains the archeological remains of the expanded towne and its island plantation sites . As with all historical areas administered by the National Park Service , Colonial National Historical Park and Jamestown National Historic Site are listed on the National Register of Historic Places of the U . S . Department of the Interior .