Cornwallis’ Cave

Tucked away in a buff along Yorktown’s Water Street is a mostly man-made cave, which legend has it was the hiding place and “last headquarters” of British General Cornwallis during the closing of the American Revolutionary War. Although the National Park Service, the cave’s current managers, says that research proves otherwise, it’s too good of a story to pass up. 

When Cornwallis received orders to provide a protected harbor for the British fleet around lower Chesapeake Bay, he chose Yorktown, establishing his base here in the summer of 1781. Many believe that soldiers constructed the cave during those closing days of the war to shelter the commander from fighting (the National Park Service believes it was the result of stone quarrying instead). Reports of him holding meetings here as the war intensified abound, though the cave itself is less than 350 square feet. 

More likely, the cave was used for story potatoes in the late 18th century. When the American Civil War (1861-1865) broke out, Confederate soldiers used it for stockpiling ammunition.