Published Jul 2, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT
Yorktown's America250 Events Celebrate the Battle That Won American Independence
The town's commemorations will continue beyond the national July Fourth anniversary and toward 2031, the 250th anniversary of the Siege of Yorktown.
Historical interpreters dressed as Revolutionary War-era drummers perform during a VA250 event in Virginia. Yorktown’s America250 programming will connect Independence Day commemorations to the military campaign that led to the British surrender in 1781. (Courtesy of York County, Virginia, Aileen Devlin for VA250 Commission)
For many Americans, the nation’s 250th anniversary will center on July 4, 2026, and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In Yorktown, Virginia, local officials are asking visitors to look further down the road, to the battlefield where independence was secured years later. Yorktown’s VA250 and America250 programming is being built around a longer Revolutionary War timeline, one that begins with the ideals of 1776 but continues through the military campaign that led to the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781. The town’s commemorations are expected to continue beyond the national July Fourth anniversary and toward 2031, the 250th anniversary of the Siege of Yorktown. “July 4, 1776, marks the moment the Declaration of Independence was adopted, but the fight for American independence was far from over,” Deirdre Roesch, marketing and communications manager for York County Economic and Tourism Development, told Military.com. “The struggle continued for several more years, and Yorktown played a decisive role in bringing it to its conclusion.” That gives Yorktown a different place in the America250 calendar. The town is not only commemorating the Declaration, but also the military campaign that helped make independence more than an idea written on paper.
