Yorktown Campaign Historical Marker on US 301

What it is

This is a 2018 photograph by the Commons user DanTD of a roadside historical marker. The marker has a white metal face with black text and stands on a tall white post beside a paved road. Its text concerns Lord Cornwallis's Yorktown campaign. The photographer took it from the southbound lane of US 301, south of the Virginia-North Carolina border, and the marker itself is on the northbound side.

Why it matters

Markers like this one show how places connected to a historical event are remembered today. The Yorktown campaign ended in October 1781 with Cornwallis's surrender, and this sign commemorates that campaign. Because the marker is a modern commemoration, it reflects how later generations chose to present the story.

Look closer

• What does the marker's text choose to emphasize about Cornwallis's campaign?
• Why might a modern government place a sign like this beside a highway?
• Who is missing from a roadside sign, and whose story might it leave out?