Yorktown is one of three sites of the Historic Triangle, which also includes Jamestown and Williamsburg as important colonial-era settlements.

Yorktown is also the eastern terminus of the TransAmerica Trail, a bicycle touring route created by the Adventure Cycling Association.

One of Yorktown's historic sister cities is Zweibrücken in Germany, based on participation of a unit from there during the American Revolutionary War.

It was the base of British General Charles Cornwallis during the 1781 siege, which was the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War.

When waterways were critical to transportation, Yorktown was thought to occupy a strategic location controlling upstream portions of the York River and its tributaries and their access to the Chesapeake Bay.

The river there narrows to the width of a mile, and is contained within very high banks, close under which the vessels may ride.

"[7] The population dropped in Yorktown and other areas of the mostly rural peninsula after the state's capital was relocated from Williamsburg to Richmond on the James River, attracting more development there.

In addition, tobacco exhausted the soil, and planters shifted to mixed crops, which required less slave labor.

Many generations of younger sons migrated out of the Tidewater area to new lands further west, into the Piedmont and beyond to Kentucky, Tennessee and what became the Northwest Territory.

During the 1862 Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War (1861–1865), the town was captured by the Union following the Siege and Battle of Yorktown.

It was used as a base by the Union Army of the Potomac under General George B. McClellan to launch an attack on Richmond.

During the American Revolutionary War, the Royal Deux-Ponts Regiment was commanded by Comte Christian de Forbach (son of Christian IV, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, and the deputy commander was his brother Philippe Guillaume (later renamed to Wilhelm).

It's from this small port on the Mediterranean coast that the French expeditionary force left Europe to fight the British army in America.

During World War I, to support Atlantic defenses, the federal government in 1918 acquired about 13,000 acres (53 km2) for development by the US Navy as Mine Depot, Yorktown.

Designed by New York City architect Richard Morris Hunt, the monument was installed in 1884 and topped by a figure of Liberty sculpted by John Quincy Adams Ward.

It is being protected and managed as a historical colonial village, much like Williamsburg, under the guidance of the National Park Service.

Yorktown is served by a variety of radio stations on the AM and FM dials, with towers located around the Hampton Roads area.

Williamsburg Area Transit Authority (WATA) operates a sightseeing trolley route around Yorktown on a daily basis.