Happy New Year to all our friends in the colder north from not so cold Fort Monroe, VA.

This is our last night at the best campground that we have been in. Any others in the coming days will be measured against this one. The campground is The Colonies RV Travel Park. They have a website: thecoloniesrvandtravelpark.com. The facilities available to campers include a store with a large selection of items, a kitchen stocked with high quality equipment, such as a KitchenAid Mixer, CrockPot, an exercise room, a game room, a TV viewing room, a large reception area with tables and comfortable office style chairs, a free jukebox, and two large shower/toilet rooms and laundry.

The owners, Patrick and Patricia O'Connell, are experienced RV'ers, friendly and well-liked by people from the area, judging from the attendance at the New Year's Eve party that they gave.

The campground is in an area that has been recently designated as a National Park. Fort Monroe, about two miles south of the campground, was an active Army base until 2011. It is the largest stone fort ever built in the U.S. It is also the only one with a water moat. It is the site where, in 1619, approximately twenty Africans were brought into the English colony. During the Civil War, it was here that General Butler declared that slaves, because they were considered to be property by their owners, could be also considered "contraband" of war. Jefferson Davis was confined here after his capture at the end of the war. 

Robert E. Lee was stationed here in early 1800's and, while on leave from the fort, married Mary Custis. Their first child, Curtis Lee, in 1832, was born here.
President Lincoln visited the fort during the war.

B and I visited the fort today--just to add to its history. One thing,not mentioned in the information sheet, that we saw during our visit was a pet cemetery. It was located along the top of the ramparts; the earliest stone marker that we saw was set in 1937.