York River State Park is located near the

unincorporated town An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

of Croaker in

James City County, Virginia James City County is a county (United States), county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 78,254. Although politically separate from the county, the county seat is the ad ...

on the south bank of the York River about 10 miles downstream from

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

. The York River is formed from the confluence of the

Mattaponi River The Mattaponi River is a tributary of the York River estuary in eastern Virginia in the United States. History Historically, the Mattaponi River has been known by a variety of names and alternate spellings, including ''Mat-ta-pa-ment'', Matap ...

and the

Pamunkey River The Pamunkey River is a tributary of the York River, about long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 in eastern Virginia in the United States. Via the York Ri ...

at West Point. The York River empties into the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

about 30 miles downstream from Croaker Landing. In the state park, the historical Croaker Landing is an

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

site listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

since 1987. The name "Croaker" is believed to have derived from the abundant quantity of

Atlantic croaker The Atlantic croaker (''Micropogonias undulatus'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Sciaenidae and is closely related to the black drum ('' Pogonias cromis''), the silver perch ('' Bairdiella chrysoura''), the spot ...

(''Micropogonias undulatus''), an inshore, bottom-dwelling fish found in the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the York River. The site contains evidence of Native American habitation throughout the Woodland period (c. 1000 B.C. - A.D. 1600). It was listed on the

in 1987. The town of Croaker was known in its early history as Taskinas Plantation. It was the site of a 17th and 18th century public

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

warehouse where local planters stored their crops to be shipped to England. York River State Park opened in 1980. It is accessed via Exit 231-B of

Interstate 64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at Interstate 70, I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and U.S. Route 61, US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern ter ...

, which is signed "Croaker-Norge." The old Richmond-Williamsburg Stage Road, now

U.S. Route 60 U.S. Route 60 is a major east–west United States highway, traveling from southwestern Arizona to the Atlantic Ocean coast in Virginia. The highway's eastern terminus is in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where it is known as General Booth Bouleva ...

, also is nearby.

References

External links

York River State ParkFriends of York River State ParkVirtual Tours of York River State ParkTaskinas Plantation
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia York River State Park York River National Register of Historic Places in James City County, Virginia IUCN Category V Protected areas established in 1980 1980 establishments in Virginia {{Virginia-protected-area-stub

See also

References

External links