The Colonial Parkway is a 23-mile scenic drive connecting the historic sites of Historic Jamestowne, Colonial Williamsburg, and the Yorktown Battlefield. Free of any modern commercial development, the parkway was designed to provide continuity to the visitor experience of motoring through nearly 400 years of American colonial history. Traversing a diverse environment, the parkway provides visitors with dramatic open vistas of the James and York rivers and tidal estuaries as well as shady passageways through pine and hardwood forests.