Moore House

228 Nelson Rd, Yorktown, VA 23690, USA

Virginia

state

VA - York

county

VA - Williamsburg

city

MUSEUM

TICKETED:

YES

PARKING:

YES

RESTROOMS:

YES

HOURS

TICKET INFO

Home of Augustine Moore. Proposed by Cornwallis for surrender negotiations as it was outside his lines and still standing. Two commissioners selected by each side, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Dundas and Major Alexander Ross met in "Mr. Moore's house" with the allied officers, Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, for the Americans, and Second Colonel Viscount de Noailles. Troops to be sent to camps in Winchester and Frederick MD.

SITE FEATURES

Surviving Structures

On this site...

The house was erected around 1725 on a 500-acre parcel of land called Temple Farm which also included a dam and grist mill. The land was originally granted to the Crown Governor of Virginia, John Harvey in the 1630s and was known as the York Plantation at this time. Lawrence Smith II later built the Moore House on Temple Farm and the home stayed within the family until 1754 when his son, Robert, sold it to his brother-in-law Augustine Moore to avoid financial woes. Augustine and his family fled to Richmond to avoid the Siege of Yorktown.

HOME

EST. 1725

PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

BATTLEFIELD

Oct 17, 1781

General Cornwallis requested a cease fire on October 17, 1781, and selected the house as the site for surrender negotiations, likely due to its neutral and convenient location. Washington's and Cornwallis's representatives met at the house the following day, where they negotiated Articles of Capitulation. A rough draft was delivered to Washington's headquarters that night, where he made minor changes. The revised articles were agreed to and signed on October 19.