Yorktown is a census-designated place (CDP) in York County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1682. The CDP's population was 195 as of the 2010 census, while the county's population was 66,134 in the 2011 census estimate.

The town is most famous as the site of the siege and subsequent surrender of General Cornwallis to General George Washington, and the French Fleet during the American Revolutionary War on October 19, 1781. Although the war would last for another year, this British defeat at Yorktown effectively ended the war. Yorktown also figured prominently in the American Civil War (1861–1865), serving as a major port to supply both northern and southern towns, depending upon who held Yorktown at the time.

Today, Yorktown is part of an important national resource known as the Historic Triangle of Yorktown, Jamestown and Williamsburg, and is the eastern terminus of the Colonial Parkway.

Yorktown is situated along the York River in southeastern Virginia. Yorktown has several distinct areas. Yorktown Village or Historic Yorktown is set on the York River, near the George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge that spans said river to reach Gloucester Point. Historic Yorktown is comprised first of a small strip along the beach of the York River, Water Street, which contains several small restaurants, a park, a hotel, a pier, an antique shop, and as of May 2005 completed a building project that has small shops and restaurants. Next, Main Street sits above Water Street on a bluff, around which the architecture is almost exclusively original. The old court house, several small shops, the Nelson House, and the Yorktown Monument all sit along this road. Around the center of the town are residential streets. Also, architecturally of note is Grace Episcopal Church, situated on Church Street near the old courthouse of Yorktown. Shops and eateries making up the "Riverwalk" section on the waterfront opened in May 2005. Colonial National Historical Park, which contains Yorktown National Battlefield and Yorktown National Cemetery, is located on the outskirts of the town.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorktown,_Virginia