YORKTOWN, Va. (WAVY) — The Colonial National Historical Park held a ribbon cutting Wednesday to mark the end of a portion of a shoreline stabilization project along the York River.   

Officials said the project is a way to help preserve a piece of American history. 

“This project included increased revetment height, installation of rock sills, installation of breakwaters [and] installation of or enhancing marsh and riverine habitat,” said Matt Henderson, facility manager at Colonial National Historical Park. “Basically, for the last two years, we have been placing about 80,000 tons of rock revetment throughout along the three miles of the shoreline.”

Officials explain the $24 million initiative was an effort to help save the land there.   

“We’ve been losing feet of shoreline for years now due to climate change and sea level rise,” said Colonial National Historical Park Superintendent Jerri Marr.  

They add this is happening at the same time that the Colonial Parkway is being renovated. 

National Park Service Director Charles Sams III said that, with this portion of the shoreline project complete, they are better able to protect the piece of history they are working to revitalize. 

“There’s nine miles of shoreline that need to be protected along the parkway,” Sams said. “This is 1/3 of it. So, we’ve gotten three miles down of it, and we’re going to look at how we’re going to finish out the last six miles that we need to do.”

They’re hoping to have both the shoreline project and the Colonial Parkway project done by June 2026 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.   

“All of our history should be saved, and it allows for folks to continue to come back to learn about the past as we still plan towards the future,” Marr said.  

There will also be a community meeting from 6:30 pm to 7:30 p.m. Thursday for the Colonial Parkway project. It will be held at the James City County Government Center.