With the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War in full
swing, I imagine many of you are hearing this from family and friends. I want to share with you some ideas for showing
off our wonderful museums and historic sites while showing your visitors a
great time!
My adventure began at my recent high school reunion, when
classmates that I would not have pegged for Civil War buffs started talking to
me about Virginia’s many CW sites. I
invited them to visit, and lo and behold this past week they took me up on the
offer! Tip #1: Don’t offer unless you
are serious – these CW aficionados WILL jump at the opportunity! Since my favorite thing in the world is
visiting museums and historic sites, and my immediate family run when they see
that gleam in my eye, I was excited.
My three friends only had a few days to spend in Richmond
and wanted to focus on the Richmond battlefields, particularly the 1862 Seven
Days Battle sites. After many emails and
tentative itineraries vetted, we arrived at a plan of action that would include
Richmond museums and battlefields, Petersburg battlefields, the new Appomattox
Museum of the Confederacy outpost and McLean House NPS site, and added at the last
moment – the Monitor Center at the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News. A bit off the main trail but one of my
friends had a fascination with the Monitor that dated to childhood so we
managed to squeeze it in. Tip #2:
If you are going to try to “do it all”, plan a couple of days’ bed rest
after you are done. You will be
exhausted!
They were to arrive late on Monday. I was delighted to find rooms for them at the
Linden Row Inn in downtown Richmond, because it has a connection to Civil War
history (some were owned by Confederate soldiers). The Inn staff kindly let me stock the rooms
with cold local beer and bags of Bugles (get it?) to welcome them. The next morning I picked them up and we
began what I had dubbed the 2012 Terrier Campaign (after our high school’s
mascot).
First stop was the Richmond Battlefield Visitor Center, run
by the National Park Service, located at Tredegar on the James River. We saw the orientation film, perused the
exhibits, and gathered brochures and maps.
BTW they have an incredible topographical map model with lights to
explain the different battles and army lines.
Tip #3: Be sure to ask for suggestions and directions
from the Park Service staff. We got
some fine advice from the rangers and they gave me turn-by-turn directions for
setting out on the battlefield trail.
My gentlemen: Russ Ragsdale (Fort Collins, CO), Brad Bain (Kansas City, MO) and Henry Granberry (Nashville, TN)
Next of course we advanced on the American Civil War Center
at Tredegar. This great museum is
organized to examine the full impact and import of the Civil War on our nation
from three perspectives: the Union, the Home (South), and Freedom (the African
American experience). What amazed me is
that while we all four walked through the displays relatively together, and
read all the panels, we each came away with tidbits that the others had missed
– so the museum experience was extended over lunch as we compared notes. I’m not sure that P.G. T. Beauregard had
anything to do with it, but keeping with our theme I took them to Beauregard’s
Thai room at 103 E. Cary St. (no surprise to those who know me – I LOVE that
place). Tip #4: Be sure to factor in
plenty of food, whether at restaurant stops or stocking the car with cookies,
candy, snacks and bottled water. After
all, an army travels on its stomach!
After a stop to look at the site of Libby Prison (between
Dock and E. Cary St. , S. 20th to 21st St.) we made our
way to the Museum of the Confederacy and the White House. I had not visited in a while and was blown
away by the degree to which VCU Medical Center has swallowed up that part of
Court End. You have to REALLY want to
find it – bless them for making all kinds of signage to guide visitors. We were met by dear friend Eric App, Director
of Museum Operations for a brief orientation before we toured the exhitibits and White House. He in turn connected us with Cathy Wright,
Collections Manager and flag guru, who gave us a wonderful tour of the flag
storage area. This was particularly
special as one of my gentlemen had brought a flag purported to be a Confederate
battle flag he had purchase from some scurrilous antique dealer. Alas, it was not to be. But, as Eric said so tactfully “It IS a
flag.” Just not from the Civil War. Tip
#5: It pays to know people. Eric and Cathy made our visit so incredibly
special, and they were so generous with their time and expertise. My tip
#5 ½ is to get more involved with VAM and get your networking mojo going!
Our final stop of the day was to visit the site of the Civil
War Chimborazo Hospital complex and the medical museum there, also an NPS
site. Over 75,000 patients went through
Chimborazo during the course of the war. They had great exhibits about medicine during
the Civil War and the hospitals in Richmond (Chimborazo, as huge as it was, was
not even the largest – Richmond became quite the hospital complex during the
war). My favorite exhibit was on advances in medicine contributed by the
Confederate doctors. The NPS staff was
helpful, friendly and very informative.
Tip # 6: If you don't have one, get an NPS Passport book to collect stamps - it adds a bit of fun. It was 5pm at the end of a long day, however, so we let them close up
and just like soldiers on leave headed for respite at the nearest public house
(Capital Ale House in this case).
Check back tomorrow for more adventures in Virginia history tourism!
1 comment:
Thank you for taking such good care of the boys. Henry had a delightful time. I baked a pound cake from the Civil War Cookbook (thankfully it's similar to "regular" poundcake) in honor of their return, and Brad and Russ were kind enough to eat a piece!
Sincerely,
Amy Lyles Wilson, Henry Granberry's wife
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