Day Eight-Goodbye Bristol, took the scenic route, Appomattox, Hello Richmond
We are here, BEST campsite eveeeeer..........directly out in front, of course there are four lanes of highway to cross and the old gal ain't as quick as she once was. I can hit it with a stone, but the GPS says 1.5 miles.
We left Bristol this morning around 10 AM. We had to ride the super slab to Roanoke, Va. There I decided we weren't in that much of a hurry so we topped off with gas and my co-pilot got us onto 460 East. It is mostly divided highway that cuts right through the center of Virginia. This turned out to be a great call. The road itself was in better shape than I81 and mostly 60 miles an hour, so travel time was less than an hour more. There was beautiful scenery the whole way. Unfortunately my co-pilot was so engrossed with looking at it all, we sadly have no pics.
Our original route was to take us to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello so we did miss that, but the trade off was that 460 ran right through Appomattox. I had never realized, or just forgot, the Southern surrender didn't actually occur in the Court House. Appomattox Court House was the name of the little town. They actually met in the home of the towns most influential person, Wilmer Mclean.
These two desks are replicas, as the originals reside in the Smithsonian.
No real kitchen in the house as the kitchen proper was actually part of the slave quarters right behind the main house. The square in the middle is inlaid stone, fires were a concern.
The house was actually torn down at one point to be assembled as an exhibit, but it never happened, so the home was brought back and reassembled in its original location. The town was originally called Clover Hill. It was a stage coach stop on the Richmond to Lynchburg Road. The name changed in 1845 when it was named the county seat for Appomattox. In 1865 it became famous.
The Generals Lee and Grant met and wrote out the terms for surrender. General Grant wanted only to fulfill President Lincoln's request to end the war in a way that would begin to heal the wounds of the country. He ordered his men to stop shooting celebratory volleys into the air so as not to embarass the Southern Army. General Lee was under orders from Jefferson Davis to disperse the troops and wage guerilla warfare. Lee knew that this would prolong the suffering for years and instead offered his forces for surrender. Grant gave complete amnesty to all Southern Soldiers if they pledged to never take up arms against the Union again. A Northern Regiment from Pennsylvania played Auld Lang Syne as Lee rode away.
The little town had about 100 people at the time of the surrender and has been partially restored, right down to the dirt lanes. There are some slave quarters here and a slave of Dr. Coleman, named Hannah, was killed by Confederate cannon firing at Union Artillery nearby. She was the only civilian casualty of the battle. Union forces numbered around 25,000 and 5,000 of these belonged to an all black regiment.
The Court House as seen from down the Richmond - Lynchburg Road
Down the Lane from in front of the McLean house. On the left is the General Store.
Looking up the hill towards the Court House, in the background is the Clover Dale Tavern.
The front of the McLean home. You can see the steps from the porch. Looks almost the same as the Court House in the old pictures you see. The lattice enclosed structure is the old well. It is to keep the public from falling in and wouldn't have been there.
And to the side of us, about 200 yards and no highway to cross. Hard to tell with the glare, but the sign reads Center of the Universe Brewing Company, live music to the left of the building right now. Yes, outdoors, it is about 65 degrees @ 9:40 PM.
We left Bristol this morning around 10 AM. We had to ride the super slab to Roanoke, Va. There I decided we weren't in that much of a hurry so we topped off with gas and my co-pilot got us onto 460 East. It is mostly divided highway that cuts right through the center of Virginia. This turned out to be a great call. The road itself was in better shape than I81 and mostly 60 miles an hour, so travel time was less than an hour more. There was beautiful scenery the whole way. Unfortunately my co-pilot was so engrossed with looking at it all, we sadly have no pics.
Our original route was to take us to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello so we did miss that, but the trade off was that 460 ran right through Appomattox. I had never realized, or just forgot, the Southern surrender didn't actually occur in the Court House. Appomattox Court House was the name of the little town. They actually met in the home of the towns most influential person, Wilmer Mclean.
These two desks are replicas, as the originals reside in the Smithsonian.
No real kitchen in the house as the kitchen proper was actually part of the slave quarters right behind the main house. The square in the middle is inlaid stone, fires were a concern.
The house was actually torn down at one point to be assembled as an exhibit, but it never happened, so the home was brought back and reassembled in its original location. The town was originally called Clover Hill. It was a stage coach stop on the Richmond to Lynchburg Road. The name changed in 1845 when it was named the county seat for Appomattox. In 1865 it became famous.
The Generals Lee and Grant met and wrote out the terms for surrender. General Grant wanted only to fulfill President Lincoln's request to end the war in a way that would begin to heal the wounds of the country. He ordered his men to stop shooting celebratory volleys into the air so as not to embarass the Southern Army. General Lee was under orders from Jefferson Davis to disperse the troops and wage guerilla warfare. Lee knew that this would prolong the suffering for years and instead offered his forces for surrender. Grant gave complete amnesty to all Southern Soldiers if they pledged to never take up arms against the Union again. A Northern Regiment from Pennsylvania played Auld Lang Syne as Lee rode away.
The little town had about 100 people at the time of the surrender and has been partially restored, right down to the dirt lanes. There are some slave quarters here and a slave of Dr. Coleman, named Hannah, was killed by Confederate cannon firing at Union Artillery nearby. She was the only civilian casualty of the battle. Union forces numbered around 25,000 and 5,000 of these belonged to an all black regiment.
The Court House as seen from down the Richmond - Lynchburg Road
Down the Lane from in front of the McLean house. On the left is the General Store.
Looking up the hill towards the Court House, in the background is the Clover Dale Tavern.
This is the Richmond - Lynchburg road looking from the Court House towards Richmond and the McLean House
The front of the McLean home. You can see the steps from the porch. Looks almost the same as the Court House in the old pictures you see. The lattice enclosed structure is the old well. It is to keep the public from falling in and wouldn't have been there.
That's our little bit of history for the day. It was very interesting and a nice warm day to walk around. It was only the second day we have worn shorts.
ReplyDeleteCount your steps.glad you are getting in some seeing. Hope the warm weather sticks a round.
ReplyDeleteI meant "sight" seeing. This was a little "verbose" Ed but a good read. 😀
ReplyDelete