My Sunday

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Today found us at Pamplin Historical Park.
"Located on the site of the April 2, 1865 "Breakthrough," the battle that ended the Petersburg Campaign and led to the evacuation of the Confederate capital at Richmond VA. and to the final surrender of Robert E. Lee a few days later ending the American Civil War."

Our first stop was the National Museum of the Civil War Solider
In there we choose a “Soldier Comrade” from a group of thirteen real Civil War soldiers. We were given a personal MP3 player and the story of our solider was told as he described his experiences as a soldier. At the end of the tour, you learn the wartime fate of your solider.
I am sad to tell you that my man did not make it through the war. He died of Cholera in his home state of Georgia, not far from his family home He was 21 years old and the grandson of a devout preacher. I felt a bit of a connection with him because I had three great grandfather's that served with the men from Georgia during the Civil War. I think it could have been any of them that did not make it home.

After we left that area we went outside where the park was holding the annual Old Time Fair.
This was a lot of fun. Men and women were reenacting life just as it would have
in 1862. They played fun games and showed us what home life would have been like.
They had a petting area with pony rides, and farm animals. As you can see from the slide show above my grandson had a fun time chasing the chickens. All of us got into the act and as you can see we each had a chicken in our arms before we left.
We also toured "Tudor Hall Plantation. The house, built circa 1812, has been carefully restored to its wartime appearance and furnished with period antiques. The house was home to the Boisseau family, ancestors of the Pamplins, and during the Civil War was used as the headquarters of Confederate General Samuel McGowan"
On the plantation is a working kitchen and a blacksmith shop, tobacco barn and slave quarters.

Just down the path from here was the winter quarters of the civil war soldiers and beyond that was "The Breakthrough Trail, where you could go exploring the hallowed ground where the decisive April 2, 1865 Breakthrough occurred"
We took the side trail to Hart Farm where the fighting occurred in October 1864.

The white tents you see in this area are part of a real Civil War Adventure Camp where groups of 20 or more can sign up to be their choice of a Union or Confederate uniform, drill in the way soldiers fought, eat the food soldiers ate,and learn about the hardships soldiers endured.

We also were able to visit an exhibit of Civil War Photography and saw some of the early photos of the 1800's.
The Park also offers a restaurant and bookstore, where we spent a few minutes browsing before we left. On the way out we were given a special code to get in the gate of a home just down the road called
The Banks House, which served as Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s headquarters following the Battle of the Breakthrough on April 2, 1865. He spent the night at this home just before going to Richmond to meet with Abe Lincohn as the union soldiers took over the city.

We really enjoyed our day and learned a lot about the history of the area and also of the war.
I hope you have enjoyed it also.