Visiting Richmond, Virginia AND Becca and Carl

Bob and I headed to Richmond, Virginia to await the birth of our new granddaughter.  But we also enjoyed visiting Richmond.  Richmond is rich in history…revolutionary war period and the civil war period (Richmond is one of the top 10 Civil War sites* according to National Geographic).  It is not far from Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown.  It is surrounded by battlefields from the civil war…Petersburg…Fredericksburg…Lynchburg.

One of the beauties of downtown Richmond, Virginia is the James River, an unusually scenic river.

Because we knew our time for sightseeing was limited…baby Hardy was making her appearance at any moment we started a frantic sightseeing whirlwind tour.  It would not needed to have been so frantic if we had known baby Hardy was in no hurry to be born…delaying her appearance by a week (but more on that later).  We visited the White House of the Confederacy and Museum of the Confederacy.

*As capital of the Confederacy, the South’s industrial heart, and the ultimate target of Northern armies, Richmond is rich with Civil War historic sites. Many of them are grouped under the auspices of Richmond National Battlefield Park in and around the city itself.

Richmond was the target of several invasions by both land and sea. Defensive positions and battlefields include several from the Seven Days Campaign as well as New Market Heights (scene of the U.S. Colored Troops’ legendary charge), and Drewry’s Bluff, where Confederate guns foiled an attack by a U.S. naval fleet.

Much of the city burned during evacuation and occupation in April 1865, but numerous historic structures remain. The national battlefield park’s main visitors center is located in the Tredegar Iron Works, where many Confederate munitions were produced. The site of the former Chimborazo Hospital, where countless wounded from Virginia’s many battlefields were treated, is now a museum to the war’s medical history.

We visited Hollywood Cemetery where James Monroe and John Tyler, both Presidents of the United States are buried.  Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy is also buried in Hollywood Cemetery.  I visited Hollywood Cemetery on my last visit to Richmond, but definitely worth seeing again.

We took the historic Richmond Trolley Ride Tour.

I thought it was interesting on Monument Ave in Richmond there was an Arthur Ashe Monument…most notably they depicted him holding a book representing education higher than the tennis racket.

We also visited the re-enactment of Patrick Henry’s “give me liberty or give me death” speech at St. John’s Church in Richmond.

 

Our next field trip was to Thomas Jefferson’s home Monticello! We planned to spend the day there and we used every minute to enjoy the home, the grounds and the gardens!

Petersburg Civil War Battlefield– home of the longest siege of the Civil War.

Then:

Now:

The Crater:

After weeks of preparation, on July 30 the Federals exploded a mine in Burnside’s IX Corps sector beneath Pegram’s Salient, blowing a gap in the Confederate defenses of Petersburg. From this propitious beginning, everything deteriorated rapidly for the Union attackers. Unit after unit charged into and around the crater, where soldiers milled in confusion. The Confederates quickly recovered and launched several counterattacks led by Maj. Gen. William Mahone. The break was sealed off, and the Federals were repulsed with severe casualties. Ferrarro’s division of black soldiers was badly mauled. This may have been Grant’s best chance to end the Siege of Petersburg. Instead, the soldiers settled in for another eight months of trench warfare. Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside was relieved of command for his role in the debacle.

Then:

Now: