Dixie travel guide suggestions
Parking is difficult around the MOC. I had to park in the hospital parking lot but worth it. Enjoyed the White House most of all...
Lincoln’s "House Divided" speech re-enactment -- Springfield,IL(Click to watch)
Fredericksburg,Antitum (sp) and especially Gettysburg.
And the nearby Stonewall Jackson Shrine - the small house where Jackson came to his final rest; it's very moving.
I see TN is not on your list. I echo that Franklin is interesting. Most of the battlefield is gone, but the Carter House at the center of the battle is well-preserved and has a museum and video presentation. The Carter son was in the Army of Tennessee and mortally wounded in his old back yard. The Confederate cemetery (maintained by the SCV) is a short drive away. The graves are laid out by State. The cemetery inspired Allan Tate's "Ode to the Confederate Dead."
Shiloh is one of my favorite battlefield/parks, but it is in the middle of nowhere - maybe that's why it is so well preserved.
Beware of "PC" tour interpretations! Hope you have a good trip.
Antietam and Monocacy in Maryland are pretty good, also recommend Chancellorsville.
Any insight, experiences, and suggestions would be helpful
Nothing here except to say I'm turning a lovely shade of green.
One word for when you return home...PICTURES!
This is a side trip well worth the time. BTW the town is a super place to grab lunch or dinner in. I never miss the opportunity to stop there when I'm in the vicinity.
A Yankee, but Confederate at heart!
If you visit Elmwood Cemetery be sure to pick up a brochure which is located just inside the main gate, on the right, in a waterproof box. This has a map showing where the notables are buried. Enjoy!
Oh. . .my Post 15 was for Gettysburg, PA.
Don't know if it's been menitoned, but Manassas (known to the North as Bull Run). It's quite beautiful.
Petersburg and Chancellorsville are must visits.
In fact you can get to most of the battlefields in Northern VA in one day. You won't be able to spend time at all of them, but you can definately drive to all of them.
1. Fly, to reduce travel time, but avoid Dulles like the plague. Fly to Baltimore and rent your wheels there. Take a radar detector in your luggage but don't use it in DC or Virginia unless you've got the latest, sneakiest kind -- they like to confiscate them.
2. Book ahead places to sleep near the big battlefields, using regional travel guides. You'll appreciate the rest at the end of the day -- or at the start of the next.
3. Leave plenty of time for sleep so you can enjoy your visit more.
4. Shorten your stays in Virginia (the state seems fussier and more expensive, and there is something about it I don't care for.....some survival of that old deferential-society ethos, with you being expected to do the deferring), and don't sleep in the big cities.
5. Try to visit the Crater at Petersburg -- it's still there.
6. Try to line up some maps that show routes followed by Lee -- for example, where he crossed the Potomac, and his route up into Maryland and Pennsylvania.
7. Comfy shoes, of course, and plenty of cold water. You'll find Antietam very, very quiet, even in August, and much closer to its original state than Gettysburg, so you might plan accordingly, following your preferences in such things. I personally drove Lee's Maryland Campaign route, crossing the gaps at South Mountain where Lee did (of course, there are modern roads there), and you'll find road markers -- e.g. showing where Rodes's brigade got lost on South Mountain and blundered out of position in the woods while deploying along the ridge. You'll be able to stand in the gaps, map in hand, and see what Lee and Jackson did, and why. Eventually I drove down to Antietam via Keedysville, just like Lee did.
8. If you can do it at all, try to get to Chancellorsville. I still haven't visited there. The area, as you know is a "three-fer", with battles in 1862 (Fredericksburg), 1863 (Chancellorsville), and 1864 (the Wilderness); and Spottsylvania is close by to the south.
Good luck with your tour!
Heck, you can work your way down from Baltimore and take in a ton of stuff. They can go over and hit Antietam first, then Bull Run.
The battlefields around Richmond (Malvern Hill, Five Forks, Cold Harbor), Fredericksburg (Chancellorsville, the Wilderness), and Petersburg (Drewry's Bluff, the Crater) are all pretty scattered geographically. Each of those three National Battlefields has a separate visitor's center. Richmond's is a little hard to get to, but it's in a neat spot on Chimberazo Hill.
They should absolutely not miss Hollywood Cemetary in Richmond. Believe it or not, my first "date" with the lovely and talented Foxfire4, my wife, was a visit to Hollywood Cemetary. The Confederate section of the cemetary is not well-kept up and occasionally vandalized due to the neighborhood it's in, but still, the monument to Pickett's Charge near Pickett's grave, and some of the other monuments in the section, are worth seeing. It's also the final resting place of J.E.B. Stuart, Presidents Monroe and Tyler, and Jeff Davis. Davis has the best seat in the house, I think...his gravesite overlooks the James River with a beautiful view.
Virginia has put up some road signs heading west toward Appomattox from Richmond/Petersburg that mark the route of Lee's retreat to Appomattox. Your friends might want to follow those through places like Amelia Courthouse, and wind up at Appomattox. I grew up 25 miles from there in Amherst, and went several times on school trips; it's a great place.
Oh, and if they get over into the Shenendoah Valley (which they should do anyway, just because it's one of the greatest places in the world!), they can visit New Market and Cedar Creek and trace some of the spots from the Valley Campaign.
}:-)4
Antietam -- another good choice. Lee killed any chance for rebel recognition from any of the European powers by blowing it at that one. A nice car trip would be to follow the path of the rebel army as it slunk back south.
Washington, D.C. -- take in the Lincoln Memorial. Visit the Ulysses Grant Memorial on Capitol Hill and the William T. Sherman statue by the White House and the Phillip Sheridan statue in Sheridan Circle. Swing by the Congressional Cemetery where you can visit the grave of David Herold of Lincoln assasination conspiracy fame. Don't forget Arlington Cemetary to visit what used to be Lee's house. Visit the Senate chamber where the senior Senator from Mississippi uses the same desk that Jefferson Davis uses. If you can get close enough you can see the repairs made to it after Union soldiers stuck bayonets in it. Visit the National Cathedral where Lincoln's address to the people of Springfield is carved into the wall.
Enjoy.